Over 50 Animal Protection Groups Urge Tamil Nadu & Uttarakhand Governments to Halt Transfer of Baby Elephant to Temple

Over 50 Indian animal protection groups from across India and have issued an urgent joint appeal to Tamil Nadu’s Ministers of Forests and Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments, as well as to Uttarakhand’s Minister of Forest, to immediately stop the proposed transfer of a baby elephant from Uttarakhand to the Arleigh Nellaiyappar Arultharum Kanthimathiamman Temple in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Chennai-based People for Cattle in India (PFCI) has offered to gift the temple a mechanical elephant instead. Through enquiries, it has been verbally informed by the Uttarakhand Forest Department that the baby is a wild male calf. The temple’s previous elephant, Gandhimati, died on 11 January 2025 after a prolonged illness and reportedly suffered diabetes from a poor diet and severe arthritis, a condition elephants develop from a life essentially stationary, in chains, on concrete.

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The groups warn that the move and training to force the calf to obey commands would inflict lifelong suffering on the calf and also apparently violate law, including the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. They highlight that the proposed transfer has no legal basis under the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024, which provide no mechanism to reclassify a wild calf as a ‘captive’ elephant for private or temple ownership.

Urging the Uttarakhand Forest Department to consult with an organisation like Wildlife Trust of India to make concerted attempts to rewild the calf, keeping his long-term well-being priority, the joint letter reads, “In nature, elephants may stay close to their mothers for about 16 years, which simply demonstrates how important the bond of family and their own species is for these intelligent beings. God also made elephants to roam vast distances in forests and to forage, swim, and explore, all of which are thus required for their physical and mental wellbeing.”

The NGOs point out, “Elephants used in temples first have their spirits broken. They are put into kraals or chained between trees and beaten and jabbed with weapons until they lose all hope. At temples, elephants face extreme loneliness, confinement in chains, and continue to be controlled with weapons their entire lives. Male elephants especially face violence, especially during periods of musth. As a result, many elephants lash out and kill mahouts, devotees, and other humans.”

In November 2024, elephant Deivanai killed her mahout and his relative in Tiruchendur, while in past years, elephants, including Masini in Trichy and many others across India, have fatally attacked handlers or devotees.

The groups also draw attention to a 2021 Madras High Court order (WP 3656/2021, dated 21 September 2021), which directed a halt on acquiring new elephants for temples or private ownership, stating that no further elephants should be taken into captivity except for medical treatment.

The coalition of groups urges that instead of condemning another elephant calf to chains and loneliness, the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments should embrace compassion and modernity by considering the use of a mechanical elephant while ensuring the calf is either rewilded or if genuinely not possible, sent to a sanctuary where he can live unchained, free from weapons, and in the company of his own kind.

This year, in June, actor Trisha Krishnan and PFCI donated a mechanical elephant named Gaja to the Sri Ashtalinga Athisesha Selva Vinayagar and Sri Ashtabhuja Athisesha Varahi Amman Temples in Aruppukottai. With Gaja, at least twenty mechanical elephants are in use across South India, eleven of which have been donated by the PETA India. Compared to keeping a real elephant, mechanical elephants are low-maintenance, low-cost, and safe. And they do not get lonely, angry, or hungry; they do not need water; and they provide employment opportunities for artisans.

The joint letter’s signatories include: Animal Rain Basera (New Delhi); Animal Rescue Rehabilitation & Overall Wellness (Kerala); Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra (Bhubaneswar); Animal Rahat (Sangli); Compassion Unlimited Plus Action – CUPA (Bangalore); Daya Animal Welfare Organisation (Kerala); Dogs Protection Trust (Mysore); Dayakara Trust (Auroville); Fauna Police (New Delhi); Friend For Animal Trust (Bangalore); Healing Saathi (Dehradun); Hope For Animals (Dehradun); Heaven for Animals (Chennai); Helping Hands for Animals (Ghaziabad); Heritage Animal Taskforce (Thrissur); Humane Animal Society (Coimbatore); Love for Forgotten (Bangalore); Parivartan (Dehradun); PAWS Asia (Dombivli); Paws Connect (Bangalore); Paws Thrissur (Thrissur); Praana Animal Foundation (Bangalore); People for Animals (Chennai); People for Animals (Dehradun); PFA Trivandrum: PFAWTS (Pipalkoti); People for Cattle in India (Chennai); People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India; People for Animal Welfare (Kannur); Sharnagat Utter Refuge (Dehradun); South Bengaluru Cares (Bangalore); Samarth India Charitable Trust (Dehradun); Shwana Foundation (Bangalore); United Society for Animals (Ongole); Upaghna (Chennai); Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (Ballari); WeRoar (Tumkur); Anti Pollution Army Charitable Trust (Dehradun); Animal Rights Fund (Bangalore); Tapati Animal Care Charitable Trust (New Delhi); Community Streeties of India (Bangalore); Maruthy – Dog’s are our best friends (Bangalore); Walking Eye Foundation for Animal Advocacy (Thrissur); Safescape Foundation (Bangalore); Birds of Paradise Foundation (Bangalore); Society for Elephant Welfare (Kollam); Nam Makkal Charitable Trust (Chennai); Rescue By Garima Animal Shelter (Dehradun); International Center for Alternatives in Research and Education  (Chennai); Nature and Animal Conservancy (Coimbatore); Wildlife Awareness and Reptile Conservation Organisation (Tumkur) and Tamilnad Wildlife Organization (Coimbatore).

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