Chained majesties: The plight of captive elephants in Bangladesh

om street extortion and circus performances to years spent in chains and illegal wildlife trade, Bangladesh’s captive elephants face multiple forms of exploitation. Recent deaths, rescues and cases of mistreatment raise a larger question: why has the country still failed to build a humane system for managing elephants that can no longer return to the wild?

An invisible population

An IUCN publication, Status of the Asian Elephants in Bangladesh, found 268 resident wild elephants and 93 migratory elephants in Bangladesh. An annex included a list, sourced from the Bangladesh Forest Department, of 96 captive elephants. Among them, 82 were kept by 35 different owners. Nearly half of the captive animals were male bull elephants, which require more space and careful management.

That decade-old data does not reflect the current number of captive elephants, and their whereabouts are in many cases practically unknown. Many elephants in captivity are now believed to be held without licences, while no updated official registry is publicly available. More than 25 elephants are in the custody of Gazipur Safari Park, Dulahazara Safari Park and Bangladesh National Zoo. Without a reliable registry, it is difficult to monitor ownership, transfers, breeding, health or welfare.

The gaps in oversight also raise questions about illegal wildlife trade. Abdul Malek, originally from Kamalganj and later living in Bagaic