Killing of Mahout by Elephant at Kottayam Temple Prompts PETA India to Call For Using Mechanical Elephants in Rituals and Ceremonies

After a horrific incident this week in which an upset elephant, Thottekkad Kunjulakshmi, crushed to death the mahout who was handling him, PETA India fired off a letter to the Travancore Devaswom Board calling for all temples under its jurisdiction to replace real elephants with mechanical ones in rituals and processions, which would protect animals, mahouts, and attendees. PETA India is also calling for the live elephants currently used for these purposes to be released to reputable animal sanctuaries, where they could live unchained and recover from the mental trauma they’ve endured.

The video footage shows Kunjulakshmi becoming distressed at the sight of the mahout carrying a stick. A close look at various videos of the incident shows the chained elephant attacking the mahout, who had a stick in his hand. As captive elephants are trained through the use of weapons, a visible stick can result in a trauma response in these animals. Already carrying a load on their back, Kunjulakshmi was also surrounded by humans on a concrete floor. All these things were completely unnatural – and therefore often anxiety-inducing – for the animal.

Many captive elephants in India, including in Kerala, are being held illegally or have been transported from one state to another without permission. Elephants are wild animals, and training them to be used for ceremonies, rides, tricks, and other purposes is done by violently dominating them and forcing them into submission, including by beating 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. Most of them are denied adequate food, water, veterinary care, and any semblance of a natural life. Under these hellish conditions, many elephants become intensely frustrated and lash out, sometimes killing mahouts or other humans. According to the Heritage Animal Task Force, captive elephants killed 526 people in Kerala in a 15-year period.

PETA India has already donated life-size mechanical elephants Irinjadappilly Raman to the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in Thrissur and Mahadevan to the Thrikkayil Mahadeva Temple in Kochi in recognition of the temples’ decisions never to own or hire live elephants. Raman and Mahadevan are now used to conduct safe, cruelty-free ceremonies at their temples, helping real elephants remain with their families in nature.

Mechanical elephants can shake their heads, move their ears, swish their tails, and lift their trunks, and using them rather than real elephants helps temples ensure the safety of their attendees and conduct rituals humanely. The only costs involved in maintaining such an “elephant” are for electricity and staff to accompany it during public events.