Owner defends 'killer' elephant

Chettuva, Kerala: The owner of a rogue elephant that ran amok on Sunday killing a mahout and injuring over a dozen other people in Kerala's Thrissur district has defended the animal's sudden change of behaviour.

The defence of the animal came even as animal rights groups said tuskers were being treated shoddily during festivals.

The frenzied tusker had killed its mahout and injured 18 other people during an annual festival near a mosque in Chettuva in Thrissur district. Eleven elephants were taking part in the parade at a school when the incident occurred.

Eyewitnesses said an elephant named "Vinayan" became violent after seeing another elephant called "Vijay Krishnan" being ill-treated by its mahout.

People ran helter-skelter and many got injured in the stampede-like situation.

After three hours of confusion, animal experts tranquilised both elephants to bring the situation under control.

Elephant specialist Dr K.C. Panicker, says the mighty animals don't need provocation to get violent.

"The elephant is said to be an unpredictable animal. It becomes violent at any time even without any provocation," Panicker said.

The tusker's owner believes provocation was the only reason his pet reacted in such a manner. "It's actually a very tame elephant... even a child can go near it. But it got violent the other day because another elephant provoked it. It killed the mahout as he tried to beat the elephant to save another person who had fallen down from the animal's back," said N. Namboodiri, the elephant's owner. Animal rights activists in the state are an agitated lot, accusing the authorities of doing nothing to control these incidents.

"Yesterday's incident in which an elephant pushed another elephant and killed his mahout is the real evidence of this kind of crime against captive elephants by festival organisers, elephant contractors and unscrupulous officials of police, forest and animal husbandry department," said V.K. Venkatachalam, the secretary of a society called Aana Premi Sangamam or Friends of Elephants Society.

The state Government has registered a case against organisers of the festival and the owners of elephants. The case has been registered under the Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules 2003.