Assam’s Elephant Joymala (Jeymalyatha) Still in Chains and Controlled With Weapons – PETA India Releases New Video Evidence of Abuse and Calls For Urgent Rescue

For Immediate Release:

15 November 2022

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Guwahati – Through video evidence gathered in late October and again just two days ago, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India shows that elephant Joymala (also known as Jeymalyatha) is back to being shackled in chains on a hard concrete floor near constantly, in complete isolation from others of her kind, and being controlled with the threat of weapons. She is in the custody of the Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple in Tamil Nadu. PETA India’s findings refute the claims made by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department that Joymala is “absolutely doing good”. The department tweeted a public relations video in September showing Joymala walking unchained and with access to a pool, but PETA India’s latest video evidence shows the pool stands empty today. Joymala was never returned to the custodian in Assam by the Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple after her permit to stay in the state expired.

Photographs and video footage of the latest investigation showing Joymala’s plight and a detailed timeline of events are available upon request.

PETA India’s exposé shows Joymala with deep wounds on her legs indicative of long-term chaining and mahouts carrying ankushes and sticks while taking her around the temple. After a veterinary inspection visit was made to Joymala on 27 July 2022, PETA India submitted a report to Tamil Nadu officials explaining that her feet are painfully infected, that she is controlled with pliers, and that weapons were found in her shed. Elephants who are kept chained in place and forced to live on hard packed dirt or concrete often have thin, uneven, and bruised foot pads and cracked nails, leading to infection and osteomyelitis. PETA India notes that no visitors are allowed to enter the area where Joymala is now kept, seemingly to keep her loneliness and abuse hidden.

PETA India Campaigns Manager Radhika Suryavanshi says, “Don’t let anyone fool you: PETA India’s investigation shows Joymala is living a miserable life of pain and fear, denied the opportunity to move around freely or to socialise with other elephants. Enough is enough. It is high time for Joymala to be seized and sent to a rehabilitation centre where she can feel safe, recover from her trauma, and be in the company of other elephants.”

In two separate video recordings released by the media involving different mahouts in 2021 and 2022, Joymala can be seen being beaten so badly she is screaming in pain. Ironically, these beatings took place at a rejuvenation camp for elephants and in the holiest of places, the sanctum sanctorum of the Krishnan Kovil temple. It was only after PETA India’s involvement that a first information report was filed under sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, against the mahout who beat her at the temple. A different mahout and kavadi were arrested for the assault at the rejuvenation camp. PETA India was verbally told that a wildlife offence report for violation of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, was registered by the Srivilliputhur Forest Range against the mahout who beat Joymala at the temple, but no proof of this has ever been provided. No action appears to have been taken against the third mahout who controlled her with pliers, and now Joymala lives at the end of short chains, under the constant threat of weapons. PETA India says that the failure of the Tamil Nadu administration to seize Joymala after the first beating video surfaced or to hold the temple management accountable after the second one emerged has caused her to endure repeated abuse by different mahouts.

The Assam Environment & Forest Department is seeking directions for the transfer of the abused elephant back to Assam from Tamil Nadu through the Gauhati High Court. PETA India recommends that Joymala be sent to a specialised rehabilitation centre skilled in handling abused elephants, as approved by the central government’s Project Elephant division, where she can live unchained and in the company of other elephants.

Abused elephants are dangerous, as many retaliate. According to figures compiled by the Heritage Animal Task Force, captive elephants killed 526 people in Kerala alone in a 15-year span. There have also been numerous incidents in Tamil Nadu and throughout India in which frustrated captive elephants killed their mahouts. Examples include Deivanai, who was also from Assam and who killed her mahout at the Subramaniya Swami temple in Madurai; Masini, who is kept at the Samayapuram Mariamman temple in Trichy; and Madhumathi, who was used in a temple festival in Madurai.

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

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