Delhi Forest Department Advises Robotic Elephants for Festivals and Events Instead of Captive Elephants, Following PETA India Appeal

For Immediate Release:

21 September 2026

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New Delhi – In a move to protect elephants and promote public safety, the Department of Forests and Wildlife, Government of NCT of Delhi, has issued an advisory encouraging religious institutions, temple committees, event organisers, and devotees to use mechanical (robotic) elephants – instead of live captive elephants – during ceremonies and festivals. The advisory follows an appeal by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India and notes that live captive elephants are sometimes brought from different regions for religious and cultural events, but that public safety concerns, animal welfare, and logistical challenges associated with the use of live elephants in crowded urban settings like Delhi cannot be overstated.

A copy of the advisory, photos and videos of mechanical elephants are available upon request.

The advisory reflects a growing national shift away from using captive elephants because of concerns about their welfare and human safety. Use of elephants for rides by tourists at Amer Fort has fallen by around 70% in seven years. In June 2026, the Telangana Forest Department welcomed its own robotic elephant and recommended it for religious processions and film shoots. In Karnataka, in September 2024, the Muzrai (endowments) department welcomed the use of mechanical elephants in government temples. In 2007, following a report submitted by PETA India, the Government of Maharashtra announced that elephants would no longer be allowed in Mumbai over concerns regarding cruelty to elephants, the threat to human life and property from frustrated elephants, and the possible transmission of tuberculosis and anthrax to humans.

“The Delhi Forest Department’s advisory is a compassionate and forward-thinking step that protects both elephants and devotees, and PETA India applauds it,” says Vikram Chandravanshi, Senior Policy and Legal Advisor, PETA India. “PETA India appeals to the central government’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to encourage every state to switch to the use of robotic elephants in temples and for all other uses of elephants, including film and photo shoots, weddings, and tourist rides.”

Elephants are intelligent, active, and highly social wild animals, and training them to be used for processions, rides, and other events is done by forcing them into submission, including by beating and chaining them and using weapons to inflict pain. Many elephants held captive in temples and other places suffer from extremely painful foot problems and leg wounds due to being chained on concrete for hours on end, and most are denied adequate food, water, veterinary care, and any semblance of a natural life. Under these conditions, many elephants become intensely frustrated and lash out, often killing mahouts or other humans. According to figures compiled by the Heritage Animal Task Force, captive elephants killed 526 people in Kerala in a 15-year period.

PETA India has also submitted concerns to the Centre for elephant and human welfare. After the recent deaths of a tourist and an elephant at Karnataka’s Dubare Elephant Camp during a bathing session, the fatal attack on a mahout by a captive elephant at Uttar Pradesh’s Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, and other incidents, PETA India wrote to the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav, urging a nationwide prohibition on elephant rides, bathing experiences, selfies, and other close-contact tourist activities involving captive elephants. Internationally, momentum is moving the same way: the Indonesian government has banned elephant rides nationwide, and in 2023, the United Kingdom passed the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act, creating a framework to stop UK companies from selling or advertising overseas animal attractions – such as elephant rides – that involve cruelty.

Lifelike mechanical elephants offer a humane, safe alternative that keeps cultural traditions intact. Capable of moving their eyes, ears, tail, and trunk and mounted on a wheeled base, these proven models are already being used by temples across India, while Kerala Tourism has introduced a mechanical elephant safari at Thamboormozhi Butterfly Park. The initiative received PETA India’s Golden Elephant Protection Award in April 2026. Mechanical elephants have also been used in a wedding, political rally and on film for an advertisement.

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

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