THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V.K. Venkitachalam has provided yet another proof of illegal elephant parade, this time near the capital. The video and pictures the organisation has submitted to the district collector and the chief wildlife warden show a parade elephant kicking a man walking very close to it. The man has been critically injured, and is still in the hospital. The burden of Mr Venkitachalam’s argument is that festival organisers are not careful about keeping people at a stipulated distance from the paraded elephants.
“As per the Elephant Parade Rules, organising an elephant parade without providing a free space of four metres between the body of the elephant and the passage of people is a wildlife crime,” Mr Venkitachalam said. “But here this stipulation was violated in broad daylight. The persons walking in close proximity to the hind leg and tail of the elephant are least bothered that the beast is overworked and could explode any moment,” he added. The video shows one of moving elephants suddenly, seemingly casually with not even a subtle tilt of its head, throwing a back kick on a man walking just behind it with its left hind leg.
The man, who looks 60-plus, was thrown a few metres to the side. It is said that the beast could have been infuriated when its flapping tail caught the body of the man who was walking close by. The incident occurred on April 10, during the ‘arattu’ ceremony of Varkala Janaradhana Swamy Temple. In his complaint, Mr Venkitachalam charged officials with dereliction of duty. “There was no trace of any official from either the forest or revenue departments to ensure that rules are properly adhered to,” he said. He added that the Supreme Court had on August 8, 2016, directed that Elephant Parade Rules be implemented in its letter and spirit.
