Incident comes after the district saw two fatal elephant mishaps on consecutive days in the Thiruvilanjal Devi Temple, Karuvatta near Haripad last year
Representational image
ALAPPUZHA: As usual, when the festival season begins, the life of the “gentle giants” starts getting miserable despite the Supreme Court’s recent stringent guidelines on parading elephants in temple festivals.
In the latest instance of its kind, a blind elephant named Koduman Sivasankaran with festering sores on its body was allegedly being paraded at the ongoing week-long Thrikkunnappuzha Dharma Sastha temple festival for the last two days.
Sivasankaran, who had created headlines last year after he was used in several temple fests although he had sustained a deep wound on his front leg, is currently contracted by a Muthukulam native after his legal owner in Koduman Pathanamthitta district died two years ago.
A local man, who participates in the festival actively in the temple, told Deccan Chronicle that currently only Sivasanakaran was at the temple as it was still the third day (Friday) of the festival. “In days to come the number of elephants which take part in the parade will reach up to seven”, he said.
“Sivasankaran’s health is currently deteriorating. The pachyderm has wounds and needs to be rested for a while,” says an elephant lover near Arattupuzha.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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