Amidst the immense outrage over the horrific death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala, an advocate has knocked the doors of the apex court to seek relief against the insidious issue of animal cruelty.
On May 12, 2020, the said elephant was offered a cracker stuffed-pineapple by few locals near the Silent Valley National Park in Palakkad district of Kerala. The cracker burst in her mouth and she sustained injuries on her tongue and lower jaw. She thereby rushed to the nearby Velliyar river where she stood to relieve her pain until she succumbed to her injuries two days later. The locals reported that the elephant could not eat something because of her injury. The rescue efforts were not successful either.
The petition enumerates the following reasons for prevalence of such practices, namely:
- Lack of awareness about the possible ill-effects of Animal-Human conflicts and lack of information about alternative ways of protecting crops from wild animals who can get violent. Besides, lack of scientific involvement in developing the above methods is another reason.
- Acute shortage of staff in Forest Forces to oversee animal abuse by the locals.
- The exemption of animal laws from the scrutiny of the Legislature or the Judiciary, sparing little scope for amendments, new laws, and judicial cognizance.
Leaving cracker-laden fruits or feeding them to animals is one of the most widely-practised and illegal methods to particularly repel wild boars from entering plantation farms. More than the hideous nature of the act, the absence of proper mechanisms to address the needs of farmers/villagers trying to save their crops from being sabotaged; that too in the vicinity of a park has been highlighted in the petition. Thus, the petition zeroes out on development of simpler tools to counter the menace and calls out for an action by the Supreme Court parenspatriae.
Read the petition here Click
not only must the practices of usage of such means be declared illegal and unconstitutional, but the actions of groups, bodies and leaders that permit and propagate such practices must also be declared illegal