Captive elephant overthrows vehicle, parade ban for 15 days

KOCHI: A captive elephant overturned a commercial three-wheeler vehicle near the KSRTC depot in North Paravoor on Saturday morning. The elephant, Moothakunnam Padmanabhan, belonging to Moothakunnam Sree Narayana Mangalam Temple, overturned the vehicle when it was brought for boarding a lorry, which was to transport him to Pallathamkulangara Bhagavathi Temple for parading as part of the annual festival. The 35-year-old elephant was brought under control after two hours. The mahout was sitting on the pachyderm all this while.
Sources said the elephant has the habit of refusing to board the vehicle. “On Saturday too, it refused to board the lorry. Initially, it boarded the vehicle, but it got down and walked forward. While coming back on the narrow road, the commercial vehicle came in front of it. Padmanabhan overturned it. As the driver ran away before the incident, he escaped unhurt. But a motorbike hit the rear of the commercial vehicle when it stopped on the road abruptly. The bike fell on the road, and the rider suffered minor injuries. Later, the elephant was brought under control after being brought to Moothakunnam Temple,” said a social forestry official.
The elephant is physically fit and has permission to parade in the festival. The officer said the elephant has a habit of frolicking always. Following the incident, social forestry issued a ban on parading the elephant for the next 15 days.
With the festivals underway in various parts of the state and the temperature soaring above normal, incidents related to captive elephants running amok are reported from various places. The Kerala high court put strict guidelines in place for parading elephants in temple festivals. However, the Supreme Court stayed the guidelines set by the Kerala HC.