What steps proposed to prevent elephant incursions in Palakkad? HC asks Kerala govt

Kochi: Incursion of wild elephants into human settlements in Palakkad district, including at an under construction IIT campus there, has been taken note of the Kerala High Court, which has sought a report from the state government on steps proposed to be taken for preventing such incidents in future.

The direction was issued by a bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath during hearing of a PIL initiated by it on its own in the wake of the gruesome killing of a dog named Bruno which was tied up and beaten to death by some people on the Adimalathura beach on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.

The court said that the amici curiae, appointed by it in the matter, gave a report pointing out an incident of a herd of elephants” entering the under construction IIT campus at Palakkad.

The bench said the government”s response to the report “shall indicate the steps that are proposed to be taken by the State and its agencies for preventing such incidents in future”.

As part of the PIL the court was also examining other incidents of cruelty to animals, including the killing of hundreds of stray dogs by poisoning in Thrikkakara municipality area of Ernakulam district.

In the dog poisoning matter, the bench directed the local body to indicate the steps taken by it to put in place the necessary infrastructure for carrying out Animal Birth Control Programmes for animals in their area.

During the hearing of the matter, the bench was informed by the Kerala government that the State Animal Welfare Board has already commenced functioning and its website has become operational and ready for access by the citizenry.

The government had also told the bench that the Animal Welfare Board of India, however, was yet to communicate its nominees to the state board and on receiving information from them, those nominees will also be inducted.

“Taking note of the above, we direct the Animal Welfare Board of India to immediately nominate two members to the State Animal Welfare Board. The nomination shall be effected within two weeks from today (September 24),” the high court said and listed the PIL for further hearing on October 1.