Captive Elephants in India: Paradox of Reverence and Exploitation

The Kerala High Court poignantly compared their plight to an “eternal Treblinka,” invoking the horrors of Nazi extermination camps. Despite being highly social animals and are sacred symbols of wisdom and strength, captive elephants often endure isolation and abusive training that breaks their spirit.

Captive Elephants in India Concerns

• Illegal Practices: As of January 2019, there were 2,675 documented captive elephants in India.
  • Reports suggest replacements for deceased elephants are often captured from the wild.
• Microchip Misuse: Microchips, introduced under Project Elephant in 2002 to track captive elephants, are reportedly retrieved from deceased animals and reinserted into illegally captured wild elephants to legalize them.
  • The rules lack mandates for microchip removal upon an elephant’s death, enabling such misuse.
• Monitoring Gaps: No requirement for post-mortem reports in cases of death during transfer or transport, leaving significant gaps in accountability.
• Interstate Trade of Captive Elephants: Elephants have been transported from northeastern states to southern and western states.
  • Eg., An elephant “gifted” to a Delhi temple by a private owner in Assam.

Government Action

Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024

• Introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in March 2024, the rules aim to regulate the transfer and transport of captive elephants to curb illegal wild captures.
• Key Provisions and Loopholes
  • Transfer of Ownership: Ownership can be transferred if the current owner cannot maintain the elephant.
    • No mandate for non-commercial transactions, allowing elephants to be traded as property.
  • Transport Provisions: Rules permit temporary transport without explicitly justifying the purpose, potentially enabling leasing for religious ceremonies, weddings, political rallies, and tourism.
    • This commodifies elephants and undermines welfare, creating economic incentives for their capture.
  • Impact on Conservation: Regularization of transfers for commercial purposes risks incentivizing wild captures, directly threatening conservation efforts.
  • Births in Captivity: Rules allow calves born in captivity to be classified as owned captive elephants, perpetuating the cycle of captivity and exploitation.
• In August 2024, following reports by civil society, the Elephant Project under MoEFCC flagged illegal transfers and issued an office memorandum emphasizing strict adherence to rules.

Recommendations for Improvement

• Strengthen the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules with explicit language ensuring welfare and prohibiting commercial exploitation.
  • Mandate removal and destruction of microchips posthumously in the presence of forest officials.
  • Require post-mortem reports for elephants dying during transportation.
• Encourage civil society, temple committees, and governments to shift from live elephant use to alternatives like electronic elephants.
• Prioritize measures that reduce demand for captive elephants and bolster their protection in the wild.
• Mandatory digitization of captive elephants’ genetic profiles.
• Implement humane, non-invasive birth control measures for elephants in private custody.

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