‘Retirement Benefits’ For Enslaved Indian Elephants

by Maria A. Schulz

K. Sudharakaran, the provincial forest minister of the southern Indian state of Kerala, recently declared that elephants working for the state will be entitled to retirement benefits at age 65. The retired elephants will officially have a right to a healthy diet, check-ups by vets, and acceptable living conditions, according to the new ruling.

"We are taking a serious note of growing cruelty towards captive elephants and their violent reaction to their human captors," K. Sudharakaran told the state assembly in Trivandrum.

An estimated 33,000 elephants are left in India - a quarter of their 19th-century population - and despite protests from animal welfare organizations, many are still forced to carry out laborious work for human taskmasters in the construction industry, logging, security patrols and other businesses.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has accused Indian state governments of routine cruelty and exploitation of elephants.

"Elephants live for more than 70 years if left unmolested in the forest, yet their average life span in captivity is reduced to 14 miserable years," said PETA India chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney.

"Imagine what it must be like for highly intelligent, social and sensitive beings like elephants to be ordered about constantly, under the threat of a beating with a bullhook, at every moment of their lives."

There have been several recent incidents of desperately miserable captive elephants finally "snapping" and violently retaliating against their human "owners". Earlier this year, an elephant who was kept in captivity and forced to work for the forest department in the Kerala city of Cochin, turned on his mahout (keeper) and killed the man.

At least 42 people have been killed or injured in the last five years by elephants in India.

Kerala’s new elephant retirement policy may be a gesture aimed at easing the serious elephant welfare problem. The "retirement rights" will, however, only be applied to elephants who are used to carry out work for the state, and will not apply to elephants working in private businesses, such as circuses.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.