Order of the Madras High Court regarding treatment of elephants in Tamil Nadu, 25/02/2021.

The matters pertained to temple elephants and other elephants owned by private individuals and whether such elephants are used by their owners to be exploited for joy rides or the elephants are used as beasts of burden or to transport heavy material.

The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy of the Madras High Court said that there must be a uniform policy for all elephants, privately owned or temple owned and they all must come under the case of the forest department. Also, future ownership of elephants by individuals and temples be completely prohibited. The forest department should come up with an appropriate plan to ensure the well being of the elephants that are now privately owned and temple owned.

Any kind of mistreatment of elephants and other animals must be dealt with promptly and exploitation of animals for all purposes should be stopped except for limited government controlled exercises like horse riding and camel riding on the beach. However, these should not be privately operated since the treatment of the animals cannot be checked or monitored.