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Temples, Elephants and Traditions – 1
by B R Haran on 09 Jun 2016 16 Comments

Two recent incidents involving Temple elephants have hurt our sensibilities. One, the sad demise of female elephant Maduravalli after prolonged illness, and the other, the shifting of three elephants from Kanchi Kamakshi Amman Temple to a rehabilitation centre for treatment. On the one side, we have the welfare of Temple elephants; on the other, we have centuries old tradition in Temples. Since both are important, this study attempts to find a fair and just solution to the confusion arising out of the question - what is important, elephant welfare or temple tradition?

 

Sad demise of Maduravalli

 

Maduravalli has been serving at the Koodal Azhagar Temple in Madurai since 1976. She was brought to the temple when she was 12 years old. Around twenty years back, she suffered from ulcers in her feet for which she was given inadequate treatment and since then she has not been doing well.

 

After a few years, she developed ulcers again in her feet, and in course of time, due to lack of proper treatment and medical assistance, the ulcers worsened and became big wounds. Her foot pads thinned and Maduravalli developed very painful and septic abscesses. This condition is known as ‘foot rot’ in elephants and this is caused because captive elephants are forced to stand on stone, concrete or cement floors. They are forced to walk on tarred roads. Elephants must stand on natural earthen floors. Maduravalli’s foot rot became so bad that eventually she was unable to stand and walk. Even in that recumbent position, the temple authorities kept her chained!

 

(The photos taken during Maduravalli’s last days can be viewed at these two links:

https://www.facebook.com/brharan/media_set?set=a.494912827379281.1073741973.100005817043473&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/WRRCbangalore/photos/pcb.1480812205278371/1480812078611717/?type=3&theater   )

 

Suffering for months together without responding to any treatment, Maduravalli was just lying down in the worst kind of pain, even losing her appetite. Even at that stage, she was kept chained. Finally on the evening of 26 May by 4.30 pm, Maduravalli passed away at the age of 53.

 

Had she been treated well and taken care of as per the Captive Elephants Management Rules and Guidelines, Tamil Nadu, issued in 2011, she would not have suffered this fate and she would be serving the temple for many more years to come. The Mahout, the District Forest Officer serving under the Chief Wildlife Warden and the Temple management must be squarely held responsible for the death of Maduravalli and the Tamil Nadu government would do well to conduct an enquiry into Maduravalli’s death and fix responsibility.    

 

Maduravalli’s death is not an isolated incident. Many temple elephants like Maduravalli have died in Tamil Nadu before, and such deaths have become a regular phenomenon. Abirami of Thirukkadaiyur Temple, Vellaiyammal of Thanjavur Big Temple, Bhavani of Rameshwaram Temple, Kumaran of Thiruchendur Temple and Sulochana of Valasubramania Temple, Virudunagar have all died in the recent past.

 

Shifting of Kanchi Temple Elephants

 

Sandhya alias Kamakshi, Indhumathi and Jayanthi were three elephants serving at Kamakshi Amman Temple, under the management of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Sandhya alias Kamakshi was brought to the temple from Hunsur Forest Division of Karnataka when she was seven and a half years old. Karnataka Forest Department had sold her for Rs.20,000/- in 1981. She is now 42 years old. Indhumathi was brought from Wayanad Forest Division when she was 6 years old. Kerala Forest Department sold her for Rs. 20,000/- in 1987 and now she is 34 years old. Jayanthi was gifted by Assam Forest Department at the age of 3 in 2001. She was from Kaziranga National Park and she is currently 18 years old.

 

Gunaseelan, a senior mahout serving the temple for 35 years, was taking care of all three elephants. One P. Thillaikumar has been with the elephants for the past two years; A. Natarajan has been around for a year. Another person, S. Shekar, who was earlier with the elephants for about 10 years assisting Gunaseelan, left the temple for some time and rejoined work in June 2015. Then, suddenly, senior mahout Gunaseelan died and his daughter, Annapoorani, was appointed as fourth handler. However she only acts like a visiting supervisor and reportedly keeps all the records with her at her residence.

 

Based on complaints received from bhaktas of Kamakshi Temple, AWBI constituted a four member committee comprising Ms. Suparna Ganguly, President of Bengaluru based CUPA (Compassionate Unlimited Plus Action), Dr. Sundaramurthy from CPR Environmental Education Centre, Dr. R. Sumathi from AWBI and co-opted member of AWBI Dr. Manilal Valliyate. The Committee inspected the elephants and their living conditions at the Kamakshi Amman Temple on 22 July 2015 and unanimously concluded that the three elephants have been greatly affected psychologically as well as physically.

 

The committee gave suggestions and guidelines for care and medical treatment to the temple management. The Srikaryam (Manager) of the Kanchi Mutt told the committee that they have a 5-acre land which could be converted into a natural habitat for the elephants. Consequently, when the case regarding the proper maintenance of cows and goshalas in Temples came up for hearing, the AWBI submitted its report on Kamakshi temple elephants to the honourable High Court. The Honourable High Court had extended the mandate of the Committee and ordered it to also inspect temple elephants besides cows and goshalas.

 

A year later, the High Court ordered the committee, constituted for inspecting temple goshalas, to visit temples where elephants are put into service. Even as the HR & CE Department delayed submitting the list of temples with elephants, the committee visited Kamakshi Amman Temple to inspect the elephants to see if the recommendations made by the AWBI committee had been implemented. 

 

During the visit, the committee found out that the temple management had not followed the guidelines given by the AWBI committee, and that, the elephants’ physical condition had deteriorated further. It felt that the elephants needed immediate attention and medical assistance. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu government’s HR & CE Department submitted the list of temples with elephants and the committee visited some more temples and inspected the elephants and their living conditions. Meanwhile, the Kanchi Matham agreed to allow the three elephants to be moved to an elephant care facility in Villupuram district.

 

On 12 May, 2016 the elephants (Sandhya alias Kamakshi, Indhumathi and Jayanthi) were shifted to the Marakkanam elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre belonging to Tree Foundation and WRRC (Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre). While the temple management extended full cooperation for the shifting of elephants, Annapoorani (former mahout’s daughter) and her mother attempted to thwart it by protesting against the shifting.

 

As the elephants were also habituated, they listened to her. While Indhumathi and Jayanthi were shifted without much difficulty, Kamakshi obeyed the orders of the widow and daughter of the dead mahout and because she is also totally blind in one eye, she slipped and fell as she tried to get down from the truck.  Kamakshi had to be kept in Kanchi itself for one more day and the next day she too was shifted to Marakkanam, this time without obstruction from her former mahouts. 

 

Meanwhile, a section of the mainstream media, always on the look-out for sensational news, reported Annapoorani’s version that the elephants were shifted because the management wanted more space inside the temple, and that they were beaten and tortured while being shifted. The media failed to contact either the NGOs or the Temple management.

 

Some persons who were not aware of the details of the issue took the media reports as truth and attempted to spread a canard on social media: “The shifting of elephants is a conspiracy by alien forces through foreign-funded NGOs to remove the elephants from temples, thereby putting an end to the Hindu tradition of ‘Gaja Puja’; the motive behind this is to encourage religious conversions and a few activists are paid for facilitating this.”

 

Meanwhile, Indhumathi and Jayanthi, once in the Marakkanam rehabilitation centre, showed remarkable improvement in just two days. Sandhya alias Kamakshi joined them the third day. The rehabilitation centre, surrounded with coconut groves and other greenery, has decent facilities for elephant care. All three elephants are finally living a chain-free life, moving, walking freely and enjoying the natural habitat. Expert veterinarians are attending to them and they are being fed with nutritious food. The elephants are happy and peaceful in the new environment. As a goodwill gesture, Pujya Sankaracharyas of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham have blessed the initiative and sought the cooperation and support of the bhaktas.   

 

(Their present condition can be seen at the following links:

https://www.facebook.com/brharan/media_set?set=a.496935903843640.1073741974.100005817043473&type=3

Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC)

https://www.facebook.com/WRRCbangalore/

Elefriends 101

https://www.facebook.com/EleFriends101ECF/timeline 

Sandhya, Indhumathi and Jayanthi enjoying a mud bath.

https://www.facebook.com/EleFriends101ECF/videos/885365988253044/

Jayanthi splashing water all over her body and enjoying her bath.

https://www.facebook.com/EleFriends101ECF/videos/887785334677776/

Sandhya, Indhumathi and Jayanthi enjoying the mud bath

https://www.facebook.com/EleFriends101ECF/videos/888410837948559/

Jayanthi being fed with nutritious food

https://www.facebook.com/EleFriends101ECF/videos/889403544515955/ ).

 

If we can understand why these three elephants were shifted from the temple, why NGOs were used for the purpose, why the High Court was involved, we would understand that Maduravalli could have survived had she been shifted to a rehabilitation centre. Perhaps many other temple elephants not have died like Maduravalli. It would be in order to understand some basic facts about elephants and their life in natural environs and in captivity.

 

Basic facts and salient features of elephants

 

-        The elephant is a mammal. It feeds on sugarcane, bamboo, and other leaved plants. It is the largest among terrestrial animals with an average life span of 70 years, second only to human beings.

 

-        Elephant is a strong animal. Even lions and tigers do not go near it. Lions can attack only as a group and even then they can attack only a solitary, weak, old or sick elephant.

 

-        Elephants live as a family in a herd. The male calf will stay with the family until he attains puberty. Thereafter it may leave the group. But female elephants stay together and are closely knit. Very rarely do female calves leave the group after attaining puberty.

 

-        Male Asian elephants have tusks. Female elephants do not have tusks but some female elephants have small tusks called tushes. The back of the Asian elephant is elevated and it has two elevations on the forehead as well.

 

-        Elephants spend 16 hours on average to forage for food. They have limited digestive capacity, digesting only 40% of the food they eat, so they have to consume much more than they can digest. An adult elephant can eat food weighing between 140 Kgs to 270 Kgs.

 

-        Male elephants are generally 3 meters in height and 6000 kgs in weight. Elephant skin is thick (25 to 30 centimeters), but soft and is unable to tolerate the bites of ants and mosquitoes. The skin around its mouth and ears are very soft. Asian elephants have more hair than African elephants.

 

-        Elephants naturally love to bathe in sand, mud and clay. This helps protect their skin from heat and radiation.

 

-        Elephants have strong legs. Even though the legs bear such a huge and heavy body, they can climb and descend easily on steep mountain paths. As their feet are large they can stand for hours together without rest. But, Asian elephants take frequent rest as compared to African elephants. They have five nails on the front feet and four nails on the hind feet. Elephants can swim well. Their feet can easily sense even low frequency vibrations or sound waves.

 

-        The trunk is the elephant’s unique feature. It is made up of 40,000 muscles and can bend on all sides. It has a small lip (African elephants have two lips) and two nostrils in the tip of the trunk. The elephant can lift anything, from small firewood to a huge tree, with the help of its trunk. Generally it uses its trunk to take food to its mouth and to drink water.  The trunk also helps the elephant to defend itself from attacks of other animals. Since the neck is short, the trunk becomes all the more important.

 

-        The large ear lobes help the elephant to balance body temperature. The outside air gets into the body through numerous blood vessels in the ear lobes, thereby reducing the heat and body temperature. The elephants constantly fan their ears to maintain body temperature.

 

-        The elephant’s hearing and sniffing capacity is remarkable. The elephant is naturally short-sighted and therefore depends more on its hearing and sniffing capacity than its vision. The trunk, like the ears, can sense vibrations. 

 

-        Elephants are as intelligent and maybe more intelligent than humans. An elephant’s brain is the biggest in size among animals living on land and weighs slightly more than 5 kgs. Elephants are basically gentle and kind in character. 

 

-        The elephants are self conscious. They can identify themselves while standing before a mirror. They have the capacity to understand what is shown or pointed to them. 

 

-        The elephant’s pregnancy period is 22 months. Generally it gives birth only to one calf. Giving birth to two calves is a very rare phenomenon. The calf will weigh between 90 to 115 kilograms at the time of birth. The pregnant elephant is always surrounded, protected and helped by other adult elephants before, during and after childbirth. A calf is always reared by the herd from the time of its birth.

 

-        Elephants require large forest lands to live and survive. They require a natural habitat full of flora and fauna. They go on a specific path for a long distance eating off the flora on the way and by the time they return by the same path after several months, the flora would be back in full growth. That is how they create the “Elephant path”. Because these elephant paths are destroyed due to deforestation and human expansion into forest reserves, conflicts between elephants and humans occur quite often. 

 

(To be continued)
User Comments Post a Comment
Some NGO's of the painted&dented kind follow western dictates like one so called animal activist cum historian says Santhome Church was never Kabali Temple even though epigraphical evidence is there. We don't want the Chinny Krishna/Menaka Gandhi kind whose interests reflect Greenpeace mindset
Venkat
June 09, 2016
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After jallikattu, the same animal rights mafia has now targetted the temple elephants as their next project of money making. We have been following the events very closely, and have uncovered the links behind which BR and RR and their cronies have been operating.

Their current crocodile tears for these elephants would be exposed soon.

The shifting of the three elephants has been very cruel and brutal as per the own standards of these animal rights mafia. One elephant fell down from the truck to the floor. Imagine, such a gigantic animal falling from the truck.. The author has been criminally shifting the blame on the poor mahout widow, whereas the real culprits are themselves, because it is they who has taken control of these elephants and shifting. NOT the mahout widow or the temple management.

In the case of jallikattu, these animal rights mafia has portrayed the accidents of bulls as some sort of cruelty by the jallikattu organisers. By the same standard, the accident of the elephant should also be declared as the cruelty and criminal negligence by the animal rights mafia and AWBI controlled by these mafias.
jallikattu peravai
June 09, 2016
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When I write or express an opinion I do not hide behind anonymity or false names. That's cowardice. " We have been following the events very closely, and have uncovered the links behind which BR and RR and their cronies have been operating.." So whoever this person is using "we" as cpwardly pluralism must step forward with his name to expose the so-called links behind me. I have no need for any links. I fight my own battles and I truly have no need for cronies. Incidentally cowards must get their facts straight before ranting. An elephant is not a goat or a cow to be handed over for livelihood. This particular mahout family put the temple and temple and matham officials to great agony by refusing to vacate the premises and allow the matham to employ a new mahout. Two women cannot take care of 3 elephants. Fact 1. Fact 2, when I went to inspect the elephants the veterinary doctor had not come in to examine or treat the sick elephant Kamakshi for more than a month. Fact 3. When the elephants were being transported to the elephantn care facility the widow and daughter of the dead mahout kept chasing the truck shouting at Kamakshi to step down from the vehicle. The elephants did not know wny other human other than these two unscupulous women. When the women kept shouting to Kamakshi to step down from the vehicle, poor Kamakshi did exactly that. She stepped down from the vehicle and she is blind in one eye. I am enraged that those of you who speak about my links do not even have your basic facts right. And even if persons hide behind false names, if I see any slander in the comments I will take legal recouse, ask the website to provide me with the name and IP address and sue you for slander. This is an explicit warning. If you care about the matham and about elephants you should be glad that we removed the elephants before Kamakshi died of neglect. That would not only have forced the court to imake adverse remarks about the Sree matham with which the anti-Hindu newspapers and media would have had a field day, it would have been the grossest adharma to a living being which resides in our temples for our self-interest. So those of you are tempted to slander and rant, pause before you react. And wait to read the article in full to see how this tragedy is repeated in temple after temple after temple. Because Hindu bhaktas are loud in words and zero in action.
Radha Rajan
June 09, 2016
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This article is being written with a heavy heart. There are more to come.... Let the readers decide based on their conscience after I complete the series.

Meanwhile, certain elements which want to slander me and RR may go ahead. But be prepared to face the consequences too. Radhaji had warned and I second it.
B R Haran
June 09, 2016
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Heartbreaking story. Shri Haran's integrity cannot be questioned. Neither Radha Rajan's. She is, in my opinion, one of the most important women thinkers of this century.

I do not know both individuals personally, but I have kept track of their many writings as Hindus.

I am curious as to what the situation in Kerala is. I get the impression that the elephants are well treated there. Every town has an elephant or two for the temple festivities, and then there is the Trissur puram where many elephants are employed.
Dr. Vijaya Rajiva
June 09, 2016
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Dear Haran Ji,

You are distorting the facts in the same way you had done in the jallikattu debate. The domesticated elephants are NOT same as the wild elephants in the same way as the domesticated bulls (& cows) are diff from wild bulls. The characters of the both are different.

For jallikattu, i have demolished all the false stereotypes you and Radha Rajan had created in my articles for which you have not responded logically. all that you people had done is sensationalising and blind repetition of the lies you have manufactured.

The entire debate of jallikattu is available in the vijayvaani portal itself.
senthil
June 09, 2016
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@jallikattu peravai,

Whoever you are, pls dont use the name of an organisation, unless you are an office bearer there.

/** In the case of jallikattu, these animal rights mafia has portrayed the accidents of bulls as some sort of cruelty by the jallikattu organisers. By the same standard, the accident of the elephant should also be declared as the cruelty and criminal negligence by the animal rights mafia and AWBI controlled by these mafias.
**/

I fully support this point. Radha Rajan has blown the death of one single bull out of proportion without bothering to know whether it is an accident that is out of control of the organisers. She outrightly blamed it as deliberate cruelty by jallikattu organisers.

Now her blame that the fall of the elephant from the truck is meaningless and illogical. They cannot take double standard.
senthil
June 09, 2016
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As I said, get your facts right Senthil and co. The Supreme Court's judgment banning jallikattu was not delivered on the basis of one accident. There has been sustained and continuous abuse of the animals in different forms; and several accidents which have killed not only bulls but also humans. All this has been well documented by AWBI. And on the issue of captive elephants, the argument that a captive elephant is different from wild elephant it is laughable. The difference if any is between humans living normally and healthy humans institutionalised in a asylum, home or hospital. ;laslty those trivialising and dismissing the plight of captive elephants in this page are reflecting their anger over the ban on jallikattu. Mixing up two animals, two issues. Senthil and co this response was only to demonstrate that you are economical with facts and truth. I will not engage with people long on personalities, short on truth.
Radha Rajan
June 10, 2016
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@Radha Rajan,

I cannot comment on what others had written. So please address only me and NOT as "Co". I write based on my own intuition and understanding.

Regarding Jallikattu, AWBI documentation says that BULLS are made to stand on their own "FAECES" and hence infested with maggots. Such is their ridiculous and silly arguments. and you want me and everyone else to take these reports as gospel.

Do our people call cow dung as faeces? and does cow dung and cow urine cause maggot infection? If so, why cant you fight for banning use of cow dung by our supposed ignorant rural masses from laying in their floors and in front of their house, for millions would get infected with the same maggots.

/**
And on the issue of captive elephants, the argument that a captive elephant is different from wild elephant it is laughable. The difference if any is between humans living normally and healthy humans institutionalised in a asylum, home or hospital.
**/

First, it is domesticated elephants and NOT captive elephants. There are lot of differences b/w the two terms.

Second, domesticated elephants have intrinsic bonding with the mahouts. It obeys only to the mahouts to which it has bonded with and NOT to any random or strange mahouts. Which means it is a CRIMINAL offence on the part of your team to have forcibly taken those elephants from its home and shifting it to a place far away from the one it is used to. This is also a cruelty, just like a child is forcibly taken away from their parents, just because their parents live in huts or unhygienic conditions. Elephants cannot just accept new mahouts instantly.

Thirdly, the statements you have made makes me think, whether you are echoing ideological views that are hostile to our bharathiya ethos (or say Hindutva View points). Only communists would make statements like this, portraying everything as oppression and cruelty. I am sorry but wanted to say that you appear as Crypto Communist wearing hindutva mask.
senthil
June 10, 2016
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A forest animal can be domesticated, if at all it can be, only by providing it with a natural habitat and required flora and fauna.

What is happening in circus, temples and other such places is "domestication" by cruelty. Hence it is rightly described as "Captive" elephants.

More and more to come in this series of articles.
B R Haran
June 10, 2016
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@Haran Ji,

Without any logical substantiation, you are simply putting up your own stereotypes like "domestication = cruelty". Lack of Habitat as defined by you does not mean cruelty. You had applied this weird logic in jallikattu debate too.

There is no standard habitat for elephants, and infact for any living species including humans. The animals adapt to the environment they live in. Domestication of elephants is a hereditary continuous process, where the offspring born to already domesticated elephant is by default domesticated right from its childhood.

Captive elephants are freshly captured ones from the wild stock. These elephants are slowly domesticated with help of already domesticated elephants (trainer elephants).
senthil
June 11, 2016
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Elephant is a wild animal living in natural habitat like forests. They live in groups.

Cruelty starts right from the day the young calf is separated from its mother and family, and the calf continues to have a life of isolation and pain in an alien atmosphere. It is forced to adapt to the available condition and environment through subjugation.

This article is being written with full knowledge of the cruelty to which the hapless elephants are being subjected. Most of the mahouts employed by the HR & CE do not have proper training on how to maintain elephants. There are more to come...

After going through the series of articles readers will understand.
B R Haran
June 11, 2016
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@Haran Ji,

You are refusing to accept the FACT that there are domesticated elephants and wild elephants. Calf born to an already domesticated elephants are by default domesticated and does not belong to wild category.

And for your info, we have more than five thousand years of continuous lineage of domesticated elephants.

You are resorting to the same kind of repeated lies, that your team had done in Jallikattu. Your argument of cruelty does not make sense here, and it is far weaker than your jallikattu cruelty argument.
senthil
June 11, 2016
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Be proud of your "Domestication"!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhiG_BeFGPE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mxjhm2bnN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fOCn2DoXB4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_yPYaZ5n1I

http://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/apart-from-fireworks-injured-elephants-in-this-temple-festival-in-kerala-1396537

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prpmr0fPMGw&spfreload=10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URLn8n2OZo8
B R Haran
June 11, 2016
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@Haran Ji,

In the first video, did you notice the other elephant in the background that is lying comfortably, being bathed by the mahout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhiG_BeFGPE

Probably the idiotic moron who took this video forgot to hide that scene.

I cannot expect any other response from your team, because i had seen in the jallikattu case on how deliberately your team have manipulated few incidents out of proportion, and repeated well concorted lies in the media. One lie i would like to point out is the bending of bulls tail, which your team falsely claimed to be deliberately done by bull owners.

senthil
June 12, 2016
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I largely agree with the entire article by B.R.Haran on this specific instance of Maduravalli the temple elephant, and the larger point made within regarding the humane domestication of animals. I also understand where the fears of Senthil is coming from, going by his comments.

Wild animals and domestic animals are not absolutes, they are a continuum. Cows, goats, certain breeds of horses and dogs, poultry etc are almost fully 'domesticable' while others like elephants, monkeys, deer, other breeds of dogs or yaks etc fall somewhere in the middle. There are cases of even pets like snakes and the big cats which are just about barely domesticable. However this does not take away from the fact that humans when they tame animals must provide as much as possible, natural environmental conditions for them to be in.
[This of course opens up a more uncomfortable and much larger issue of keeping animals for labour and produce, and keeping animals to be killed for food - and the ethical 'keeping' and rearing conditions in that case. It is a much much more serious issue and in need of dire attention which right now the political situation has rendered untenable. We won't go into that now. Its a minefield!]

Back to the 'domestication' question. Its simple. The more civilized the society is, the more civilized the domestication process. The more aware that Man is that animals form an intrinsic part of the natural order (as he himself), and that they must be treated with consideration and respect, the more ethical and sensible the domestication process. Our responsibility now is to ensure that we maintain and display our [Hindu]civilization in the the way we treat our domestication process and our domestic animals.
In this specific case of temple elephants (or earlier the Jaliikattu bulls) we need to ensure that such animals are treated as prized and honourable possessions. Tradition actually plays an important role in this. In India, animals generally hold a demi god status, and are treated as such. The kings and soldiers and their appointed carers had a personal (almost human) relationship with the elephants and horses. So it was too between the Jallikattu bulls and cart oxen and their owners, the cows and the household etc etc. Our responsibility, socially, is to uphold and maintain this culture and activate for the Govt to support this endeavour.
Of course, in the last millenium other cultures have crept into this land which do not necessarily see animals as an extension of ourselves and nature, to be respected and honoured. A lot of dilution and corruption of our culture and its ethics has taken place, exacerbated by modernization and politics. Its our fault to allow it. We need to correct ourselves.
[From a macro ecological point of view, with the human population ballooning out of proportion and its consumption habits along with it, almost becoming a cancerous component on the earth, its flora and fauna, the ideal situation would be when NO ANIMAL SHOULD BE DOMESTICATED, OR KILLED FOR LABOUR, PRODUCE OR FOOD. That's not possible, so lets just deal with the present situation as it is]
Meanwhile, going through the conversation above between Mr.Haran and Mr.Senthil, this 'back and forth' argument is fast descending into a semantic one. But it is obvious to one reading it that both are agreed on the concern for the animal and the upholding of our culture. Unless we agree on the fundamental base of interests, then such debates cannot be productive. A solution and a meeting point should be the goal. Otherwise it'll end as a kindergarten skirmish and this issue is too serious to reduce it to that.
Savithri
June 13, 2016
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