Ever since a forest ranger posted pictures of the elephant and other officials claimed to have narrated her ordeal, the incident has sparked a new debate about animal cruelty in India. The wild female elephant ate a pineapple stuffed with firecrackers which exploded in her mouth. This rendered her incapable to eat or drink anything.
Experiencing insufferable pain, the pregnant wild elephant stood for a whole day in the Velliyar river area in Palakkad district before collapsing to her death on May 27.
While the incident created a national outrage it stirred a feeling of utter sadness in me, seething rage followed propelled by condescending attitude of few Malayali keyboardwarriors giving the entire incident a saffron wrapping(blaming right wing party for propaganda), calling out opportunist non Keralite to cash in an opportunity to malign a model state, a state which takes pride in calling itself "God's own country".
For starters I am a Malayali Nair and I can without any iota of hesitation say that the state of Kerala , famously termed “God’s own country” should aptly be rechristened as “Animal's own HELL”. Cruelty to elephants, cruelty to dogs, the most apathetic conditions in which they slaughter animals, cows, camels, little calves etc. , #Keralaiscrueltoanimals
Not long ago after beating the dogs to death, the angry workers of the youth front party tied the carcasses to a wooden pole and took to the streets while shouting slogans against Maneka Gandhi and the state government for not being able to control the “menace” that is street dogs in Kerala. The abysmal figures only begin to unravel the extent of cruelty meted out to canines in India's most literate state. Exactly as political violence and face-offs between CPIM and the RSS/BJP cadres reaches a crescendo in Kerala, abusing hapless animals also peaked, almost as a side-effect of the general vitiated atmosphere that's poisoning the state from within. Reports of cadres being hacked to death interspersed with stray dogs being eviscerated and put out on display from wooden poles do not hide the sheer coincidence of brutality practiced in Kerala at present.
Coming back to the sorry state of affairs of the elephants in Kerala, in May 2018, UK-based Action for Elephants described Kerala as ‘ground zero for elephant torture’. Roughly 10,000 temple festivals and processions take place in Kerala annually, and many of them involve elephants. Decked in heavy ornaments and colourful decorations the elephants are made to carry heavy religious idols during long, crowded processions to the loud accompaniment of hundreds of drums. These temple processions are undoubtedly a spectacle to watch and they attract visitors not just from other parts of India, but also from abroad, contributing in part to the state's tourism coffers.
Yet, despite their roles in religious celebrations, these gentle giants' often live in miserable conditions. A captive elephant faces both physical and mental abuse Their feet become septic, life-threatening sores develop on their backs and hips when they are made to carry heavy loads frequently. An elephant is meant to walk at least 30 kms a day and hence they are constantly bobbling even when stationary.
Have you ever wondered why most captive elephants have a white pigmentation on their trunk?
In the forests they eat so many different kinds of food and that helps them retain their colour but temples & institutions cannot afford to give the elephants a nutritious, wholesome diet.
The death of 13 captive elephants in Kerala in the past five months had sparked another debate on the cruelty shown to these animals – an intrinsic part of the state’s grand temple festival tradition – and prompted a revision of the rules protecting them. The deaths follow 20 captive elephants dying in 2017 and 26 the year before.
Is this paranoia or simply brain-frying illogic that Kerala is falling prey to? How can a state suddenly lose all its heart and become the newfound cradle of cruelty? What is going on?
Kerala’s repeated cases of animal abuse prove only one thing: No matter how educated one is, humanity is just not everyone’s cup of tea. And in a country where we don’t respect the lives of our very own species enough to not kill them over what they eat, it is but too much to hope that Kerala be a little more humane.
We know that acts of cruelty to animals are not mere indications of a minor personality flaw in the abuser; they are symptomatic of a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don’t stop there—many of them move on to their fellow humans. I know what my next blog should speak :)