T.K.Muhammed Shafeeq vs The Manager
30. It is the case of the plaintiffs that
A.S.Nos.541 & 550 of 1998 :30:
Neelakantan was a harmless elephant reared and loved
by Hindus in that locality and there was no
circumstance warranting interference of police. We
are unable to countenance the said arguments, in view
of the judicial precedents on this point. It is to be
remembered that this Court in Veeramani Chettiyar v.
Davis and others [2012 (4) KLJ 375], relying on various
judicial precedents, held that elephant is a dangerous
wild animal (ferae nature). In our view, since the
elephants are dangerous wild animals, it made no
difference that a particular elephant is highly trained
or harmless and the harmfulness of an offending
animal has to be adjudged not by the particular
training or habit, but by reference to general habit of
the species to which it belonged.