Jumbo hustle: the transfer of elephants to Tamil Nadu’s temples

The unseemly haste with which five elephants from Assam were transported to temples in Tamil Nadu raises pertinent questions about the process of animal transfer, and whether the rules are cheat proof. Here, Geetha Srimathi examines the entire issue threadbare, explaining how elephants are acquired for temples in the State, and the yawning gaps in the rules, and processes that allow humans to ‘trade’ in pachyderms.