With no new captive-elephant birth in last 20 yrs, numbers drop sharply

Owners prevent animals from conceiving as jumbo pregnancies are time-consuming, financially taxing

- Biju E Paul @ Alappuzha

Amid the seething anger over human deaths at the hands of wild elephants and legal battles over the pachyderm parades at festivals, the number of these animals in captivity in the state has dropped alarmingly. Around 24 captive elephants died due to ill-treatment last year. This is complicated by the fact that owners are preventing female elephants from getting impregnated, further impacting the population.

Currently, the state has 341 bull and 48 cow elephants in captivity. This compares poorly with a total of 702 in 2010.

According to V K Venkitachalam, secretary of the Heritage Animal Task Force, no new elephant births have been reported in the state in the last two decades. "Owners do not allow elephants to conceive and give birth. They nurture the animals for money. Jumbo pregnancies are time-consuming and financially taxing, which owners are not willing to deal with," he said.