Baby elephants are being captured and BEATEN.
Dear ANJAN KUMAR,
When they are barely 3 years old, baby elephants are forcibly taken from their families and immediately shackled in spiked chains. Day in and day out, they are viciously beaten with wooden canes. Their skin is gouged with sharp, hooked rods so that they will obey humans. Even when the beatings stop, their suffering goes on. Chained and isolated, they live and sleep on hard concrete and are denied everything that's natural and important to them.
All this is done for the sake of giving rides to tourists. In nature, baby elephants are raised by all the females of their herd and aren't weaned until they are nearly 10 years old. In the tourism industry, they face a lifetime of torment and misery.
This abuse is only the tip of the iceberg. Inspectors from PETA India and other organisations have documented rampant abuse of captive elephants throughout the country. These sensitive, magnificent animals suffer from agonising foot problems caused by standing on concrete as well as bloody, infected wounds from beatings and abrasion by the chains they live in. And no matter how severe their injuries, they rarely receive veterinary care. Inspectors even witnessed partially and completely blind animals who were forced to work.
Often, the cruel treatment violates animal-protection laws. At Hathigaon, the "elephant village" set up by the Jaipur government, inspectors saw elephants who were enclosed in a space many times smaller than what's required by Central Zoo Authority guidelines. The frustrated animals were in such deep despair that they displayed stereotypic, repetitive motions, such as swaying on the spot and bobbing their heads.
But together, we're inspiring kind people to shun attractions in which animals are forced to work or perform. PETA India founder Ingrid Newkirk recently organised a demonstration in Jaipur against elephant rides and delivered a petition calling on the tourism minister to ban this abusive form of entertainment. The petition was signed by 63,000 people. TripAdvisor, the largest travel website in the world, has stopped selling tickets to attractions that force wild animals into contact with humans, and more than 100 travel agencies have also pledged not to include elephant rides or shows in their itineraries.
With the help of our dedicated supporters, we've brought relief to elephants, including Sunder, who was chained and used as a living begging bowl at a temple in Maharashtra for seven years. When we discovered him, he was covered with tell-tale signs of abuse, including an eye injury and a hole in his ear. We immediately campaigned for his freedom, and we would not give up, even when his captors hid him in a dark shed and beat him. We recruited hundreds of thousands of supporters and caring celebrities to our side and won Sunder's freedom in India's courts. Thanks to the perseverance of PETA India and kind people like you, he now enjoys life in a beautiful sanctuary where he can be himself.
Thank you for your compassion and support.
Very truly yours,
Dr Manilal Valliyate
Chief Executive Officer
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