There are between 3,000 and 4,000 elephants in captivity in India. Despite their cultural reverence as Lord Ganesha, these elephants are exploited to the core. From being stolen from their wild families as calves, to being beaten to submission and worked tirelessly: begging on streets, giving tourist rides or ‘working’ in temples. India’s captive elephants do not live happy lives, mostly their lives are ones of abuse and loneliness.
However, all hopes are not lost. Since 1995 Wildlife SOS has been doing a great job in rescuing captive elephants from these horrific conditions, providing both medical and psychological rehabilitation for them at their Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura. Beyond that, they eradicated, over a ten year period, the use of ‘Dancing Bears’ for entertainment purposes, also providing them with rehabilitation across their centres.
In Episode 5, we speak to Kartick Satyanarayan, one of the co-founders of Wildlife SOS about the plight of India's captive elephants, his vision for Wildlife SOS and also some scary elephant rescue stories!
One special elephant at their centre is Pari, a begging elephant that Wildlife SOS rescued in 2022. Currently, Think Wildlife Foundation is donating 25% of the profits from our merchandise sales to Wildlife SOS for Pari's care and rehab.
Interview 5: Caring for Pari, Saving India’s Captive Elephants, with Kartick Satyanarayan