Neil Nitin Mukesh Shows How Elephants Are Beaten, Shackled, and Abused for Rides

In a new PETA ad, actor Neil Nitin Mukesh shows how elephants are beaten, shackled, and abused for joyrides.

In time for ‘Save the Elephant Day‘ (16 April),heart-throb Neil Nitin Mukesh is once again joining forces with PETA to help raise awareness of a cause close to his heart: the suffering of elephants used for tourist joyrides. The actor stars in a new ad campaign shot by top photographer Rohan Shrestha. His hair was styled by Amit Parekh, and his make-up was done by Wasim Shaikh Ahmed.

So-called “joyrides”are miserable and painful for the elephants who are forced to give them. A PETA-commissioned investigation of elephant training in Nepal and an Animal Welfare Board of India–authorised inspection of elephants used for rides in Jaipur revealed that the animals endure constant physical and emotional abuse.When they’re around just 2 years old, baby elephants are torn away from the tender care of their mothers and are either tied up between trees with heavy chains and ropes – which cause painful burns – or confined to a tiny wooden enclosure called a kraal. In a process that often lasts months,trainers beat the young elephants with sticks and jab them with sharp, hooked ankuses until they lose all hope and begin to obey commands. These metal weapons are also used to pierce their sensitive ears, yank them, and force them to walk a certain way. Throughout their lives, they’re thrashed and seriously injured by handlers, who often force them to give rides while suffering from untreated, open wounds.

Join Neil by pledging never to patronise elephant joyrides.