The Elephant Welfare Organization is a prime NGO in Kerala dedicated to the cause of captive elephants. It has organized some training courses for the mahouts and plans to set up an exclusive hospital to provide veterinary services for domesticated elephants. The Zoo Outreach Organization in Coimbatore has been providing a valuable service by disseminating information relating to the management and veterinary care of captive elephants through its journal Zoos' Print. There are associations of mahouts and phandis (noosers) in Assam, but these are not very active at present. TRAFFIC-India, a programme division of the WWF-India, has initiated a study of the trade in captive elephants. But the fact remains that there are not enough NGOs working for the welfare of domesticated elephants. There are no foreign funded projects relating to domesticated elephants in India. Work done by elephants The survey conducted by Project Elephant in November and December 2000 gave the following breakdown of captive elephants in terms of ownership: Forest Departments = 482 Zoos = 80 Circuses = 106 Temples = 192 Private Individuals = 2 540 Elephants owned by State Forest Departments (SFDs) are used for patrols by field staff in National Parks and Sanctuaries. They are also used for carrying tourists inside forests for viewing wildlife. During floods and other natural calamities, SFD elephants are sometimes requisitioned by the civil authorities for arranging relief works. In the Andamans and Nicobar Islands, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamilnadu, SFD elephants are occasionally used for logging operations. Karnataka Forest Department provides elephants for the Dusshera festival in Mysore. West Bengal Forest Department uses its elephants for driving away herds of wild elephants from croplands. SFD elephants in Karnataka and Tamilnadu are also often utilized for capturing and training wild elephants. The use of domesticated elephants in many states is disproportionate to the populations of wild elephants in the states. For example, SFDs in Orissa, Bihar (including Jharkhand) and Meghalaya possess only two captive elephants each despite wild elephant populations of 1 827 618 and 1 840, respectively. Even in Kerala, which has 5 737 wild elephants, the SFD has only 16 elephants. Manipur and Mizoram, the two northeastern states, do not have any SFD elephants at all. West Bengal Forest Department, on the other hand, makes intensive use of domesticated elephants: it has one captive elephant for every six wild elephants. There is obviously great scope for increasing the utilization of elephants by the SFDs, both in the elephant bearing states and elsewhere. |
| Services |
| Free eMagazine Animal News & Articles 24 Hour Open Pet Store Online Query Services Veterinary Search Centre |
|
|
| © Cheerans Lab (P) Limited About us | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact us | Site Map |
Search anything, anytime !