PETA India Offers Gift of Mechanical Elephant to Replace Elephant Deivanai After the Killing of Two Men at Subramania Swamy Temple in Tiruchendur

After a horrific but predictable incident on Monday in which an upset elephant, Deivanai, crushed a mahout and his relative to death at Subramania Swamy Temple in Tiruchendur, PETA India fired off a letter to the Tamil Nadu Forest and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Departments requesting the rehabilitation of the elephant at a sanctuary where she can live without weapons and chains and in the company of other elephants, to heal from the trauma of decades of loneliness and captivity. To help facilitate her transfer, PETA India has offered the gift of a mechanical elephant to the Subramania Swamy Temple.

In the letter, PETA India also noted that Deivanai is controlled with an ankush (hooked spear often made of iron), is reportedly suffering from skin infection, and is kept chained to a concrete floor. PETA India also raised concerns that Deivanai is forced to bless devotees and take part in rituals, putting devotees’ lives at risk.

There have been numerous dangerous incidents involving captive elephants in Tamil Nadu. In recent years, an elephant held at Thiruparankundram Subramaniya Swamy temple trampled a mahout to death; an elephant at Samayapuram Mariamman temple crushed and killed a mahout; an elephant attacked and killed a 35-year-old woman who tried to touch the animal during worship at a temple festival in Tirunelveli, and more. Last year, elephant Masini killed a mahout at Theppakadu elephant camp. This was after she already killed her mahout at Samayapuram temple in Tiruchy.

Mechanical elephants are already used by at least eight temples and are loved by devotees and local politicians. Out of these, six have been donated by PETA India. This includes Irinjadappilly Raman at Sree Krishna Temple in Thrissur, Mahadevan at Thrikkayil Mahadeva Temple in Kochi, Baladhasan at Sree Pournamikavu Temple in Thiruvanthapuram, Vadakkumbad Sankaranarayanan at Edayar Sree Vadakkumbad Shiva Vishnu Temple in Kannur, Shiva at Jagadguru Sri Veerasimhasana Mahasamsthana Math in Karnataka and Niranjana at Yedeyur Sri Siddalingeshwara Swamy Temple in Karnataka.