Pointing out the violations of rules regarding parading of elephants at the Thrissur pooram, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) submitted a report to the Supreme Court on Tuesday. According to media reports, AWBI said in its report that partially blind and physically unfit elephants were paraded during the temple festival.
Of the 67 elephants paraded duiring the festival, 31 elephants lacked valid ownership certificates, the AWBI said. The board also claimed that the elephants were chained in all four legs and subjected to the heat for hours together without providing adequate drinking water.
Injury marks were found on many elephants, which were concealed with black paint, the board said. The report was submitted along with photographs and videos to substantiate the observations in the report.
The report also pointed out that the elephant Thechikottukavu Ramachandran, for whom fitness certificate was not issued owing to impaired vision, was used for the formal announcement of the festival. Two other elephants, Lakshmi and Thechikottukavu Devidasan of Thiruvambady Dewasom, were issued fitness certificate and paraded in spite of the former having a blind left eye, and the latter a history of killing people.
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