Kerala high court seeks fitness certificate of captive jumbos

KOCHI: Kerala high court has directed forest officials to submit before Monday fitness certificate and list of captive elephants being paraded in Thrissur Pooram , the annual temple festival, being held on April 19.

The bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and P Gopinath, while hearing petitions related to human-animal conflicts across state, ordered that elephants with health issues should not participate in the festival.

The next hearing date on the matter is April 17.

HC has also directed that during parading of elephants in processions associated with festivals, the orders of chief wildlife warden and other authorities must be strictly adhered to.