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By Siva Parameswaran BBC Tamil Service
Authorities in India are being presented with an massive task - managing the
weight of obese elephants kept in temples.
In parts of India, elephants are kept in temples for religious reasons - taking
part in ceremonies and festivals.
Efforts are on in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu to get these
over-pampered tusked animals to slim down, officials have told the BBC.
Almost all the elephants kept in temples in the state have been found to be
obese.
Accordingly, temple officials are reconfiguring the diets of their elephants on
the advice of veterinary surgeons.
"The female temple elephant - 15 year-old Parvathi - is overweight by 500kg (80
stone) and efforts are on to reduce it," said Pon Jayaraman, executive officer
of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple told the BBC Tamil service.
Another elephant in the Kallazagar Temple weighs 700kg more than the optimum
for its age, according to Ravindran, the "Mahout" - or custodian - of the
48-year-old female elephant, Madhuravalli.
But veterinary surgeons point out that obesity and captivity go hand in hand.
Elephants eat up to 200 different varieties of food in the jungle, including
fruits, flowers, roots and branches, but in captivity their diets often lack
variety.
The experts also point out that the elephants in the wilderness are never
exposed to foods such as rice, millets, salt and jaggery (an unrefined sugar
set into blocks).
Uphill trek
Wild elephants wander, trek uphill, cross streams and walk on a variety of
terrain. They also compete with other wild animals for resources.
A senior forest veterinary officer in the state observed: "In captivity,
elephants eat constantly, and that coupled with lack of exercise makes the
animals obese."
But temple officials say the elephants are taken for walks of at least 5km each
day based on vet advice.
But research has shown that in the wilderness an elephant has to walk at least
20 sq km (eight sq miles) to find its daily food intake of about 250kg of plant
matter.
'Grave sin'
Dr AJT John Singh, former director the Wildlife Institute of India, called the
practice a "grave sin".
"It's like confining a solitary person in... the middle of the forest," he
said.
"Elephants are social animals and have amazing social bonds with one another.
Breaking that, and keeping the animal alone, is like solitary confinement, the
greatest form of punishment to a human being."
Temple authorities say that a near natural environment has been created for the
elephants. But this is strongly disputed by animal rights activists.
Many of the temple elephants throughout India - including 37 in the state of
Tamil Nadu - are living in appalling conditions, studies have shown.
Superstitions add to the discomfort of the elephants. For example, astrologers
suggest feeding elephants will ward off evil.
The reasonable option, according to Dr John Singh, would be for several temples
to join together to buy a patch of land with natural cover, water and food so
that the animals can wander and be brought to the temple on festive occasions.
Activists have long pointed out that keeping an elephant in a temple itself is
abuse and a gross violation of animal rights.
Elephants were employed as war machines in India in ancient times, and a
detailed account in the 2,000-year-old book Gajasastra even defines the methods
for keeping an elephant healthy.
Vets point out that even feeding the temple elephants other than what they eat
in their natural habitat indirectly amounts to abuse.