The Hindu : Kerala News : Elephant lovers seek probe

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Wednesday, Sep 05, 2007
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Kerala

Elephant lovers seek probe

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: The Thrissur-based Elephant Lovers Association has demanded a high-level inquiry into the running amok of an elephant during the “sheeveli” procession of Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple as it was the fifth such incident on the temple precincts during the last four months.

In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister on Tuesday, Association secretary V.K. Venkitachalam said the elephant Valiya Kesavan was made to carry the “thidambu” three times on that particular day. That itself was against the law. He charged the authorities with having changed the mahouts of the elephant a number of times. It had been undergoing harassment for the last three years. The incident was the result of that.

The Association demanded action against the official who decided to use the elephant for the procession soon after its recovery from musth. He wanted the cost of making a new “kolam” and “thidambu” in the place of the ones which were damaged during the incident to be realised from the salary of those concerned.

He pointed out that in another incident on August 15, Keerthi, a young tusker of the Guruvayur Devaswom, gored to death its mahout and crated a terrifying atmosphere while returning after an elephant feeding programme in a private temple at Chettuva.

He attributed such incidents to the handling of elephants, especially after musth, by inexperienced mahouts.

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