Row over elephant booked for ₹ 6.75 L for Kerala temple

A much-hyped auctioning of a popular captive elephant in Kerala for a whopping Rs 6.75 lakh for parading at a temple festival in Kerala has triggered a row with animal rights activists alleging flaws in the decision.

Thechikottukavu Ramachandran owned by the Thechikottukavu Devaswom of Thrissur is considered to be the tallest captive elephant in the country now and hence it is much sought after. Restrictions were earlier imposed on parading it as it killed at least 13 persons so far and was suffering from vision problems.

It was on the basis of certain relaxations granted by the High Court for parading the elephant that the state wildlife authorities granted permission to parade the elephant for two days per week.

Festival committees of several temples tried to book the elephant as the temple festival season of Kerala commenced.

In an auction held the other day, the festival committee of Chavakkad Sree Vishwanatha Temple in Thrissur acquired the elephant for parading it for the temple festival by offering Rs 6.7 lakh. It is considered as the highest amount for which an elephant is being booked for a temple festival in Kerala.

However, State Animal Welfare Board former member M N Jayachandran said that there were serious flaws in the permission granted by the wildlife authorities.

He said that as per an order of the HC, the wildlife authorities should parade the tusker only as per a decision of an expert monitoring committee. The committee that met a couple of months back decided to grant permission for parading the elephant only for two days in a month, that too not in a row. But the wildlife authorities later relaxed it and granted permission for parading the elephant for two days in a week without consulting the committee. The matter would be brought to the notice of the court, said Jayachandran who had been fighting the case at the HC.