393 elephants have no ownership certificates

The Hindu‎‎: Thrissur: Thursday, October 20, 2016.

Illegal custodyleading to torture of elephants.

Kerala has 393 captive elephants which do not have valid ownership certificates.

The Forest Department has given the information in reply to an RTI inquiry by the Thrissur-based Heritage Animal Task Force (HATF).

The task force said that according to a document submitted by the department in the Supreme Court in January 2016, the State had only 289 elephants without proper ownership certificates.

Details sought:

“The Forest Department called for applications for issuing new ownership certificates on February 23, 2016. We sought details of people who submitted application for ownership certificates through the RTI,” V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary, HATF, said.

Amnesty scheme:

However, the Supreme Court stayed the Kerala government notification dated February 26, 2016, which offered an amnesty period to those who kept the 289 elephants without ownership certificates. It had directed the government not to issue any fresh ownership certificates.

According to the RTI document given by the Forest Department on October 16, 2016, 393 people have given application for ownership of 393 elephants, Mr. Venkitachalam said.

The list included 35 Muslims, 59 Christians, and 299 Hindus.

Of the elephants, 329 are tuskers, 60 are female elephants and four 4 are makhna (male elephant without tusks).

Devaswom elephants:

The HATF pointed out that according to the RTI information, 19 elephants of the Guruvayur Devaswom, 32 of the Travancore Devaswom Board, 11 of the Cochin Devaswom Board, and two of the Malabar Devaswom Board do not have valid ownership certificates.

“As per the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, keeping elephants without ownership certificate is a non-bailable offence. Such a crime may fetch an imprisonment of seven years and a fine of Rs.25,000.

But the State government has not taken action against anyone so far.

This illegal custody has been leading to indiscriminate violence against captive elephants.

‘‘In 2016 alone, 19 captive elephants died in the State,” Mr. Venkitachalam said.