Thrissur: An elephant which was recuperating from musth attacked his mahout inflicting severe injuries on him on Sunday morning at Punnathur Kotta Elephant Sanctuary of Guruvayur Devaswom (GD).
There was complete panic at the sanctuary soon after the incident as three other elephants ran amok after witnessing the incident.
Mahout Unni V., 42, a resident of Thiruvenkidom near Guruvayur suffered injuries on his right thigh as the elephant Junior Vishnu attacked him with its tusk. He also suffered fractures on his left leg and is presently undergoing treatment at West Fort Hi-Tech Hospital.
Officials at the GD sanctuary said that he would undergo a major surgery on his fractured leg but he was out of danger.
Soon after the incident, elephants Peethambaran, she elephant Devi Krishna, and Gopi Kannan cut loose from their mahouts and ran out of the sanctuary creating panic in the region. They were later brought under control by the mahouts.
On December 10, a mahout of GD, Subash, 47, a resident of Kothachira in Palakkad was gored to death by GD elephant Sree Krishnan as it ran amok inside the busy Lord Sree Krishnan Temple in Guruvayur.
Meanwhile, pro-animal group based in Thrissur Heritage Animal Task Force has come out against GD for keeping as many as 51 elephants inside the sanctuary even after Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) had asked the GD in 2015 to decentralize the sanctuary by shifting pachyderms to different vacant lands owned by the GD in central Kerala.
“As per the AWBI guidelines, elephants need to get enough space in there resting places. As they are standing so close to each other in the sanctuary, their anxiety increases and such untoward incidents are bound to happen,” V.K. Venkitachalam, general secretary of the Force, told DC.
The earlier incident of a mahout being gored by an elephant also occurred on a Sunday following a second Saturday. The GD officials need to check the roster of mahouts on Sundays following second Saturdays and ensure that the exact number of them were on duty on such days.
Besides that, the GD needs to take corrective action keeping in view both incidents of attack by elephants on mahouts, he added.
