THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has advised the Centre to ban the training, exhibition and use of elephants for performances (including temple festivals) in the country. The advisory to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change is based on a study presented at the 43rd annual general body of AWBI in Chennai on July 23. It pointed out the “tremendous cruelty endured by captive elephants in India when they are used for performances, which involve training and exhibiting them as well as forcing them to perform tricks, which are unnatural to them as proved by various AWBI-authorised inspection reports on elephants in circuses, used for temple festivals/events and for joy rides”.
The AWBI draws its authority from the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. According to figures compiled by the Heritage Animal Task Force, captive elephants have killed more than 526 people in Kerala within the last 15 years. The study report on elephants pointed out that there is substantial evidence that cruelty and abuse are inherent when wild animals like elephants are violently trained, have their spirits broken to make them obey human commands, are forced to perform tricks that are not natural to their behaviour, and are exhibited in crowded, noisy, and unnatural environments. In 1998, the Central government issued a notification that bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers, and lions shall not be exhibited or trained as performing animals.
The notification was issued based on the recommendation of a high-level expert committee, which concluded that cruelty is inherent in circuses and that wild animals undergo unnecessary pain and suffering when they are trained and forced to perform. After reviewing the AWBI-authorised inspection reports on elephants in circuses, the 39th general meeting of the AWBI, held in Chennai on 23 August 2013, made a decision to stop registering elephants for performances under PARR and also to propose that the MoEFCC include elephants — the only wild animal excluded from the ban, though protected under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 — on the list of banned animals under Section 22 of The PCA Act, 1960.
The recent decision and advisory of the board also reflects its findings regarding the suffering of captive elephants when they are paraded in temple festivals in southern states like Kerala and elsewhere or when used for joy rides in tourist destinations such as Jaipur. Elephants in captivity are abducted from their families, chained by the legs, and beaten into submission — they are wild animals who cannot be considered domesticated simply because they are held in captivity. They are forced to perform ridiculous, frightening, and often dangerous tricks under the constant threat of punishment from ankuses (bullhooks), which are jabbed into the sensitive skin on their faces, feet, and knees.In the wild, elephants are highly social animals who thrive in matriarchal herds, protecting each other and caring for orphaned babies.
They also travel many miles a day, which is necessary for their health and well-being. There is scientific evidence that elephants experience joy, sadness, and fear. In captivity, their complex and multifaceted emotional relationships are left in tatters. Most of the elephants in circuses, temples, and the tourism industry spend only one per cent of their time performing unnatural tricks — they spend the rest chained, eating usually substandard food, and exhibiting stereotypic behaviour indicative of extreme mental distress. The existing animal-protection laws of the country prohibit any cruel training, exhibition, or use of elephants for performance as well as housing, upkeep, or maintenance that is in any way cruel or unnatural to their instincts or that compromises their health and welfare. Numerous AWBI inspections have proven beyond doubt that training, exhibition, and use of elephants for performance is inherently cruel.
