Kochi IPL team faces elephantine problem

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kochi's IPL team – christened in controversy when it was first mooted, led to a minister of state losing his job during the team's teething days, and caught in a bind over the first name that was first proposed for it – now has an elephantine problem at hand.

The Elephant Lovers' Association in Kerala has vowed that it will not permit the team to have its theme video shot using live elephants.

The decision by the Thrissur-based elephant lovers comes only days after the Kochi IPL team decided to change its name from the original 'Indi Commandos' to a more acceptable 'Kochi Tuskers Kerala', in deference to public opinion in the state.

The change in name apparently got the team's promo team to think of having a couple of tuskers as part of the theme video. But while the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Muthiah Muralitharan and Brendon McCullum have been practising Kalaripayattu steps for the shoot in Mumbai with their trainer PB Subeesh, the part of tuskers playing any role in it seems unlikely.

"Commercial exploitation of animals is severely restricted and any violation would be all the more serious considering that the elephant has recently been declared the state's heritage animal", says Elephant Lovers' Association secretary VT Venkitachalam, an accountant by profession and an animal lover by passion.

ELA had in 2007 moved the high court to stop import of about 50 elephants into the state from Assam and Bihar, and the following year got a rule enacted to prevent elephants being exposed to sunlight between 11 am and 4 pm. Venkitachalam says the reason for many tuskers running amok is because they are exposed to the hot sun, and that the ELA's statistics showed that as many as 176 mahouts had been killed in the state over the past decade during the 11 am-4 pm time frame. The latest incident was on Sunday morning when an elephant, Karthikeyan, crushed its mahout, Ayyappan Nair to death.

Venkitachalam says that it was at the initiative of the ELA that the Kerala Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rule 2003 came into force, which puts in place stern restrictions on using elephants for commercial activities.

The rules, however, are widely flouted and Venkitachalam says religious establishments are at the forefront of the infringements. "Political parties are afraid to take a stand when it comes to organized religions violating animal rights", says Venkitachalam.

ELA suggests that the Kochi IPL team opt for animation for its video. "This is the era of technology, and cricket is known to embrace the latest in technical offerings. If they need visuals of elephants, they could have an animated solution", says Venkitachalam, whose ELA is expected to invoke the Kerala Captive Elephant (Management and Maintenance) Rule 2003, the Performing Animals Registration Rule 2001, the Prevention of Cruelty Act 1960 and the Wildlife Stock Rule 2003 to ensure that elephants are not used for film shoots.

The controversy-hit Kochi IPL team is likely to heed that warning. When it steps on the turf on April 9 for its first IPL match, the Kochi Tuskers would rather have applause from the galleries rather than trumpets of protests from elephant lovers.