From being the symbolic Hindu God Ganesha to being used in ancient Indian warfare, elephants continue to be highly revered in Indian society. In fact, even elephant dung has proven to be a sustainable alternative for numerous products, such as paper and fertilizer. Unfortunately, these gentle giants have suffered from human greed and outdated practices. India’s temple elephants are victims to one of the world’s dirtiest tourism industries.
Where are India’s Temple Elephants?
India has between 2,500 and 4,000 captive elephants. 60% of these elephants are found inAssam and Kerala. More disturbingly, only 25% of captive elephants are in the custody of the Forest Department and Zoos. The remainder are privately owned by individuals, religious institutions and circuses.
Taming the Beast
Elephants are creatures of the wild. They do not belong in captivity. For this reason, elephants require rigorous taming. Most captive elephants are captured from north east. As elephant calfs are easier to tame, poachers usually captured them. Mothers are often ruthelessly murdered in the process. Seperation of a calf from its mother is a highly traumatic experience. Following this, elephants undergo a cruel taming period. From being tied up extensively to being rigorously beaten, the elephant’s training is harsh and is often prolonged. Male elephants undergo such treatment in their adulthood as well. Young adult bulls undergo a period of increased hormonal activity (the musth), his aggression and sexual urges peak. To counter this, owners often tie up the tusker for months and continue to beat him with rods till the end of the musth. Not only does such treatment injure the captive elephants, they decimate the living soul of the elephant.
Truly “Gods in Shackles”
Then, once tamed, Elephants prove to be a wonderful source of income for private owners. In Kerala, renting elephants to temples during the festive season can yield the owner nearly Rs. 70,000 a day. This is because Elephants play a major role in Kerala culture. First, they are a common feature of wedding processions. Second, hundreds of devotees flock to receive blessings from elephants, particularly during the festivals of Thrissur Pooram, Nenmara Vallangi Vela. In fact, past festivals have paraded over 100 Tuskers elephants, mostly without permission from authorities. Rituals involve the elephants blessing devotees either by kneeling or lifting their trunks over 300 times a day. This often injures the elephants due to repetitive, unusual strains. Technically, under the Performing Animals Registration Rules 2001, owners require permission from the Animal Welfare Board to utilize elephants commercially. Even today, this law is rarely followed.
Outside of festivals, elephants are forced to walk miles on the tar roads of towns for hours in the scorching heat begging or performing to earn donations for the owner. This is highly concerning. While in the wild, elephants are used to walking for 20 hours a day, during the festive season, they are faced with an extreme lack of exercise. For this reason, elephants are highly vulnerable to overexertion while begging, which has numerous health implications. Elephants are often also utilized by the timber mafia to transport material.
Legal Loopholes threaten India’s Temple Elephants
Elephants classified as Schedule I elephants are given full legal protection under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Poaching, trafficking and trading of elephants can result in imprisonment for up to 7 years. After the amendment of the WPLA 1972, laws became clearer pertaining to captive elephant ownership. Under Section 40 of the WPLA, the ownership transfer and transportation of elephants across states require written permission of Chief Wildlife Warden. This is reiterated by Section 48(b) which emphasizes that no Schedule I and II species may be captured and traded without certification from the appropriate department. These central laws have been augmented by guidelines provided by numerous states, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, like numerous laws in India, loopholes do exist. The inheritance or gifting of live elephants is permitted, given the same is declared within 90 days. Under this guise, elephants are illegally traded, with the fittest elephants providing owners with profits up to a crore.
Controversial Ownership Certificates Prove Costly
This is exacerbated by elephant ownership lacking proper documentation. Under Section 42, elephant owners are required to possess an ownership certification, issued by the respective State Forest Department. However, despite this over a quarter of India’s captive elephants lack ownership certificates. 400 of the 650 odd uncertified captive elephants are found in Kerala alone. In the case of illegally owned elephants, State Forest Departments have full authority to confiscate and rehabilitate the animal. However, the seizure of legally owned elephants, with reports of ill treatment, requires intense inspection from Forest Officers and often is a major source of controversy. Temple associations and their supporters show outrage at these inspections. They often ironically blam the forest department for cruelty against the elephants. There also is a consensus that elephants are better off in captivity than in the wild. These groups blatantly ignore scientific evidence contradicting their misguided beliefs.
Poor Living Conditions for Lord Ganesha!
There are tons of other ways in which elephants are exploited. Over 100 elephants are enslaved in Rajasthan to carry thousands of tourists up Ajmer Fort in the scorching desert heat. Elephant rides are also a common attraction in Goa and Jaipur. While tourists enjoy the ride, elephants silently suffer. A 2007 study of captive elephants used for rides in Thailand, found that 64% of the 195 elephants suffered from back injury. Also, living conditions of elephants are appalling on average. A study of about 1,500 captive elephants in India by Asian Conservation Foundation found that up to 90% of the elephants were chained for more than 9 hours a day in miniscule, unnatural and unhygienic enclosures. There are also major dietary concerns for captive elephants. In the wild, the world’s largest terrestrial mammal requires over 200kg of food. This is comprised of 100 species of plants, including roots, shoots, grasses and tubers. In captivity, diets are both insufficient and unnatural. In northern India, captive elephants are only provided with glucose-rich dried sugarcane fodder. Meanwhile, temple elephants are often provided with sweets and cooked rice amongst others. Offering of Prasad further escalated the issue. It is not surprising, therefore, that captive elephants frequently suffer from intestinal infection, septicaemia, lung-related infections and sometimes obesity.
The pandemic has worsened the situation. A lack of tourism profits has increased the mahout’s dependency on financial aid from the government to maintain elephants. Providing for the large demands of elephants requires at least 1 lakh a month. In Jaipur, owners were only provided a mere Rs. 600 daily to care for their beasts. Such minimalistic funding has been noted in other states as well, including Kerala.
Will the lessons from COVID19 ever be learnt?
Captive elephants also suffer from wide scale tuberculosis. A study conducted by the Animal Welfare Board found that at least 10% of Ajmer’s Elephants suffer from the highly contagious disease. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, it was found that a fifth of captive elephants had either active or latent tuberculosis. 24% of the mahouts also proved positive for the same, suggesting high incidences of two way transmission. With India accounting for a fifth of global cases of TB in 2011, it is disturbing that authorities have been lackasdical towards these concerns. Such indifference seems to be a common feature of zoonotic diseases. Despite the pandemic wrecking havoc globally, a year on the illegal wildlife trade and bushmeat industry continues to thrive. The poor health conditions of captive elephants are further worsened by both a lack of qualified veterinarians and trained mahouts.
India’s Temple Elephants Suffer from Severe Mental Trauma
Another disturbing aspect of the captive elephant industry is the psychological trauma imposed on these gentle giants. Usually, elephants form highly intricate social relations in the wild. In contrast, captive elephants are confined to permanent isolation. Moreover, during festivals, large crowds and many male elephants in close quarters creates high stress environments, which increases the incidence of panic attacks and aggression.Increased stress levels also have immense implications on elephant welfare. Infertility, hyperglycemia, neuronal cell death and weakened immune systems are some other symptoms of elevated stress.
There is Light at the End of the Tunnel!
Responses to this overwhelming amount of cruelty vary. Kerala and Tamil Nadu, amongst other states, have developed their own guidelines to counter the illegal trade of elephants. Various High Courts and even the Supreme Court have demanded stricter laws and enforcement to prevent cruelty against captive elephants. The first official survey of captive elephants in India in 2019, was in fact ordered by the Supreme Court in October 2018.
Fortunately many efforts attempt to free India’s captive elephants. The Kerala Government has invested over 100 crores to develop an elephant rehabilitation centre in Kottoor. This includes medical infrastructure, an elephant museum, mahout training center and a crematorium. The rehabilitation centre already houses 15 orphaned and abandoned elephants. However, the government hopes the number increases after infrastructure develops. Meanwhile NGOs such as Wildlife SoS and Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) have already begun rescuing captive elephants and rehabilitating them. In fact, the former has a state of art wildlife hospital. They have a proven record of rescuing all of India’s Dancing Bears. Various NGOs have also attempted to raise awareness about the industry. This seems to be a global effort as cruelty against captive elephants. It is ubiquitous in South East Asia, particularly in Thailand. In 2016, a documentary “Gods in Shackles” (by Sangita Iyer), exposed the industry in India. You, the reader, also have an important role in spreading the truth about the industry. So don’t forget to share the blog post! Nature really needs her elephants back in the wild! You can do your bit by donating to our fundraiser for the rehabilitation of Pari, a rescued captive elephant, at Wildlife SoS Elephant Hospital!
How are we helping temple elephants?
Help us Help Them! Think Wildlife Foundation is a non profit organization with various conservation initiatives. Our most prominent campaign is our Caring for Pari intiative. Pari is a rehabilitated elephant at the Wildlife SoS Hospital. 25% of the profits from our store are donated to the elephant hospital for Pari. Other than buying our wonderful merchandise, you could donate directly to our Caring For Pari fundraiser.