religion
Indian temple celebrates with mechanical elephant
Animal protection in the temple: A devout Hindu sits in front of the life-size mechanical elephant in the state of Kerala. photo
© Juhi Bhatt/dpa
Elephants have important religious significance in some places. Because animal welfare sometimes falls by the wayside, an unusual alternative has been decided on in Kerala, India.
A Hindu temple in India wants to use a life-size mechanical elephant instead of a real pachyderm for reasons of animal welfare in religious ceremonies. The mechanical elephant was recently donated to the temple in the state of Kerala by the animal rights organization PETA, as announced.
It can move its head, trunk and ears, for example, as video footage shows. Priest Rajkumar Namboothiri of the temple said: “We are very fortunate and grateful to have received this mechanical elephant, which will help us conduct our rituals and festivals in a non-violent way, and we hope other temples will also consider it to substitute live elephants for rituals.”
Kerala has a particularly large number of captive elephants, which have important religious significance and are very popular. But animal rights activists repeatedly criticize how the animals are treated. In temples they are usually chained up, and at religious festivals with crowds and drums they have to be adorned. They are also beaten by the elephant leaders so that the big animals accept the dominant position of humans.