[kellyhound]

A 40-year-old man was killed and another injured after an elephant ran amok near the Kidangoor Mahavishnu Temple in Angamaly on Friday.

The victim was identified as Vishnu, a native of Kollam, who was driving the vehicle that transported the elephant, temple authorities told Onmanorama. The injured mahout, Pradeep, is undergoing treatment.

The elephant, Mayyanad Parthasarathy, had been brought from Kollam for a festival at a nearby temple and was taken to the Kidangoor Mahavishnu Temple for blessings. However, soon after reaching there, the elephant became agitated, broke its chain and ran amok.

Elephant squad personnel, wildlife authorities and the police later fired tranquilliser darts and brought the animal under control, managing to chain it to a coconut tree at the ground near the temple.

According to Angamaly police, the elephant was in musth and rammed into its mahout and a helper around 9.45 am when they tried to rein in the elephant.

After nearly two hours of efforts by police and forest officials, the animal was brought under control by 12.30 pm, an officer said.

Police added that the mahout sustained minor injuries and was under observation at a nearby hospital in Angamaly.

According to residents, the elephant wreaked havoc on the ground adjacent to the temple, flipping a car and a scooter, damaging both.

The animal also rammed into the wall of a house nearby. Two sides of the ground were blocked to prevent the animal from escaping, as it is a residential area, they said.

[Guns N' Coffee]

Elephant blowing off steam.

[Mr.NoCredit]

I don’t blame the elephant at any level. They treat those animals like crap. That chain around it!?! I’d want to kill people too if I were chained up, yelled at and treated like shit for years. Too bad he was only able to kill one of them.

[yah]

Google AI:

Are captive elephants typically isolated during musth?

Yes, captive bull elephants are typically isolated or strictly confined during musth due to a massive surge in testosterone that causes extreme aggression and unpredictable behavior. Because they can become a danger to other elephants, human handlers, and themselves, management during this 2- to 4-month period focuses heavily on safety and containment. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
## Management Practices During Musth
The way a bull is handled depends largely on the facility's design and philosophy: [1, 6]

* Isolation and Physical Restraint: In many traditional or working environments (especially in Asia), bulls are often chained by multiple legs to strong trees or pillars to prevent them from lunging or attacking. In these cases, mahouts (handlers) manage them from a distance to avoid injury.
* Purpose-Built Enclosures: Modern zoos usually have high-security "bull pens" designed to isolate males during musth. These enclosures allow for "protected contact," where keepers can perform medical checks or provide food through barriers without being in the same space as the elephant.
* Social Adjustments: While complete social isolation is psychologically damaging, facilities like the [Denver Zoo](https://denverzoo.org/zootales/if-you-musth-know/) try to adjust social rotations so bulls can still have visual or auditory contact with others without the risk of physical aggression.
* Dietary and Medical Control: Some institutions use special diets or sedatives to help manage the intensity of the musth. Organizations like [Wildlife SOS](https://news.wildlifesos.org/everyth...w-about-musth/) work to move away from older practices like starvation, which were historically used to reduce a bull's energy and aggression. [1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

## Why Isolation is Common

* Extreme Aggression: Testosterone levels can spike up to 60 to 100 times the normal baseline, making even the most docile elephant prone to "seething anger" and violence.
* Risk to Others: In musth, bulls may attack other males or even females they would normally be calm around.
* Human Safety: Keepers are at extreme risk; most fatal accidents involving captive elephants occur when a bull is in musth. [4, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16]

Would you like to know more about the physical signs of musth or how wild elephants handle this social phase differently?

[1] [https://news.wildlifesos.org](https:...w-about-musth/)
[2] [https://globalelephants.org](https:/...n-depth-facts/)
[3] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en...org/wiki/Musth)
[4] [https://www.sabisabi.com](https://ww...bulls-in-musth)
[5] [https://journals.sagepub.com](https:...33294116667092)
[6] [https://globalelephants.org](https:/...o%20themselves.)
[7] [https://elephantaidinternational.org...-in-captivity/)
[8] [https://news.wildlifesos.org](https:...ull-elephants/)
[9] [https://www.zoochat.com](https://www...ephants.28631/)
[10] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en...tive_elephants)
[11] [https://www.idausa.org](https://www....s-behind-bars/)
[12] [https://denverzoo.org](https://denve...ou-musth-know/)
[13] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www....arate_at_zoos/)
[14] [https://woodcrawler.blogspot.com](ht...20starved%20or)
[15] [https://elephantjunglesanctuary.com]...lephant-musth/)
[16] [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https:...s/PMC11611496/)

[yah]

More Google AI:

How is this handled with animals that are used for work? Are they unavailable for working during this period?

Working bull elephants are typically unavailable for work during musth because they become too dangerous and unpredictable for handlers to control in public or industrial settings. Because musth can last for several months, this period often results in a significant economic loss for owners in logging, tourism, or religious operations. [1, 2, 3, 4]
## How Working Elephants are Managed
Management focuses on safety and, in some traditional settings, attempts to shorten the musth period to return the animal to work sooner. [5, 6]

* Total Work Suspension: Most owners stop using bulls for tasks like hauling logs or carrying tourists because the risk of a violent outburst is too high.
* Traditional Containment: In countries like Sri Lanka and India, working bulls are traditionally tethered to large trees with heavy chains. This prevents them from attacking people or other elephants while they are unmonitored.
* Shortening the Period: To minimize work loss, some traditional handlers use specific methods to end musth faster:
* Caloric Reduction: Bulls are often fed low-calorie diets or even "starved" for short periods. High-energy foods are avoided as they are believed to prolong the musth state.
* Restricted Resources: Historically, access to water was sometimes limited alongside food to weaken the animal's physical drive.
* Modern Shifts: Sanctuaries and modern facilities, such as [Wildlife SOS](https://news.wildlifesos.org/everyth...w-about-musth/), are moving away from these methods. They use "protected contact" walls that allow vets and handlers to care for the elephant without entering its physical space, ensuring medical needs are met even while work is suspended. [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

## Economic and Cultural Impact

* Economic Loss: In industries like forestry, a bull in musth represents months of lost labor.
* Safety Emergencies: If a working elephant enters musth unexpectedly in a public area, handlers may use chemical restraints like [Xylazine or Ketamine](https://www.academia.edu/115496639/M..._A_case_report) to safely secure the animal and prevent injury to humans. [2, 13]

Are you interested in the specific signs mahouts look for to know when an elephant is about to enter musth?

[1] [https://scispace.com](https://scispa...4r1dlqss6d.pdf)
[2] [https://scispace.com](https://scispa...4r1dlqss6d.pdf)
[3] [https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org](ht...f173887895.pdf)
[4] [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https:...s/PMC11611496/)
[5] [https://www.cladue.org](https://www....research/musth)
[6] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en...org/wiki/Musth)
[7] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en...org/wiki/Musth)
[8] [https://www.reddit.com](https://www....ng_near_males/)
[9] [https://news.wildlifesos.org](https:...ull-elephants/)
[10] [https://en.wikipedia.org](https://en...org/wiki/Musth)
[11] [https://scispace.com](https://scispa...4r1dlqss6d.pdf)
[12] [https://news.wildlifesos.org](https:...w-about-musth/)
[13] [https://www.academia.edu](https://ww..._A_case_report)