Asia’s First Empathy-Building Animatronic Elephant, Voiced by Actor Dia Mirza, Visits Delhi Schools Courtesy of PETA India 

For Immediate Release:

30 January 2024

Contact: 

Hiraj Laljani; [email protected] 

Meenakshi Narang; [email protected]  

Delhi – Children at Raghubir Singh Junior Modern School were treated to a special visit on 30 January from a stunningly realistic, life-size mechanical elephant named Ellie, voiced by actor Dia Mirza, as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India launched a tour of schools in the Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR) to teach empathy to students. While blinking her eyes and flapping her ears, just like a real elephant, Ellie tells children an age-appropriate story about being separated from her mother as a baby, the abuse she endured in a circus, and finally, her happy life at a sanctuary after her rescue. 

Photos and video of Ellie and the launch are available upon request.

“Elephants are deeply intelligent, social, and emotional beings who belong in nature, not in confinement, where they are chained and beaten. We are delighted to have Ellie in our school to sensitise our students about developing empathy for animals and other living beings,” says Raghubir Singh Junior Modern School Principal Mrs Nalini Singh Rajput. 

“Ellie’s story provides an invaluable lesson in empathy by teaching children that, just like us, elephants are intelligent animals who have feelings and personalities,” says PETA India Senior Education Coordinator Meenakshi Narang. “PETA India urges everyone to leave sensitive elephants in peace and stay away from forms of entertainment that use animals.”  

PETA India has documented that captive elephants used for entertainment are often beaten into submission and jabbed with ankuses – heavy batons with sharp steel tips – to control them through pain and fear. Many develop abnormal behaviour after years of strict confinement, and they are rarely given adequate food, water, or veterinary care.  

Since May 2023, Ellie has reached almost 48,000 young learners at various private, public, international, and government schools across India, sharing the message that elephants should not be used in circuses or for rides or other cruel events. She’ll now be interacting with thousands of kids at well-known schools in the Delhi-NCR, including K. R Mangalam World School, Pathways World School, The Shriram Millennium School, and Little Millennium.  

PETA India also runs a free humane education programme, Compassionate Citizen, designed to help school students aged 8 to 12 years better understand and appreciate animals. It has been used by over 2 lakh schools, reaching approximately 9.2 crore children across India.  

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 (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram. 

#