The Elephant Sanctuary, Hohenwald, Tennessee

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesian forest rangers are trying to protect timber with tusks. They've trained a band of elephants to charge at illegal loggers responsible for much of the country's rampant deforestation, a newspaper said Thursday.

The 28 elephants recruited by the Nature Conservation Agency of North Bengkulu on the island of Sumatra have been trained to charge when they hear the sound of the loggers' chain saws, the Jakarta Post reported. "Most of the time, illegal loggers run away when they see an elephant coming straight at them," the paper said, paraphrasing comments by agency head Agus Priambidu.

The paper said the trial program started last year and has yielded good results, with illegal logging activities declining. Environmental activists in Indonesia, one of the world's largest tropical timber suppliers, say around 70 per cent of Indonesian timber sold is illegally felled. The government estimates this costs the industry about $600 million US a year.

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Elephant latest casualty in Indian heat wave after 430 people die
Agence France Presse
May 28, 2003

HYDERABAD, India
A wild elephant has become the latest casualty of a searing heat wave which has already claimed 430 human lives in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, officials said Wednesday.

The elephant collapsed over the weekend in the forest in Vizianagaram, some 700 kilometers (440 miles) northeast of the provincial capital Hyderabad.

"We tried to provide water and fruits to the elephant but he was already too old and feeble and couldnt recover," forest ranger Arun Prakash told AFP.

Officials have confirmed 430 deaths due to sunstroke and heat exhaustion brought on by temperatures shooting above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) across the state for almost a fortnight.

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Wire-snared elephant gets treatment at Malacca zoo
Sharanjit Singh, New Straits Times
May 27, 2003

MALACCA Misery and pain is written all over its face as the seven-year-old baby elephant hobbles about weakly at the Malacca Zoo.

The 500-kilogramme animal, named Mu'azzam, also lets out an occasional shriek in agony.

All this is the result of getting caught in a wire snare set by poachers at a forest in Mu'azzam Shah, Pahang.

The elephant managed to free itself but only after suffering a horribly deep gash on its left foreleg which reached the bone and made it difficult to walk.

A piece of wire also remains in the injured leg with gangrene having set in.

Wildlife rangers believe the baby elephant was abandoned by its mother as it could not keep up with the herd.

Fortunately, villagers spotted it at the edge of the forest last week and alerted the Pahang Wildlife Department.

Rangers managed to track the baby elephant and realised it was seriously
injured.

They contacted the zoo for help, and a team led by veterinarian Dr Razeem Mazlan rushed to Pahang last Thursday to render assistance.

Mu'azzam was sedated and surgery performed on its leg to remove the piece of wire and treat the gangrene.

After the surgery, which was performed in the forest itself, the elephant was brought back to the zoo for further treatment.

"This elephant would not have had any chance in the wild if its injury had not been treated," Zoo director Mohd Nawayai Yasak said.

Nawayai said Mu'azzam was responding well to treatment and would take between one and two months to recover.

He said its presence at the zoo brings to eight the number of elephants there.

Nawayai said wire snares set by poachers in the jungle have become a major threat to Malaysian wildlife, as many non-targetted species get caught in such traps.

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Jharkhand death highlights plight of elephants
NDTV Correspondent
May 22, 2003

The death of yet another wild elephant in custody in Jharkhand has raised
questions about the methods of capture. Traditionally whenever there is an elephant menace or rampage in areas, wild elephants identified as the problem are captured.
If they are young they are trained and domesticated, if they are older usually the idea is to either keep them in captivity or remove them from the area where they cause problems.

Tranquilizer overdose
Elephants in Jharkhand's Masu village have always been in conflict with people. Over twenty people have been killed and fields and property destroyed but the villagers say the forest department is responsible for the death of the elephant as he was in their custody.
And although only a post mortem will tell for sure, it is now being seen as a case of overdose by tranquilizers and an inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

"The elephant is dead. I have instituted an enquiry to find out what exactly happened to it. If I find that it died due to negligence by the forest department, I will take strong action", claimed the Jharkhand forest minister, Yamuna Singh.

Mindless captures
But enquiries are not the solution. The death of a tusker at the hands of the famed mahout Parbhati Bharua also prompted endless enquiries and so far neither an explanation has been offered for the death nor has anyone been held responsible.

Two baby elephants were also captured and they are still with the forest department. They are too young to be responsible for any of the destruction of life or property in this area so the question is why have they been captured?

The elephant is a Schedule 1 animal and protected by the CITES - the
international watch body on animals and trade in animal parts.

Being Schedule 1, it is supposed to come under the total protection of the Indian government and cannot be either killed or captured in the wild without special permission.

Inhumane methods
But wild elephant capture and training has never been an exact science in India.
There are several traditional methods that have always been used. One of the most popular methods is the mela shikar method which involves the use of domestic elephants to capture a wild one. The wild elephant is lassoed and tied between two domestic elephants and
made to run a long distance till it literally collapses with exhaustion. The other method is to drive an entire herd into a stockade built in the jungle. Both methods usually hurt and injure elephants.

Unending conflict
Hundreds of elephants over the years have been captured successfully using these methods.
But so far there are no records of how many have died in custody or during capture, as the elephants were considered responsible for the loss of life or property. But unless the protection of species is extended beyond the paper it is written on, this conflict is unending.

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Tortured elephant dies in custody in Indian state
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
May 21, 2003

A captured elephant, tranquilized for several days and tortured, died in custody, news reports said Wednesday.

The old tusker was in the custody of the forest department of the central Indian state of Jharkhand. His tusks were broken to keep him in pain and make him more receptive to training, New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported.

The elephant was captured in the densely forested Bedo area where rogue elephants have destroyed homes, fields and killed villagers, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

According to NDTV, more than 150 people have been killed by elephants in Jharkhand in the last two years.

The government recently sanctioned 1 million rupees (21,300 U.S. dollars) to hire a team to capture or drive away the elephants.

The tusker's death raises the issue of primitive capture methods commonly used by elephant handlers in India.

In March, a three-hour film revealed how a male calf was slowly tortured to death while in captivity, in an operation sanctioned by the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

The footage showed elephant Basant Bahadur's legs being tied with thick ropes. His tusks were sawed off and he was jabbed with spikes to expose his nerves so that he wouldn't attack. He was not given food or water for several days.

The calf was in captivity for 18 days. The post-mortem report revealed he died of acute stress, dehydration and lack of food.

Wildlife experts demanded all such operations be stopped until more humane means of elephant capture are implemented.

Deputy Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare Grace Gabriel said, "This deliberate torture will not do. There are enough examples of safer ways in the world."

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Elephant attacks cause big losses
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
May 8, 2003

As oil palm plantations and timber estates have widely expanded and
destroyed elephant habitats, the giant mammal has taken revenge by running
roughshod through the plots, inflicting annual losses amounting to trillions
of rupiah, according to the World Wild Fund (WWF) Indonesia.

"In Riau alone, the largest palm oil producing province, the losses due to
elephant damage of oil palm plantations and timber estates reaches a total
of about Rp 950 billion (US$105 million) per year," the WWF Indonesia
regional director, Nazir Foead, said on Wednesday on the sidelines of a
seminar dealing with the impact of the pulp and paper industry.

He said that elephants mainly attacked oil palm plantations because they
liked to eat parts of the palm trees.

"But those who suffer from elephant attacks are not only the big companies
but local people who have small farms," he said.

According to him, an elephant requires 150 kilograms of food for each meal.

Unfortunately, people would rather kill the elephants than improve the
methods used when developing oil palm plantations or timber estates, he
said.

Besides destroying elephant habitats, oil palm plantations and timber
estates have also devastated other animal habitats such as the tiger,
according to Nazir.

"We are very concerned about the impact of these plantations and estates on
the elephant and the tiger as these animals have also attacked oil palm
plantation, timber estates and even human," he said.

Indonesia is the second largest palm oil producer in the world after
Malaysia.

Last year, Indonesia produced around 9 million tons of palm oil. With the
present price of around US$400 per ton, the total revenue from palm oil
production could reach as much as US$3.6 billion.

The country has over 3 million hectares of oil palm plantations and plans to
develop another 96,000 hectares this year.

Nazir suggested that the plantation and timber firms should carry out a
comprehensive study before converting forests into cash crops to minimize
the possibility of animal attacks.

He called on the companies to adhere to an international certification to
run their companies at a sustainable level.

"Some companies I know have tried to implement it, but we haven't yet heard
the results," he said.

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Water elephant 'has no place in traditional culture'
The Nation
May 4, 2003

An academic yesterday cast doubts on reports that a mythic "water elephant"
has been found and rejected the idea that the animals form part of Thai
traditional beliefs.

Dr Wittaya Damrongkiattisak said that the belief in the miniature creatures,
which are supposed to have supernatural powers, was a relatively new one
that had only recently been imported from Burma.

"I don't think the water elephant story is true," said Wittaya, who has
taught at Maejo University and is an expert in religions and superstition.

The water elephant, supposedly a tiny animal with bone structure similar to
that of full-sized elephants, was big news last week when a Tak resident
showed a purported carcass of one to the public and had it x-rayed.

The carcass is about 7.5 cm tall and 12.5 cm wide, and weighs about 300
grams.

Direk Chiangthaen, the owner of the carcass, said he got the animal's body
from a Burmese villager who said he caught the animal alive in a pond high
in the mountains. The Burmese villager also claimed to have more of the
beasts, he said.

Yesterday, Direk's elder brother Chanin said that a Bangkok merchant had
offered to buy one of the water elephants for Bt500,000 but the Burmese man
had yet to take up the offer.

"He wants more," Chanin said.

According to Chanin, many people have been clamouring to get a hold of the
rare animal.

He added that the Burmese man had moved his water elephants to Thai
territory after Burmese military officers started looking for the miniature
animal following the reports in Thai newspapers.

Chanin said that he and Direk believed that the Burmese villager's water
elephants were genuine - not something modified to look like a small
elephant.

"We are ready to let the relevant agencies verify the carcass we own as long
as we are well informed of the procedures and no legal action is taken
against us," he said.

Colonel Songkran Sangkorn, the superintendent at Mae Sot Police Station,
said Direk was unlikely to face any legal action.

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Supreme Court Notice to GOI and States on Elephant Conservation
Wildlife Trust of India press release
May 1, 2003

NEW DELHI, May 01, 2003: The Supreme Court on 30th April issued notices to
more than 15 states on a public interest petition filed by the Wildlife
Trust of India relating to the conservation of elephants.

The Chief Justice of India, Mr. V.N. Khare and his companion judges have
asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Union of India as well as
different states to file a reply.

The issues raised in this petition relate to the long-term survival of wild
elephants in India and controlling the illegal ivory trade. The petition
also questioned the steps taken by state governments to seize illegal stocks
of ivory lying with traders.

WTI has also asked for details of the details of the quantity of ivory stock
lying with government authorities recovered from naturally dead elephants
and seized ivory. There are reports that ivory stolen from government
custody is entering the trade, the petition said. States have been given
four weeks to reply.

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N-E gangs feed canned elephant meat to ultras
by Shali Ittaman in the HindustanTimes.com
May 2003

HindustanTimes.com has unearthed the sale of canned elephant meat in
Meghalaya, confirming fears among wildlife activists that organised gangs
control the trade in India's North-East.

The canning is really rudimentary and make-do, but it does show that unknown
to the police, a structure has formed around the illegal business with a
chain of people to make it work.

Sonna (name changed), the Mizo butcher whose Happy Valley shop in Shillong
yielded the canned meat recently, gets his "weekly supplies .through a
dealer (unidentified) who engages local people to run canning units from
their houses". Sonna thinks the dealer has a distribution network besides
links to hunters based in Garo Hills, West Meghalaya.

"It is almost like a cottage industry", says Wildlife Trust of India (WTI)
director Vivek Menon. "The meat, which is hacked from elephants after they
are stalked and killed, is smoked, powdered and tinned, before being sold to
either familiar customers in open markets or indented and supplied
house-to-house."

Many hills people of the north-east including the Mizos, the Nagas, the
Daflas, the Adis and the Chakmas have had a history of eating elephants that
are found dead. The entry of the gangs, however, has changed that practice.
Now, the gangs chasing easy money are killing elephants indiscriminately to
stock the meat markets in the region. (Currently, most of the killing takes
place in Meghalaya, parts of Assam bordering Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh
and Tripura.)

"Obviously, it is a good business," says Sonna. "An elephant can yield more
that 4,500 kilogram of meat. Sold at Rs 200 a kilogram, the meat from each
elephant can fetch a fortune".

The problem has only grown with separatists groups in the region discovering
the uses of the meat:
· It has long fibers that decay slowly, (and so, last longer in jungle
hideouts).
· It is supposedly a sleep retardant. (The meat is rubbery and difficult to
chew - an ideal bite while passing a night of vigil.)
· In its powdered form, it is easy to carry, and it supposedly swells in the
stomach if taken with water (thereby, suppressing hunger).

Four years ago, the trade in canned elephant meat was somewhat in the open,
and it included, exports to Bangladesh and Myanmar. Then came the crackdown
after which the whole operation went underground. The open market sale soon
gave way to house-to-house indent and delivery, probably as one of the ways
to dodge the police.

Obviously, the tricks had worked because later investigations yielded
nothing, and it was assumed that the gangs had moved on and the trade had
been finished. In fact, few days before HindustanTimes.Com found the canned
meat in Happy Valley, Deputy Forest Officer (DFO) of the range PHS Bonney
had insisted his area is clean. Even his men, who have policed the range for
years, said elephant meat is not to be found.

It is in that context the Happy Valley find must be seen. It not only
restores the facts but also retrains attention on an aspect of elephant
poaching that can have a bearing on the 8,000-odd elephants that still walk
the north-east wilds.

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Cheap coffee is lousy for tigers, elephants, rhinos Science says
Contact: Stephen Sautner
ssautner@wcs.org
718-220-3682
Wildlife Conservation Society

NEW YORK: April 24, 2003 -- How's this for a bitter aftertaste? Cheap
coffee, the kind that comes in industrial-sized cans, may be contributing to
the loss of tigers, elephants and rhinos living half a world away, according
to a study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, published in
the journal Science.

The study says that increased production of robusta coffee, the inexpensive
variety commonly sold in cans and used in instant coffee, is leading to
deforestation of lowland forests in Indonesia, home to that country's last
remaining populations of wild tigers and other species. Falling coffee
prices worldwide has led to the need for more production, which in turn has
resulted in more forest being cleared, even in national parks.

According to the study, the spike in coffee production can be traced to
1989, when international coffee agreements ended and the U.S. left the
International Coffee Organization (ICO), an international cartel formed by
the U.N. to balance supply and demand and ensure fair prices. What followed
was a free-for-all that resulted in oversupply that cut worldwide prices in
half. Ironically, long-term trends of consumer prices in the U.S. continue
to rise.

In recent years, Indonesia's coffee production has jumped. Between 1996 and
2001, land cleared for coffee increased by 28 percent in Lampung Province,
the heart of the country's robusta coffee region. Seventy percent of
Lampung's coffee production occurs inside and adjacent to Bukit Barisan
Selatan National Park, one of a few remaining strongholds of Sumatran
tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses, all of which are declining due to
fragmentation and loss of their forest home.

The authors say that the U.S. can play a key role in halting this wave of
deforestation. As the leading consumer of robusta coffee the U.S. should
reassert itself as a strong member of the ICO, and call for certification
programs to make coffee more wildlife-friendly. In November, 2002, Congress
passed joint resolutions promoting a global strategy to address the coffee
crisis. Consumers can do their part by purchasing "green" coffee that is
certified and provides a fair price to farmers.

"If we do not act soon, our next cup of java may have the bitter taste of
extinction," said the study's lead author, Dr. Tim O'Brien of the Wildlife
Conservation Society.

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Tuskers to be captured in Kodagu
The Hindu
By Our Staff Correspondent
April 24, 2003

MADIKERI. The four elephants that have created a reign of terror in and
around Siddapur and Polibetta areas in the district would be captured soon,
the Conservator of Forests, Kodagu Circle, P. Anur Reddy, announced on
Thursday.

He said he expected the trapping operation to be over by May.

Mr. Reddy told presspersons here that he had had discussions with the
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Wildlife, regarding the
elephants and the PCCF had permitted their capture. The permission required
from the Union Government would be secured soon.

Mr. Reddy said a decision on whether to domesticate the elephants or
translocate them to the forests had not been taken yet. The Forest
Department would consult wildlife organisations and other agencies before
taking the decision. Department officials were making preparations to launch
the operation and all measures would be in place within 10 days, he said.

Chittiappa, veterinary doctor, had asked the authorities concerned for
sedatives to tranquillize the animals.

He asked the people in and around Siddapur and Polibetta to be careful,
especially in the mornings and evenings, during the trapping operation. The
base camp to capture the elephants would be set up at Bajegoli, near
Siddapur, amid a corporate coffee plantation. The Wildlife PCCF would visit
Kodagu on April 26 to take stock of the situation, he said. Mr. Reddy said
immediate relief for people affected by the elephant menace was important
and long-term measures would be implemented later.

The Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Virajpet division, R.K. Srivastava,
said one elephant in Siddapur, two in Polibetta, and one in the Thithimathi
forest range would be captured.

Seven "kumki" or tamed elephants would be needed in the operation. They
would be drawn from different ranges in the Nagarahole National Park and
Dubare here. The kumki's identified were Arjuna from D.B. Kuppe range,
Abhimanyu, Bharata, Gajendra, Rajendra, and Rama from Kallalla range and
Harsha from Dubare.

The present stock of sedatives the Forest Department had was just sufficient
to tranquillize only two elephants. More sedatives were being requisitioned
from Bhubaneshwar, and nearly 30 syringes from Indore. "Hemp" to make ropes
to tie up the elephants was being brought from Chitradurga and Bellary. Huge
shackles had been obtained too. Mr. Srivastava said the scaring operation
launched to drive away the elephants from the plantations in the Siddapur
area had not been successful due to several factors.

The growers who were asked to put down the solar fencing did not cooperate.
He startled everyone by saying that as many as 56 elephants had made coffee
plantations their habitat.

They had virtually not seen any forest. Their corridors had shrunk
drastically because corporate houses and individual growers had put up
powerful solar fences, restricting the elephants' movement.

The DCF, Madikeri division, G.S.Yadav, the DCF (Social Forestry), Nagaraj,
other forest officials, the President of the Coorg Wildlife Society, K.M.
Chengappa, environmentalists, and Col. C.P. Muthanna of the Environment and
Health Foundation were present.

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Patrol plan excludes some beasts, say mahouts
Bangkok Post, Ranjana Wangvipula
April 19, 2003

The government wants to get elephants out of cities and back into forests on
patrols, but mahouts are worried that imposing an age limit under the scheme
will leave many of the beasts on city streets.

The age restriction is part of the state's six-month plan to crack down on
jumbos roaming cities, especially Bangkok, for food and money.

The elephants must be 10 to 50 years old. Mahouts would be given 10,100 baht
a month for taking part.

But Ann Sobthep, 54, a mahout who has wandered in the eastern province of
Chanthaburi for more than one year, says he is worried about elephants which
fall outside the age group. A group of mahouts calling itself ``Assembly of
Mahouts Thailand'' yesterday asked the Natural Resources and Environment
Ministry to help elephants that were too old or too young to take part.

In a letter to minister Praphat Panyachartrak, they said more than 50
elephants would fail the age-limit criteria.

The group suggests using some of the 24 million baht set aside for the
scheme to build permanent shelters in the northeastern provinces of Surin
and Buri Ram, where most elephants live.

Mr Praphat said he would find a way to deal with those elephants, but said
the main objective now was to stop elephants roaming in Bangkok.

Up to 64 national parks and wildlife refuges nationwide are able to host 195
elephants under the scheme. A similar number of elephants is thought to roam
in the capital.

The scheme runs from this month to September. Applications can be made to
the elephant study centre in Surin and the Department of National Parks and
Wildlife Conservation in Bangkok.

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Kerala: HC moved on rules to protect elephants
Keralanext.com
11-April-2003

Kochi: Sujatha Devi, Sugathakumari and Hridayakumari have approached the Kerala High Court with a writ petition for directing the Government to finalise the Captive Elephants Management Rules, which is still in the draft form though framed several years ago, for the proper protection and upkeep of captive elephants in the State.

According to the petitioners, the rules, framed under section 64 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, have not come into force. On account of this, domesticated elephants are subjected to torture with impunity by mahouts and owners.

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India's captive elephants, worshipped as gods, worked to death
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 11, 2003

When Mona has to go for a wedding, she is given an almost luxurious bath and has her forehead anointed with sweet-smelling oils. Colourful sticks of chalk - pink, yellow, white and blue - create intricate, festive patterns on her ears.

Her trunk is adorned with shimmering gold and green tassels. Her back is covered with embroidered red velvet, on which a silver seat is placed. As she sways forward, tiny bells attached to her tail tinkle gently in the breeze.

But once the guests have been entertained and the festivities are over, the 30-year-old elephant returns to her home on the dusty banks of the polluted Yamuna river in New Delhi.

The only relief she gets from the scorching summer heat is a hesitant dip in the river swirling with sewage, toxic industrial waste and garbage.

Mona and the 31 other captive elephants she lives with work for a living, but rarely benefit from the income. Terribly neglected, most suffer from recurring skin ailments, eye infections, cataracts and diseases of the feet.

Animal rights activist Iqbal Malik told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, "Look at any captive city elephant closely. The pollution makes their eyes red and watery. To me, it looks like they are crying."

When not working the elephants are chained so tightly they barely have space to move, kept in place by spikes that cut them.

"I was shocked to see the conditions they were living in. The chains eat into their legs, creating deep wounds. They are forced to stand in absolute filth, even their own faeces. It is the worst biological and physical environment for an animal," Malik said.

Both revered and reviled, the story of elephants in India is at once curious and deeply disturbing.

Elephants do not breed in captivity. New working elephants are usually brought in from among the 25,000 to 27,000 wild population. The traditional capture methods used are archaic and gruesome.

Last month, animal rights activists said they filmed the capture of an elephant, who was lassoed, tied down, and jabbed with spikes. Its tusks were hacked off and it was beaten with bamboo rods. The pachyderm died of stress, starvation and thirst after 18 days.

V. Krishnamurthy, who worked for 45 years with Tamil Nadu's forest department, said all methods of elephant capture are cruel. "You have to minimise the cruelty. Tranquilizers are the best."

Ganesha, an elephant-headed Hindu god, is worshipped all over the country, especially to ensure good beginnings: A child's first day at school, the laying of a foundation stone, a vacation or a new business.

Also known as Ganapati, he is believed to remove all obstacles. In southern Tamil Nadu state his image is placed at road intersections to prevent accidents. There is even a festival, Ganesha Chaturthi, dedicated to him.

"We are supposed to be a country of compassion, of (Mahatma) Gandhi. We pray to Ganesha on the one hand and abuse the elephants in our care on the other," said Malik.

According to the federal Ministry of Environment and Forests, in 2000 the estimated population of captive elephants was 3,467 to 3,667. "Of these, 75 per cent are owned by private individuals, six per cent by temples, 14 per cent by the forest department, two per cent by zoos and three per cent by circuses," a ministry spokesperson said.

Vivek Menon, executive director of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) - a leading wildlife conservation organisation - told dpa, "We estimate there are currently 5,000 to 7,000 captive elephants in India, largely concentrated in the northeast and south."

Most elephants are used during temple processions as they are considered auspicious. Some patrol forests, while others are employed for tourist rides. Many worked for the logging industry in the northeast, which is now banned.

In New Delhi, pachyderms are popular attractions and even a middle class status symbol at Hindu weddings, usually carrying the groom to the venue.

Elephant owner Tahir Ahmed told dpa he charges between 1,000 to 1,500 rupees (20 to 30 U.S. dollars) per animal. The rates can fluctuate wildly depending on demand.

Menon said the earliest authentic records of captive elephants in India go back to 3500 B.C., where terracotta seals depict the animals with blankets on their backs.

Today, they take tourists on tours of historical monuments in cities like Jaipur and Agra, famous for its Taj Mahal. Several elephants work at Jaipur's 16th century Amber fort, built by Hindu Rajput kings. A one-way ride for four people per elephant costs about 300 rupees (6 U.S. dollars).

Few tourists know that many of these elephants are completely blind. N.V.K. Ashraf, a wildlife veterinarian, said blindness is a common problem in captive elephants, caused by poor nutrition and lack of Vitamin A.

"During a health camp in Jaipur we found three elephants were totally blind. They continue to work, listening carefully to their mahout's (trainer's) instructions. They are also aided by their trunks and have a very strong sense of smell," Ashraf said.

The New Delhi heat makes Raja restless. He shifts uncomfortably, forced to share his restricted space with pigs, dogs, goats, camels and chicken. As there is no clean water near the Yamuna river where he lives, the mahout makes him drink from a hand pump.

Last month, 40-year-old Raja had to go without food for five days because of a police order prohibiting the movement of elephants on New Delhi roads. Elephants consume 250-350 kilograms of fodder a day.

Malik said, "Just walking on Delhi roads is torture for them, because this is a high temperature city and the roads are made of tar. Their footpads get damaged."

The mahouts claim they don't make enough money to keep their elephants clean and healthy. Trainer Prem Kumar said, "We only get 500 rupees (11 U.S. dollars) a month as salary," adding it isn't sufficient to feed his family.

Activists say if the owners make money from the elephants, then they must care for and respect them. Menon said, "Elephants have similar life spans to human beings, which means a long time in captivity. They could live 60 to 100 years. In fact, they tend to live longer in captivity, as the wild has other dangers. But, the conditions for keeping the animals must be specified."

Activists like Malik remain worried for the animals in captivity. "Elephants are bright, intelligent animals. Endless work, starvation, deprivation, city pollution have made them dull. Stare into the eyes of a captive elephant. You will see that his soul is dead."

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Thai sanctuary bids to save celebrity elephant that hurt keeper
KUALA LUMPUR Terra Wire
Apr 03, 2003

A sanctuary in Thailand has offered to save an elephant which starred in the movie "Anna and the King" from a possible death sentence after it injured its Malaysian keeper, a report said Thursday.

"I will be very happy if the elephant is sent here," Sangduen Chailert, owner of the Elephant Nature Park in Chiangmai, told the New Straits Times.

"It is unacceptable to think of killing it. It is not right to punish the elephant in such a cruel manner."

The 15-year-old jumbo "Adun," which featured alongside Chow Yun-fat and Jodie Foster in the popular Hollywood movie, injured its 35-year-old keeper at a Malaysian zoo as it was being prepared for a bath last month.

The keeper is still hospitalized in critical condition, and the elephant is considered too dangerous and unpredictable to remain at the zoo.

Zoo Malacca Director Mohamad Nawayai told AFP Thursday that he was interested in the offer from Sangduen.

"We would like to hear from him. I have visited the sanctuary. It will be suitable for Adun," he said.

Mohamad said Adun, who has been isolated from other elephants, could not be released into the wild.

"It does not know how to live in the wild since it was removed from the jungle when it was only 3- years-old. We fear it will hurt itself or be a threat to humans," he said.

Mohamad said the zoo does not want to put the elephant down. It would be "the last, last resort," he said.

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Circus elephants	Zoo elephants	Research and conservation
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