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And now, mediclaim for elephants!

The Oriental Insurance Company has now come up with a mediclaim policy for elephants in Kerala.

The Muvattupuzha division of the company has, in collaboration with the Kerala Elephants Owners Association, launched a policy that would pay for the medical treatment of elephants and mahouts. It covers diseases as well as injuries suffered by the animal, whereas the mahouts would be reimbursed for treating injuries caused by the animals. The maximum compensation in both cases would be Rs 25,000.

The company earlier launched a scheme to cover the death of elephants and damage to property and injuries caused by them. Like in this policy, the mediclaim covers only elephants belonging to the KEOA members.

There are nearly 870 of such animals. Association president T N Arun Kumar said 200 of these animals have come under the group insurance cover.

Efforts to enroll the rest are on. The association also plans to extend its membership to the temple administration which has more than 100 elephants in the state.

"Negotiations in this regard are on with the authorities concerned," Kumar said.

Association sources said the insurance cover is a major help to the elephant-owners, who, for quite some time, have been struggling to maintain the pachyderms. Over the years, the returns from keeping the animals have gone down drastically.

Following the curbs on felling trees in Kerala, the situation had worsened as the majority of elephants were used for transporting timber. Now, the only option open to elephant-owners are the festivals and traditional welcome functions in government and private sector. However, these do not fetch much income.

Tourism is another industry which makes use of the pachyderms. The state government conducts annual elephant fairs and arranges elephant rides for foreign tourists. The animal lovers, however, are up in arms against these programmes saying that it amounts to cruelty towards the beasts.

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