Kerala Department of Tourism Earns PETA India Award for Mechanical Elephant Safari in Lead Up to Save the Elephant Day

For Immediate Release:

10 April 2026

Contact:

Umang Sharma; [email protected]

Anushka Yadav; [email protected]

Thiruvananthapuram — For launching a state-of-the-art mechanical elephant safari—and thereby sparing live elephants the pain and suffering of being used for tourist rides—a Golden Elephant Protection Award is on its way to the Kerala Department of Tourism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) just in time for Save the Elephant Day (16 April). The lifelike mechanical elephant which debuted recently at Thumboormozhi Butterfly Park—a popular tourist destination and a natural habitat for dozens of butterfly species—offers visitors an engaging, cruelty-free safari experience.

“By promoting this tourist excursion that relies on innovation rather than cruelty, Kerala Department of Tourism is taking a progressive step toward elephant protection,” says PETA India Corporate Affairs Liaison Umang Sharma. “PETA India applauds Kerala Department of Tourism’s forward-thinking leadership and encourages everyone to choose ethical, humane tourism experiences that let animals live in peace.”

In nature, elephants live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, and share mothering responsibilities for the herd’s babies. But those forced to give rides in the tourism industry are ripped from their mothers as babies, immobilized with tight ropes, and gouged with nail-studded sticks or other sharp objects so they obey out of fear. They are then forced into a life of servitude at a young age, are kept chained while not working, and are constantly threatened with physical violence and psychological punishment over decades.

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 PETA India on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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