India elephants get new Supreme Court protections

India's Supreme Court has ordered new protections for wild and captive elephants, directing states to keep elephant corridors open and requiring tighter welfare safeguards for more than 2,600 captive animals.

The wild-elephant ruling, issued on Monday, directed states to prevent the blockage of elephant corridors, the routes herds use to move between habitats, and ordered a survey to identify obstructions along them. It also said authorities must take steps to stop any “coercive measure” used to divert elephants' natural movement.

The court required a ban on “hulla parties”, groups deployed to drive elephants away using fireballs and burning stakes.

Wildlife conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra, who led the pro bono public interest case, said her petition challenged state governments' support for “horrifically cruel practices”. She said mobs chasing elephants with burning spears did not resolve conflict and instead worsened it.

In a separate order on Tuesday, the court ordered stronger safeguards for captive elephants, including medical records for each animal and regular health checks. Captive elephants, once commonly used for logging, are now used for tourism, entertainment and religious ceremonies.

PETA India said it welcomed measures to ease captive elephants' suffering, but its director Poorva Joshipura said “no elephant belongs in captivity”.

India is home to most of the world's Asian elephants. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as endangered, and the World Wildlife Fund says fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild.

India's government elephant survey, released in October 2025, estimated 22,446 wild elephants nationwide and warned that herds occupied only 3.5 percent of their historical range. Elephants are protected by law in India and are designated as the country's national heritage animal, but they face pressure from habitat loss, fragmentation and human-elephant conflict.