Keralas captive elephants suffer from stress, poor care; experts call for natural habitats, better management

KOCHI: High mortality rate, growing festival frenzy and stress-related diseases are adding to the sufferings of captive elephants in Kerala. Though the gentle giants have a huge fanbase on social media, they rarely get any rest as they are made to criss-cross the state for jumbo pageantries. The death of two celebrity elephantsErattupetta Ayyappan, 55, on August 19 and Kiran Narayanankutty, 60, on August 22forced temple committees to book elephants in advance for the festival season starting in November. The owners say there are only 380 captive elephants in Kerala, 42 of them female. Of the 338 tuskers, over 50% are in musth during festival season. This means the nearly 150 remaining are overstressed as they have to attend over 1,500 festivals. The plight of celebrity elephant Puthuppally Sadhu, who fought death for 24 days and won, reveals the ordeal of the jumbos. Owned by Pothen Varghese of Vakathanam, Sadhu was suffering from impaction (erandakettu), the hardening of stool in the intestine, and could not consume food for around a month, leading to dehydration. Though veterinarians from the animal husbandry department gave him care, his health kept deteriorating. Soon, Vantara, the wildlife rescue centre founded by Reliance Foundation, stepped in and a team of veterinarians led by Dr Vaisak Viswam helped Sadhu recover. The elephant was suffering from impaction from July 28 to August 24. We contacted the Vantara and the team arrived on August 15. Within nine days, they breathed life back in Sadhu by conducting a colonoscopy and flushing out the dung mass, said Pothan Varghese. Jumbo treatment procedures in Kerala stay unchanged, he rued. Dr Sunil Kumar, expert veterinarian, said, While Vantaras treatment procedure is similar to what our veterinarians follow, our procedure and diagnosis system need improvement, he said. Our management practices are the reason behind impaction and foot diseases in jumbos. We are feeding the elephants coconut tree and palm fronds which are fibrous. During Anayoottu, we feed them rice and other grains which the microbial flora in their intestine will not be able to digest, he said. In the wild, elephants walk for around 16 hours and eat around 105 variety of leaves. As a solution, the forest department has proposed developing a 450-acre natural habitat at the Kottoor elephant rehabilitation centre, where jumbos will be able to graze in their natural environment. Dr Sunil said the venous system of the elephants is peculiar. They need to walk for hours to ensure smooth blood circulation. However, captive elephants are kept chained, which is the reason behind foot diseases, he said. Suppression of musth through medicines and starving the jumbos also cause health issues in them, said experts. Nearly half the captive jumbos in Kerala are in musth during festival season and the owners allegedly use unethical means to suppress it. Veterinarians say this would cause behavioural changes, temperamental issues and other health issues. The TN success story The Tamil Nadu forest department has ensured natural care for captive elephants at its rehabilitation centres in Mudumalai and Topslip, winning the appreciation of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Mudumalai elephant camp veterinarian Rajesh Kumar told TNIE, We dont suppress musth of elephants and provide more nutritional food during the season. To avoid impaction, we regularly leave them in the forest to graze and hydrate them. During summer, we take the jumbos to the river four times a day. They are allowed to swim; the peristaltic movement helps with digestion and easy flushing out of dung. To avoid foot diseases, we shackle the elephants in earthen ground and make them walk in the forest for long hours. The mahouts are trained to trim the nails and clean the feet regularly, a type of pedicure that ensures healthy foot.