For Immediate Release:
01 July 2024
Contact:
Hiraj Laljani; HirajL@petaindia.org
Sachin Bangera; SachinB@petaindia.org
Bhopal – Following a horrific incident in which an elephant named Nanki (also known as Janki) killed a mahout, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India fired off a letter to Madhya Pradesh’s chief wildlife warden requesting that the distressed animal be seized and rehabilitated at a sanctuary where she could live free from chains and weapons. The elephant was reportedly used for begging and is believed to have killed another man two years ago and attacked another about a year ago.
In its letter, PETA India draws attention to the Hon’ble Madras High Court’s observation that the use of an elephant for begging amounts to exploitation of the animal. It also cites the Guidelines for Care and Management of Captive Elephants, issued in 2008 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which states that making an elephant march over tarred roads during the hottest period of the day without rest, for religious purposes or any other reason, such as for rides, is tantamount to cruelty. Section 42 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972, requires an owner to provide the elephant with adequate housing, maintenance, and upkeep. Failing to do so is considered a violation of the WPA, 1972, and hence, the elephant is liable for seizure.
“Elephants who have spent years being chained, bullied, and threatened with weapons are known to attack, lashing out in fear and frustration,” says PETA India Director of Advocacy Khushboo Gupta. “PETA India is appealing to the chief wildlife warden to immediately protect Nanki and humans who may encounter her by sending her to a sanctuary for care and to urgently take action to stop the use of elephants for begging.”
In 2021, PETA India rescued Lakshmi, who had become known as “India’s skinniest elephant”, from Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh and secured her a permanent home at a rehabilitation centre. Just like Nanki, Lakshmi was being used for begging. She was found suffering from chronic arthritis and joint deformities, with abscesses on her hips. She was in agonising pain and was debilitated as a result of long-term deprivation of food and water.
PETA India has repeatedly highlighted the dangers associated with using captive elephants. Numerous incidents have been reported already this year: in February, an elephant named Gouri at Amer Fort near Jaipur attacked a Russian tourist, and in the same month, an elephant at Blangad Bhagavathy Temple in Chavakkad injured four people. In March, in Pattambi near Palakkad, an elephant brought there for a temple festival ran amok, injuring one human, causing the death of two cows, and damaging property. In another incident in March during the Arattupuzha Pooram festival in Thrissur, one elephant charged at and chased another, causing severe panic among thousands of devotees, including children, who ran for safety. In April, at a ceremony at TV Puram Sree Ramaswami Temple in Vaikom near Kottayam, an elephant attacked and killed a mahout, and in the same month in West Bengal, a mahout was killed at the ISKCON Mayapur temple by one of the two elephants kept there. Just last week, an elephant crushed a mahout to death at an illegal safari park in Idukki district, Kerala.
PETA India notes that many captive elephants in India are being held illegally or have been transported from one state to another without permission. Elephants are wild animals, and training them to be used for begging, ceremonies, rides, tricks, and other purposes is done by violently dominating them, including by beating them into submission and using weapons to inflict pain. Many captive elephants suffer from extremely painful foot problems and leg wounds due to being chained on concrete for hours on end. Most of them are denied adequate food, water, veterinary care, and any semblance of a natural life. Under these hellish conditions, many elephants become intensely frustrated and lash out, sometimes killing mahouts, devotees, tourists, or other humans.
PETA India advocates for elephants in captivity to be retired to sanctuaries where they could live unchained and in the company of other elephants, healing psychologically and physically from the trauma of years of isolation, captivity, and abuse.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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