Recently, five captive elephants, aged 5, 6, 8, and 13, were moved from Assam to Tamil Nadu to work in temples. Close to 53 organisations have raised the issue with the Tamil Nadu government. The Centre for Research on Animal Rights (CRAR) has written to the Union Environment Minister seeking a moratorium on further elephant transfers from the Northeast and an independent inquiry into these five transfers and six more reportedly proposed.
While human-elephant interactions are on the rise, demand for captive elephants is also increasing. There are also discussions on investments and private partnerships for captive elephant medical care and rehabilitation.
How can a wild animal be conserved while simultaneously being treated as a potential species for profit? How do these two parallel forces complicate the planning and implementation of effective conservation strategies? Also, how will these fast-paced, evolving patterns of elephant commodification shape human-elephant relations?
Here is a recent random sequence of events and incidents involving captive elephants in India:
In 2018, three captive elephants from Karnataka were sent to Jharkhand to help patrol forests and for safaris. Two more are said to be moved this year.
In 2024, the Centre notified rules allowing transfer of captive elephants in India.
The same year, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau launched an investigation into allegations of illegal elephant transfers from Northeast India to Keralam. Protests were also held against the transfer of 21 elephants, including a mother and calf, from Assam to Vantara.
In 2025, Karnataka gifted four captive elephants to Andhra Pradesh to help the state with wild-elephant “capture” operations.
In May 2026, a 26-year-old captive elephant attacked another captive elephant during a state-promoted tourism activity at the Dubare Elephant Camp in Karnataka. The attack caused the deaths of a tourist and one of the elephants.
In the same month, a 36-year-old Lakshmi was moved from a temple in Hampi to Kolar for treatment (recurring injuries, health complications). Her “fans,” including locals and mahouts, protested the move for days. They wanted her treated locally, emphasising her role in welcoming prominent visitors.
This week, a captive elephant’s death in Keralam was deeply mourned by thousands of his “fans”. Pallattu Brahmadathan, a temple elephant, died after being struck by lightning. He was brought to the state from Arunachal Pradesh 28 years ago and bought locally twice. He worked in several annual festivals over the last three decades. He is very popular on social media.
Two elephants (19-year-old and 35-year-old) captured from the wild and kept in separate camps in Karnataka died this week. Both apparently died from severe stress and wounds incurred before capture, according to state departments.
Karnataka requested Kerala this year to donate one of its captive elephants to a temple in the state. A calf meant to be moved from Uttarakhand to a Tamil Nadu temple last year is still on hold after a PIL.
A famous temple in Tumukuru, the first one to recently replace a real elephant with a robotic one, were compelled to undo the move because, apparently, “the robotic elephant does not go in accordance with the religious sentiments of the devotees over its awkward look.”
This month, an elephant in Kerala that worked in the temple for 18 years grievously injured its mahout. In April-May 2026, three people (including one mahout) were killed in separate incidents by temple elephants in the state. Over 150 captive elephants have died in the state in the past six years.
In September 2026, elephant Madhuri moved from a temple in Assam to Vantara for treatment and was released back to the temple after 13 months amid locals’ protests.
More and more elephant camps and rescue centres have been proposed to be built across all states in India this year. In other instances, private centres like Vantara have proposed establishing three Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centres in Assam and have partnered with the Government of Rajasthan to improve the care and well-being of elephants at Hathi Gaon in Jaipur.
There is growing demand for mahouts, a “commercial” profession with a deep colonial history. Funds are being used to send mahouts for training, workshops, and new programmes are being launched, such as the 'Gajsevak Sammelan' training programme offered by Vantara.
When the state institutionalises the use of captive elephants (state/privately-owned) for festivals, ecotourism and capture operations without addressing high death rates, poor health, and inadequate medical facilities, it also opens the market for corporate monopolies. This cycle perpetuates a manufactured demand for more rescues and medical interventions for captive elephants who often remain in poor health. It sustains the status quo and increases exploitation of captive elephants for commercial purposes.
How is this new, growing manufactured market shaping perceptions of a wild species? This involves its branding (ideological posturing), consumption (ecotourism), and labour exploitation in captivity, and, increasingly, the generation of new capital for medical care and rehabilitation centres. It may be important here to understand these emerging practices and their long-term impact. Hence, a few questions to ponder over…
How economic value is being produced through short-term, inefficient solutions to human-elephant encounters: Captured wild elephants used as a conservation solution appear in religious institutions, ecotourism, or to help capture other wild elephants. Commodification also unfolds on social media, where the captive aesthetics of an elephant are monetised and celebrated.
The transformation of an elephant from a visual commodity to a rogue, a deity, and a slave. A wild elephant immortalised in a photograph within a tiger reserve can later be called rogue in a human-dominated landscape. He can also be captured for captivity, and eventually paraded at a festival ten years later. This polarisation of perceptions of the male elephant and its perceived ‘manhood’ has also influenced short-term conservation strategies, especially in certain states. The same elephant, once labelled and captured as a ‘rogue’ male in human-dominated landscapes, may later be called ‘Captain,’ ‘AK-47,’ or the ‘King’ of capture operations and used to capture other ‘rogues.’ What kind of “empathy” are we cultivating for a very “social” being in the wild, while contradictorily popularising its forced solitary persona as a “hero” or a “god” in captivity?
What role does social media play here – where thousands of human “influencers” harness and profit from the aestheticisation of elephants’ charisma in captivity, which may further distort public perceptions of the species’ natural behaviours and ecological roles?
Most importantly, has elephants’ growing role as a popular economic, cultural and entertainment “commodity” improved their protection in the wild or has it had the opposite effect?
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
