2022-04-11 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
A mahout was trampled to death by an elephant that ran amok on Monday at Mukkukada near Navayikkulam in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district. Unni, a native of Vellannoor, was killed by the elephant which was brought to carry timber from a private property in the area. Unni was one of the two mahouts of the elephant. Attempts to tame the elephant were on.
2022-03-13 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Dhinesh Kallungal
Around 20 instances of elephants running amok have been reported in the State, especially in Thrissur, Palakkad and Ernakulam districts, in March alone, though not many casualties have been reported in this connection. The workload on the elephants can be judged from the number of elephants available in the State now. The State had around 521 elephants as per the jumbo census in November 2018. But after the census, 75 elephants died, reducing their number to 446. “There is a great mismatch bet...
2021-07-07 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Three baby elephants at the rehabilitation centre for pachyderms in Kottur here, who were showing symptoms of Herpes viral infection are stable now, the wildlife department said on Wednesday. The remaining three continued to be under treatment and one of them - a male calf named Kannan, was in a slightly more serious condition. The remaining six calves under the age of 10 years at the centre are also not showing any symptoms of the infection,
2021-07-06 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
A six-year previous elephant calf died as a consequence of Herpes virus an infection on the rehabilitation centre for pachyderms at Kottur right here, making it the second such casualty there inside one week and three extra calves — Podichi, Aamina and Kannan — are present process IV remedy as they confirmed signs of the virus an infection. Apart from them, six different calves beneath the age of 10 years are beneath statement and have been given prophylactics to stop an infection.
2021-07-02 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The elephant rehabilitation centre in Kottoor is on high alert following the death of an elephant calf due to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) and the diagnoses of the infection in two others. The first casualty of the deadly virus at the centre was Sreekutty, aged one year and seven months. The calf died on June 28. The State Institute of Animal Diseases, Palode, confirmed the disease on Thursday.
2021-01-30 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Aameena, the wild elephant calf found near its deceased mother elephant at Kallar has been shifted to Kottoor elephant rehabilitation centre. The calf calf easily got adjusted to her new home. The mother elephant died after getting electrocuted from a metal line which passes through the forest range.
2016-12-11 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Eyeing the Guinness Book honour for the oldest living Asian elephant in captivity, 86-year-old Chenkalloor Dakshayani, would soon get a chain-free spacious enclosure.
2016-11-24 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
At 86, Dakshayani shows few signs of aging and looks absolutely fit and graceful as she gets all set all set to enter the Guinness World Records as the oldest-living elephant in the world. The elephant is with the Chengalloor Temple in Poojappura
2016-10-10 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The tusker was the 18th captive elephant to die in the state in the last nine months. According to Heritage Animal Task Force secretary V.K. Venkitachalam, who keeps record of elephant torture and deaths, the number of deaths this year is a record. “Never before has this happened.
2015-11-05 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Kerala has taken on a jumbo project: elephants in the state will soon have the luxury of ´ambulance´ service to transport sick and injured jumbos. For the first time, the state forest department has launched an animal ambulance, a specially designed vehicle for elephants, at the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary (WWS), a paradise for wild jumbos in north Kerala.
2014-09-10 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The death of a two-year-old elephant in Wayanad forest in Kerala is suspected to be due to herpes, a deadly infectious disease. Samples of the male calf´s carcass has been sent to Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences College in Pookkot in Wayanad for analysis and confirmation to ascertain if herpes virus was the cause of the death, a senior faculty of the college said.
2014-02-06 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The brutal death of Saneesh, a mahout who was mauled by a 19 year old elephant at Thevara, is due to the disruption of a long standing relationship of trust and love that mahouts and elephants used to have till a decade ago. Saneesh was the twenty eighth mahout that 19 year old Uttoli Mahadevan, had to take orders from in the last seven years.
2012-02-14 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Captive elephants in the state are a sad and lonely lot. Of the 702 captives in the state, only 118 are females, less than 17 per cent of the total captive population. And of the 118, more than 60 per cent have crossed the reproductive age. The jumbos lead such a loveless existence that there is no record of a pregnancy as a result of a union between two captive elephants in the state. In the last four years two female elephants delivered, one in Kollam and another in Kottayam, but both had conc...
2012-02-11 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
According to the fresh guidelines on safekeeping of elephants, issued by Kerala forests department, all domestic elephants should wear a name plate. It also says that elephants should be covered under third party insurance scheme. According to an official release, the safekeeping of elephants would be monitored by a committee comprising district collectors, police superintendents, divisional forest officer, devaswom board member and a representative of the Kerala elephant owners´ associati...
2011-12-29 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Elephants in India may be considered an embodiment of Lord Ganesh, but the status of captive jumbos in Kerala is anything but divine. Experts say the lack of proper medical care as well as money-minded owners pose a serious threat to the magnificent beasts. According to 70-year-old veterinarian Jacob Cheeran, of the 14,000 elephants in captivity in the world, around 26 percent are in India.
2010-12-03 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Five-year-old Kannan, the resident elephant at a Hindu temple near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala has been looking a bit long in the tooth. With its tusks too long to be able to eat, it is time for a visit from Vinayan, the elephant beautician. Vinayan was an elephant driver by profession but took to cutting and shaping elephants tusks that earned him the nickname of the "elephant beautician"
2009-10-05 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The skull of a wild elephant has been found in a canal in a forest at Kummannoor in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district. The Wildlife Department was examining the remains of the jumbo to ascertain whether it died of natural cause or a victim of poaching, a senior Wildlife official said today. "We can arrive at a conclusion only after detailed examination of the skull and a few pieces of bones found in the forest," P Pukazhenthi, Divisional Forest Officer, Konni division, told PTI.
2009-02-22 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
A herd of wild elephants trampled to death two hikers who were part of a 10- member group returning from a trek to Agasthyarkoodam peak in the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary in Nedumangadu taluk on Saturday evening. They were identified as Anuroop, 25 and Jayakumar, 27, of Neyyatinkara. S. Bijukumar, 30, who narrowly survived the attack, told reporters that the attack occurred in the forest midway between Thankayanvacha Kovil point and the Bonacaud Forest Picket station, almost 2 km. downhill.
2009-02-11 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Every year a tragedy unfolds in Kerala -- a land of festivals. The festival season (February-April) has just started and two persons have already been trampled to death by temple elephants trained to participate in the festivities. A partially blind tusker ran amok at the Ernakulam Shiva temple last Friday, trampling a woman to death and injuring 15 others seriously. Two days later a mahout (trainer) was killed by another jumbo in Kunnamkulam near Thrissur.
2009-01-13 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
Finally, it was left to a goddess to speak up for the beleaguered elephant. Bhadra, the presiding deity of Kanichukulangara Devi Temple, when an ‘ashtamangalyaprasnam’ was conducted to know her mind, said henceforth her idol would be mounted, not on the back of a hapless elephant, but on the shoulders of men who had undergone fasting and penance for 40 days. Thus, at a time when temple festivals cannot do without elephants, the Kanichukulangara Temple in Alappuzha district has become the fir...
2008-11-07 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa landed in a controversy for gifting a elephant to a temple in Kerala with animal rights activists alleging violation of wildlife rules including that the person donating a pachyderm should be declared "pauper" by law. Kerala Chief Wildlife Warden J K Tewari has asked the Divisional Forest officer in Kannur to look into the matter and submit a report following a complaint by animal rights campaigners,
2008-09-10 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The first exhaustive study of captive elephants in southern India has found that 15.25 per cent of them suffer from tuberculosis. Principal investigator of the two-year-long study Jacob Cheeran said that the study was done on 387 captive elephants in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; 59 of the elephants had TB. "The study on the health of captive elephants with special attention on TB was conducted by the Bangalore-based NGO Asian Nature and Conservation Foundati...
2008-08-28 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India. Ashraf Padanna
Kerala’s old captive elephants can now retire and spend their twilight years in dignity at their new home outside the state capital here. The Elephant Rehabilitation Centre, India’s first old-age home for the pachyderm, was opened yesterday at the serene Agasthyavanam Biological Park, a major attraction for the eco-tourists in Kerala. We’ll convert this into a pilgrimage centre for animal lovers all over the world,†Forest Minister Binoy Vishwam said as he opened the c...
2008-06-17 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Elephant owners, mahouts and veterinarians are getting together to frame guidelines for the management of captive elephants in Kerala to ensure the animals are not overworked and ill-treated. The Elephant Welfare Association of the state will hold a meeting June 29 in Thrissur, about 300 km from here, to draw up a set of rules for the owners and handlers of captive elephants.
2008-05-30 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Forest Minister Benoy Viswom said that captive elephants without an embedded microchip will not be allowed to be paraded during festivals and other social gatherings from June 1. "We have already held discussions with the elephant owners and they have agreed. Revenue, Forest and Tourism Department officials also have been intimated," the Minister told reporters at a press conference here on Thursday to highlight the achievements of his ministry during the past two years. The new cut-off date on ...
2008-04-25 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Naveen Nair
Thiruvalla Unnikrishnan crushing a man to death at Koodalmanikam temple in Thrissur has shocked elephant lovers in Kerala. Perhaps, it's another grim reminder that human relations with these gentle giants have soured and it might not just get better very soon. “Traditionally elephants are an integral part of temple festivals. It not just the beauty that the elephant brings to festival, but rather its a matter of faith as the elephants represent Lord Ganesha,” Thiruvambadi Devaswom secretary ...
2008-04-03 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Sanu George
According to reports, Kerala has a population of around 900 captive elephants. The famed Sree Krishna Temple at Guruvayoor owns the largest herd of 65. In a few months the Kerala forest department will open the first old age home for captive elephants in the country at Kottoor, 70 km from the state capital here. “We have already set up five enclosures at the facility. The first phase will be ready in the next two months. The project when completed will house 30 elephants. The work will be comp...
2008-03-21 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India. Ashraf Padanna
Caparisoned elephants will be missing from the famed Thrissur Pooram, the most colourful temple festival of Kerala, from this year if the state’s forest authorities have their way. The state’s forest department has made it clear that it will be strictly abiding by the rules against parading elephants under the scorching sun during daytime and risk lives of thousands of devotees. “The rules are clear and they will be enforced. We are dealing with wild animals which do not know how to...
2008-03-14 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
Did you know that elephants ate eggs? Well, most of the zookeepers from across the country who took part in the mahout training programme also did not. They saw the jumbos being given a feed of dates and eggs at the elephant camp at Guruvayur. This was just one of the many elephant camps they visited as part of their training programme in elephant management and all of them in one voice said it was a great learning experience. They also had many tales to recite at the concluding session of the p...
2008-03-09 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. S. BINU RAJ
The grace of an elephant is beyond words. B. Chandra Kumar, a photographer, has followed elephants for more than a decade. Elephants just happened to stray before his lens and thus dictated his frame. “It happened in 1995, during one of my assi gnments at the elephant training centre Kodanad. I was there to shoot the mischievous moods of little Parvathi, an elephant calf who had strayed into the camp from the forest. Those photographs were widely appreciated. After that I started following wil...
2008-03-08 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The Kerala government on Saturday directed officials concerned to strictly implement laws under The Captive Elephant Management Rules following a rise in the number of incidents involving elephants participating in temple festivals becoming wild,causing hardship to people. The officials should ensure that elephants engaged for temple festivals were free of any disease and the Festival committees should obtain a certificate from a veterinary doctor, an official press release said here on Saturday...
2008-03-06 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
In a case of alleged stealing of leopard claws, hair of elephant tails and peacock feathers from the zoo here, the zoo director has suspended a supervisor, pending an enquiry. The suspension was ordered yesterday, following an enquiry into a complaint by some medical college students from Nagpur, who had reported to authorities two months back that a staff member at the zoo had tried to sell leopard claws to them.
2008-01-29 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Incidents of elephants running amok have been on the rise in Kerala over the last few years. Violent pachyderms have killed several people and damaged property. Animal lovers have often attributed the unruly behaviour of captive elephants to ill-treatment or neglect at the hands of mahouts. But a recent study suggests that climate change may have something to do with the disruptive behaviour of pachyderms. The study by T.S. Rajeev of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Wayanad, P.J. R...
2008-01-16 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India. R Ayyappan
Once again the same old elephant story. For the third year running, the State is being converted into a mass grave for captive elephants and their mahouts. During the Oct 05’-March 06’ festival season, a shocking 216 captive elephants and 54 mahouts were killed. Last season was no less shocking. 152 elephants died of torture and 68 mahouts were gored or crushed to death. Not even half way into the festival season, this year too seems no different. At least 17 elephants and seven mahouts had ...
2007-12-30 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The Kerala government on Sunday ordered a probe into the death of two baby elephants at a camp for the pachyderms at Kodanad in Ernakulam district. Talakkad Chief Forest Conservator (Wildlife) would conduct the probe, an official release said here today. The elephants Aswathi and Niranjan had died recently after showing symptoms of 'herpis virus' infection. But the real cause behind the death could be determined only after getting final laboratory report, the release said. However, the officials...
2007-10-21 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Akhel Mathew
Elephants in Kerala are set to enjoy a brighter future thanks to a new set of Forest Department rules aimed at ensuring their general welfare. Elephants are often forced to participate in religious festivals in a bid to add colour to the proceedings. The Sivagiri Mutt and the St. George Malankara Orthodox Christian Church in Thrissur have already vowed not to parade elephants during temple and church festivals.
2007-09-16 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Ganesh Chathurthi meant holiday for the seven elephants of the Jumbo Circus. Special poojas were conducted for the pachyderms and they were treated to specially-prepared food. Circus artistes wearing traditional Kerala sarees applied tilak on the foreheads of the kneeling elephants as other artistes looked on. Elephants are among the few animals which are currently allowed in circuses after the Central Government banned wild animals like tiger and lion.
2007-09-15 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Nandagopal Nair
A Vinayaka Chaturthi with a difference was celebrated in Kerala where the Gods came alive at a circus in Thiruvananthapuram. NDTV has an exclusive report. The Gaja Puja on Ganesh Chaturthi is an annual event and is a thanks giving to the animals that draw in the crowds all year round. Usually on Ganesh Chaturthi we do this puja. We worship our elephants, said Ajay Shankar, partner, Jumbo Circus. A 57-year-old Zulban Ali has been taking care of the elephants at the circus for thirty years. A fift...
2007-08-19 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
No festival in Kerala is complete without the majestic spectacle of caparisoned elephants swaying to the frenzied beat of drums and the blare of trumpets. To the casual observer, the pachyderm seems to be relaxed and completely at peace with itself. Very few realise that, behind the visage of calm and poise lies a tale of misery and suffering inflicted by man.
2007-07-07 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
A rehabilitation centre for aged elephants has been planned in Kerala, state Forest Minister Binoy Viswam said Thursday. An ideal forest spot would be identified soon for, Viswam informed the state assembly today. Taking note of incidents of elephants turning violent during festivals, a scheme to impart scientific training to mahouts has been drawn up, Viswam said in a written reply. The wildlife department had taken steps for effective implementation of Kerala captive elephants (management and ...
2007-04-24 - Thiruvananthapuram, United States.
The third synchronised census of elephants roaming the forests of four southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka will be carried out from May 7 to 9. According to sources, there were about 21,300 elephants in India during the 2005 survey. Karnataka topped the list with about 4,500 elephants, followed by Tamil Nadu with around 4,000 and Kerala with 3,500.
2007-04-20 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
A love story is brewing in the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo where age it seems is no bar for a very special jumbo combo. The impossible love affair between 18-year-old Rajkumar and his 76-year-old sweetheart Maheshwari is blossoming into elephantine proportions. Rajkumar was sent to the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo by the Bombay High Court after it was found that his keepers in Mumbai could not manage him.
2007-04-12 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
District collectors have been directed to collect on an urgent basis all relevant information regarding elephants in each district. As part of this, collectors will soon issue notices to owners to present their elephants before the district magistrate and get it registered.
2007-04-11 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Forest Minister Benoy Viswom has convened a high-level meeting in the wake of an elephant goring to death a mahout during a local festival at Chettuva near Thrissur on Sunday, as a person was taken into custody for allegedly pelting stones at the elephant during a parade by 11 tuskers at the festival.
2007-04-10 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Stressed out elephants in Keralas Thrissur have become a cause for concern. An elephant ran amok and killed its mahout during an elephant show at a school near Thrissur district on Sunday, prompting state authorities to re-think where these elephants can now be used. While elephants have always been a part of temple traditions, authorities want their participation in political and social functions to be brought down. The elephant killed its mahout, TDM Unni and injured 24 persons during the show...
2007-04-05 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Akhel Mathew
One of them, Avittathur Murali, recently collapsed in Kumbalam near Kochi, which animal lovers say was because the animal was not given proper healthcare and also because it was made to walk for long on tarred roads, leading to dehydration. In an encouraging development, forest minister Binoy Viswam has said the government would be forced to take action if elephant owners and mahouts do not follow the conditions laid down for utilising animals for processions and other functions.
2007-03-22 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
A team of officials from the city zoo will leave for Mumbai next week to bring over a male elephant. Over the next few months, the zoo is expected to get a variety of animals from different zoos across the country. Zoo superintendent S. Abu said these animals might not be brought at one go but rather in phases. The paperwork relating to the elephant and the giraffe are in the final stages. Talks are on for the rest of the animals.
2007-03-21 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
Keralas temple festivals may no more see elephants, with their angry owners protesting against criminal cases the police slap on them whenever the animals run amok. The Kerala Elephant Owners Association has decided that with no proper set of rules to decide what needs to be done when elephants run amok, we will not send any elephants to take part in temple festivals, P Sasi Kumar, joint secretary of the group, said.
2007-03-19 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The rules for proper upkeep of captive elephants in Kerala have set the retirement age for jumbos at 65, according to State Forest Minister Binoy Viswam. The quantum of food for jumbos was prescribed and the rules also insist that elephants should not be marched on tarred roads during the summer days, the maximum distance to be covered a day is 30 km, they should be rested when in 'musth', use of heavy and sharp shackles should be avoided and they should be kept at a safe distance from fireworks...
2007-03-02 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The man-animal conflict is acquiring a grave dimension in Kerala with at least 15 people dying in retaliatory violence by elephants since December 30. In all, 46 people (41 mahouts and five others) were killed by captive elephants in the State in 2006. The latest was the death of an innocent onlooker at a temple festival in the southern district of Kollam when a group of elephants, being herded from temple to the other, panicked and ran amuck after a mahout struck one of the animals with a sharp...
2007-02-16 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Finally, a frustrated Vinay Shankar had to ram into a lorry larger and heavier than himself and break his own head in front of the Sankarankulangara temple in Thrissur on Wednesday to make humans aware of the kind of atrocities he and his tribe are being subjected to in the name of festivals. Says elephant expert Dr Jacob Cheeran: “They transport elephants in trucks flouting all established norms. The elephant brokers are too eager to reach them as early as possible to as many festival venues ...
2007-02-13 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The Malayali’s near-spiritual bond with elephants has deteriorated into a primitive game of survival as deadly and unpredictable as bull-fighting. In a span of just 40 days, from December 31 to February 10, elephants have gored or stomped 13 people to death in various parts of the state. The last four deaths took place in just three days. Even in 2004, said to be the bloodiest, the toll was only seven for the entire festival season – December to May.
2007-02-10 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. G. Anand
Illegal ivory trade seems to be flourishing secretly in the city. On January 17 this year, the Forest Department seized a pair of elephant tusks from the house of a suspected ivory dealer at Eenchakkal. The tusks, weighing 2.2 kg, were extracted from a young male elephant shot dead by poachers in the Adimali Forest Range recently.
2006-11-17 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The Forest Department has virtually blocked the arrival of out-of-work North Indian, especially Bihar, elephants to the state. Chief Wildlife Warden V Gopinathan has asked his Bihar counterpart to get his no objection certificate and only then allow the transit of elephants from Bihar to Kerala. Says Gopinathan: ‘‘During the last few months an unusually large number of elephants have been transported to the state from Bihar. By law we cannot stop then from coming. But if it affects the well-...
2006-10-16 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Captive elephants in Kerala are being given 'registration numbers' - in the form of a microchip device planted under the skin - in order to put an end to frauds committed by unscrupulous owners. "Microchip is one centimetre in length and has a diameter comparable to that of a grain of rice. This is encased in a glass pellet and has a unique code number," veteran elephant expert Jacob Cheeran told IANS.
2006-07-11 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Is Sethulakshmy pregnant? This is a big question which is bothering the Kerala police after they arrested the owner of the 38-year-old captive elephant. Just last month, Prasanthan Guruji, the previous owner of the elephant, is now cooling his heels in jail. He has been arrested by the Thiruvananthapuram police for torturing his two mahouts. His claims about his elephant being pregnant are also suspect. Prashant claims that the elephant is pregnant. His mahout says it's not.
2006-05-29 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. JOHN MARY
When forest officers failed to catch a rogue elephant, some tribals decided to hold them captive. Officials from Kerala and Tamil Nadu were locked inside a building in the Peppara forest range, around 50 km from here, for nearly three hours today by the group that included women and children. They demanded immediate capture of the elephant that has killed their kin and eaten their crops.
2006-05-21 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
The man-animal conflict in the Agasthyar forests has entered its climactic phase. After weeks of indecision, the government has decided to set up an elaborate trap to capture the wild elephants that are creating havoc in the 27 kani settlements spread deep inside the forests.
2006-02-20 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Kerala Forest Minister A Sujanapal today said the government has taken stern action against cruelty to elephants. He told the State Assembly that the government was taking stern action under the Wildlife Proection Act of 1972 and Kerala Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) rules of 2003. According to a survey conducted in 2005, there were 5,135 wild elephants in Wayanad, Nilambur, Anamudi and Periyar Elephant Reserve Forests in the state.
2006-02-10 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The Kerala Government will start an elephant rehabilitation centre at Kottoor, near here, State Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman said today. The government will also be introducing a ''Gajaraja Award'' for the best domesticated elephant and separate awards given to the most caring owner and mahout, he said while presenting the Budget in the Assembly.
2006-02-08 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India. Don Sebastian
If pedantics have their way, captive elephants in Kerala would soon be deprived of their sex life. Citing ancient scriptures pertaining to elephant care, a handful of elephant lovers at least think that breeding elephants would spell doom for its owners. Experts beg to differ.
2006-02-03 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
A 47-year-old man was gored to death by an elephant at Chirayinkeezhu early on Thursday morning. The incident occurred shortly after the conclusion of the festival at the Mukkaluvattam Devi temple, Puthukkari, Chirayinkeezhu. The man, who has been identified as Mani of Paravur, had gone near the elephant to receive the ‘thidambu’, which was handed down by the second mahout Udayakumar, Chirayinkeezhu police said.
2006-01-17 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
The state capital witnessed a rare reception with the chief minister, a former chief minister and a minister among those attending the ceremonial welcome of Guruvayur Padmanabhan, the famed pachyderm who has held pride of place at the Guruvayur temple for over 50 years. Guruvayur Padmanabhan, the tallest tusker among all the elephants in Kerala temples, was making his first trip to the capital.
2006-01-13 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Ramesh Babu
It's going to be a feast fit for a king. And the guest list is just as impressive — ministers (three of them), royalty, movie stars and famous personalities. The star of the show: Padmanabhan, the elephant king of the Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayur. It's been 50 years now that Padmanabhan has been carrying the thidamabhu (miniature of the presiding deity). And on Sunday, Thiruvananthapuram will honour him with gold, silver and aana oottu (elephant feast).
2005-12-31 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Kerala is still waiting for the central ministry of environment and forests to give the go-ahead for an international training centre for mahouts on the lines of similar ones in Thailand and Germany. The proposal for such a centre has been hanging fire for a year, says veteran elephant expert Jacob Cheeran. "It has been a longstanding demand for an international centre in India, similar to that in Thailand and Hamburg in Germany. Initially, it was to come up in Tamil Nadu but a year back this wa...
2005-09-20 - THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India.
If you thought that the big kill was just for tusks, you are poorly initiated into the unfortunate world of captive elephants. For unscrupulous ‘trader owners’, killing captive elephants using the most inventive methods is the smartest way to extract lakhs by way of insurance money.
2005-08-10 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
India's wild elephant population has risen, if initial findings of an ongoing census are to be believed. "The census process is in its final stages and the sighting of more baby elephants is a strong indicator that when the final tally is arrived at, the population of wild elephants would have gone up," Jacob Cheeran, a steering committee member of Project Elephant, told IANS.
2005-05-15 - Thiruvananthapuram, India. Rosamma Jose
Appu the elephant, who had become closely identified as the celebrity mascot of the Delhi Asian Games in 1982, died at the age of 29 in Kerala’s famous temple town of Guruvayoor yesterday. The end, which came around 12 noon, put a closure to a decade of pain and suffering that the animal underwent since its tragic fall into a septic tank while being led to a temple festival in 1992.
2005-01-29 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
A railway court has imposed a fine of Rs 1500 on a mahout for taking a tusker along the rail track as a short-cut to a temple near Perumon in Kollam district. The court at Kollam imposed the fine on the mahout for marching the elephant through the track endangering the safety of railways as well as the public, a divisional railway release said here today.
2005-01-21 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Pygmy elephants in Kerala? Unlikely, says an expert disputing the claims of two people that they sighted such pachyderms in a state forest. Jacob Cheeran, one of India's foremost elephant experts, doubts the possibility of pygmy elephants being spotted near a wildlife forest at Peppara in the capital district. The claim was made by wildlife photographer Sali Palode and a local tribesman, Mannan, who said they saw a group of five elephants, all small in size but look...
2003-02-06 - Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Alarmed by the frequent instances of elephants running amok and goring mahouts to death, the Kerala government proposed to shortly come out with a set of rules on management and upkeep of captive elephants which will include penal provisions to check maltreatment of the animal. "This is for the first time in the country such rules are being framed, addressing a whole of range of issues relating to ownership, upkeep and welfare of elephants," E K Bharat Bhushan, secretary, forests ...
2024-07-10 - Dublin, Ireland.
Dublin Zoo has confirmed that a third elephant has tested positive for a virus which has left two other elephants dead over the last ten days. Eight-year-old Avani and seven-year-old Zinda died from E...
2024-06-18 - Houston, United States. Houston Zoo
Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at Houston Zoo, has been given the first-ever dose of an mRNA vaccine created by virologists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to prevent the deadly elephant endot...
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
