Kerala Government Passes Law Allowing People To Own Elephants PETA Lashes Out

Admin 29-Mar-2016 17:30:47 Inothernews

Kerala Government Passes Law Allowing People To Own Elephants PETA Lashes Out


Animal rights NGO PETA India has sent a legal notice to the Kerala government, asking them to withdraw February order allowing the state Chief Wildlife Warden to give ownership for 289 illegally held captive elephants via a certificate. This order allows the Chief Wildlife Warden to allow people to keep elephants captive, in illegal custody. Peta said this contradicts the spirit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which prohibits illegal capture, trade and custody of wild animals such as elephants, and the purpose of the 18 August, 2015 interim order of the Supreme Court. Through the 26 February order, Kerala had acted in favour of illegal owners of elephants, it said and asked the state government to withdraw it and also withdraw the ownership certificates issued as per the order. The state should penalise owners of the 289 elephants in Kerala who do not have valid ownership certificate, Peta said. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, had allowed the declaration of captive elephants either within 30 days of its enactment or during the period of an amnesty scheme notified by the central government in 2003, the animals rights body said.



The 2003 amnesty scheme was offered through Declaration of Wildlife Stock Rules, 2003, which required wildlife articles to be declared within 180 days from the date of notification of the Rules (ie, 18 April to 18 October 2003).

Though the Kerala government on 3 February, 2012 had asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change for an extension of the amnesty period, the request was denied, it said.

"By providing amnesty to owners of ill-gotten elephants, Kerala is propping up the cruel and illegal elephant trade and making a mockery of the Wildlife Protection Act," said Peta India Director of Veterinary Affairs Manilal Valliyate. "The Supreme Court has ordered Kerala to take action against these law-violating elephant abusers, and that's exactly what Peta is calling on the government to do."

Capturing an elephant is prohibited under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Yet many captive elephants are thought to have been captured illegally from the wild, separated from their mothers as babies,beaten into submission and transported to Kerala for to be used as tourist attractions and in temples.

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