Zoos in country asked to hand over jumbos to Wildlife depts

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Zoos in the country will no longer have elephants as the Central Zoo Authorities (CZA) have asked the managers of state-run zoos to hand them over to Wildlife Departments.

The CZA recently issued an order in this regard as it saw the zoological parks lacking in space and facilities for keeping the pachyderms in conditions conducive for such a large animal, Kerala state Wildlife Warden K P Ouseph said.

Based on the order zoos in the state would be asked to hand them over to the wildlife department and they would be rehabilitated in the elephant camps run by the department, Ouseph said.

"Elephant is a big animal. In most of the zoos they are not properly kept in their limited environs. Also,maintaining them is expensive", he said.

The CZA circular said for want of space, the elephants are kept in chains in most of the zoos, affecting their physical and mental health.

The safety of the people visiting the zoos was cited as another reason for taking this decision. The jumbos get annoyed and could turn violent in times of 'musth.' This would compel the zoo keepers to keep them in chains for long, some time for weeks.

The zoo here, the biggest in the state, has two elephants, one male and female. According to Ouseph, they would be rehabilitated in one of the five elephant camps managed by the Wildlife Department.