The Hindu : Kerala News : Probe on into legality of tusker’s sale

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Monday, Dec 08, 2008
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Kerala

Probe on into legality of tusker’s sale

Staff Reporter

MALAPPURAM: Forest authorities have launched an inquiry into last week’s incident at Kondotty in which a captive elephant had run amok, injuring several people and damaging dozen-odd vehicles. Initial inquiry has found that the elephant was brought to Kondotty violating norms stipulated by the Forest Department.

It was found that the elephant had been still in musth, an annual period of heightened aggressiveness and sexual activity in male elephants during which violent frenzies occur, when it was led out of confinement on Thursday morning. The elephant, Parameswaran, was brought to Pallikkal near Kondotty from Kottayam, where it was registered and microchipped in 2007.

Forest authorities said that the tusker had been registered under the ownership of Benny Antony at Kottayam.

“We are investigating whether it was sold illegally and brought to Pallikkal,” said Edavanna Forest Range Officer K. Manoj. Chelat Ashraf, 31, who was injured in the elephant attack, claimed that he owned the elephant. Divisional Forest Officer (North) M. Sreedharan Nair said ownership of captive elephants was not transferable, and therefore Mr. Ashraf’s claim was void. Forest officers have found that the elephant had entered into ‘musth’ soon after its arrival from Kottayam.

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