They are often abused by drunk and brutal mahouts. Around half of the mahouts are found to have drinking problems. January to April are the cruelest months for the captive elephants in Kerala when the places of worship celebrates various annual festivals. Elephant Biologist V Sridhar accuses, the temple boards of being greedy and co-ercing aggressive elephants not suited to such tasks by going to the extent of hobbling them even with spike chains on their forelegs. He further claims that due to the increasing work load, elephants in their prime (20–40 years of age) seem to be dying prematurely. He suspects that increase in death toll - due to intestinal obstruction and other digestive problems - is indicative of potential increase in physiological and psychological stress. He also expresses his concerns on the lack of trained mahouts - to handle the huge increase of total elephants in captivity - which is a leading reason for the cruel mis-treatment of the animals Further in his opinion, the process of taming an elephant was, historically, based on principles of dominance establishment, which needs revision by creating better awareness and training of Mahouts, but this process cannot happen overnight and it can only happen gradually. Further reports by Prem Panicker :  Panicker quotes the above from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) commissioned report on the conditions of the elephants housed at the Punnathur Kotta Elephant "Sanctuary" in Guruvayur. Animal welfare at this elephant sanctuary has come into question due to several videos being posted online of elephants displaying stereotypic behavior, being chained by the ankles with very short chains and one obviously being beaten. Following these allegations in the media and after receiving a lot of complaints, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) commissioned an inspection of the animals housed in the premises and its facilities. The Commission submitted its report in September 2014. In spite of the report highlighting the pathetic conditions in which the elephants were being housed, the violations of in welfare norms including that of feed, water and veterinary care, no action has been taken by the authorities in spite of numerous reminders by the AWBI. There have been reports by three official committees that investigated the abuse of elephants at Guruvayur, and which have detailed the abuses inflicted on the Temple Elephants, in violation of various animal welfare laws in India. Notable captive elephants in Kerala include Pambadi Rajan, Thechikottukavu Ramachandran , Chirakkal Kalidasan, Thrikkadavoor Sivaraju , Paramekkavu Parameswaran(died), Thiruvambadi Chandrasekharan (Two Elephants with same name), Puthuppilli Keshavan, Mangalamkkunnu Karnan, kandampully balanarayanan(died) , Guruvayur Keshavan(died), and Thiruvambadi Shivasundar(died).