In a big win against animal-cruelty, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and actor Parvathy Thiruvothu gifted a new mechanical elephant to Kerala’s Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple, near Thrissur.
The life-sized robot elephant, named Irinjadappilly Raman, is made of iron and rubber. Mounted on wheels for easy movement, the elephant moves its eyes, trunk and tail, much like the actual animal. Raman was welcomed by worshippers in the temple with a ceremony by the head priest, Rajkumar Namboothiri. “We are extremely happy and grateful to receive this mechanical elephant, which will help us to conduct our rituals and festivals in a cruelty-free way, and we hope that other temples will also think about replacing live elephants for their rituals,” the priest said in a statement.
While elephant poaching is a well-known contributor of the falling elephant population globally, including India, the conditions of captive elephants in India are another act of cruelty towards the gentle giants. More often than not, elephants that are held captive are chained, resulting in little exercise, and are kept in chaotic surroundings without proper food. In a statement about this, PETA said, “Many have extremely painful foot ailments and leg wounds, from being chained to concrete for hours on end, and most do not get adequate food, water or veterinary care, let alone any semblance of a natural life.”
As per the Ministry of Environment and Forests' Project Elephant journal, there are more than 2,600 captive elephants in India, of which around 1,821 are owned privately for tourism, entertainment and religious purposes.
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