Fifty Years Of Captivity And Abuse Finally Ends
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 10th, 2014
Good morning!
This story has made its rounds on social media sites, and I just couldn’t help but post it here. The cruelty to animals from sick humans is so upsetting to me. Animals are such gifts to us, I just am floored every time I read a story of such cruelty as this one. Thankfully this beautiful mammal has a happy ending. But I know there are plenty that do not.
From Mail Online:
Incredible sight of the elephant that cried: Raju was held in chains, beaten and abused for fifty years and on the day he was released tears rolled down his face.
These incredible pictures show the moment an elephant who was held in chains and beaten and abused for fifty years cried as he was released to freedom.
Raju the elephant was left bleeding from spiked shackles and living on hand-outs from passing tourists after he was captured and tied up by his ‘owner’.
But, after 50 years of torture, the animal cried tears of relief after he was rescued by a wildlife charity in a daring midnight operation – fittingly on American Independence Day.
Click on the title to watch the video or just scroll to see photos.
Raju the elephant was said to cry tears of joy as he was released from spiked shackles in the Uttar Pradesh area of India after fifty years of torture
North London-based charity Wildlife SOS stepped in to save Raju after learning of his plight in India
North London-based charity Wildlife SOS stepped in to save Raju from dying in his bonds after learning of his plight in India.
Every day, the majestic animal was forced to hold out his trunk and beg for a few coins from passers-by – surviving only on plastic and paper for food.
However, last week, a 10-strong team of vets and wildlife experts from the charity were joined by 20 forestry department officers and six policemen to seize Raju from his suffering in the Uttar Pradesh area of India.
The mission took place under the cover of darkness, as fewer people would be around for the dangerous rescue and the animal could be protected from the searing heat of the sun.
Pooja Binepal, the charity’s UK spokesman, described the rescue as ‘incredibly emotional’ for the team.
She said: ‘Raju has spent the past 50 years living a pitiful existence in chains 24 hours a day, an act of intolerable cruelty.
Every day, the majestic animal was forced to hold out his trunk and beg for coins from passers-by – surviving only on plastic and paper for food.
The elephant was left bleeding from spiked shackles and living on hand-outs from passing tourists after he was captured by his ‘owner’
Wildlife SOS vet Dr Yaduraj Khadpekar tries to free Raju from the chains which he was kept in for 50 years
‘The team were astounded to see tears roll down his face during the rescue. It was so incredibly emotional for all of us. We knew in our hearts he realised he was being freed.
‘Elephants are not only majestic, but they are highly intelligent animals, who have been proven to have feelings of grief, so we can only imagine what torture half a century has been like for him.
‘Until we stepped in he’d never known what it is like to walk free of his shackles – it’s a truly pitiful case.
‘But today he knows what freedom is and he will learn what kindness feels like and what it’s like to not suffer any more.’
The daring rescue came exactly a year to the day since the charity was alerted to Raju’s plight by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in India.
A confiscation process went through the courts as Raju’s owner did not have any legal documents for his possession meaning the charity could rescue him from suffering.
It is not known exactly how Raju came into his plight, as little is known about his early years, but the charity believes he was poached from his mother as a young calf.
Once rescued, he was loaded into an open-top lorry, given additional sedation and escorted 350 miles to the charity’s Elephant Conservation and Care Centre at Mathura
The daring rescue came exactly a year to the day since the charity was alerted to Raju’s plight by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in India
The charity has now launched a campaign to raise £10,000 for Raju to help begin the start of his new life
Ms Binepal said: ‘The poachers either slaughter the mother, or they drive the herd into traps that are small enough only for the babies to fall into. The mother cries for her baby for days after he’s been stolen – it is a sickening trade.
‘The calves are then tied and beaten until they submit to their owners – their spirits are effectively broken.
‘We discovered Raju’s case was particularly tragic.
‘He’d been poached as a calf and then he has been sold on and sold on. Incredibly we believe he has had up to 27 owners – he’s been treated as a commodity every two years of his life.
‘By the time we found him in July 2013 he was in a pathetic condition. He had no shelter at night, and was being used as a prop to beg from dawn until dusk from tourists visiting the sites of India.
‘He hasn’t been fed properly and tourists started giving him sweet food items and because he was in a state of hunger and exhaustion he began eating plastic and paper.
‘His nails are severely overgrown, he has abscesses and wounds because of the shackles and continually walking on a tarmac road has led to his foot pad overgrowing.’
Once the court order was finally issued, a team led by Wildlife SOS founder Kartick Satyanarayan carried out two days of surveillance before launching the rescue.
Pooja Binepal, the charity’s UK spokesman, described the rescue as ‘incredibly emotional’ for the team
Raju, after his release, with reformed former mahout Sonu Ali who will care for him at the sanctuary
Over the weekend, Raju received emergency medical attention to his wounds as well as a bath and food
Mr Satyanarayan said: ‘As we watched we quickly realised we had to act as quickly as possible as his situation was so desperate and the cruelty so extreme so we decided to move the rescue forward by a day.
‘The chains around his legs had spikes which were cutting into his flesh – and each time he moved puss would ooze out of wounds. Pain and brutality were all he knew.
‘His cruel handler even tore out the hair from his tail to sell as good luck charms. The exploitation and abuse just had to stop.’
However, even on Thursday evening as the mercy mission began, Raju’s owner tried to prevent his rescue.
Mr Satyanarayan said: ‘He began to shout commands to terrify Raju – and try to provoke him.
‘It created an incredibly dangerous situation as a bull elephant could snap a human like a tooth pick if he becomes afraid or angry.
‘When that failed he then put a series of chains around his legs in an attempt to prevent us removing him – so viciously tight that were cutting into his legs.
‘But we stood our ground and refused to back down – and as we did so, tears began to roll down Raju’s face. Some no doubt were due to the pain being inflicted by the chains, but he also seemed to sense that change was coming. It was as if he felt hope for the first time in a very long time.
‘We knew it was now or never so we made the drastic decision to move his transportation truck closer and then walk him 200 yards.
‘Every step would have been agony, but we had to take him, or he could have vanished forever. We decided we’d remove the shackles once we’d got him to safety.’
Incredibly, Raju calmly complied, despite every step causing searing agony.
‘It was as if he knew we wanted to help him,’ Mr Satyanarayan said.
Once he was loaded, and given additional sedation, a convoy then escorted the five-and-a-half tonne elephant, 350 miles on the back of an open-top lorry to the charity’s Elephant Conservation and Care Centre at Mathura.
‘Incredibly he stepped out of his truck and took his first step to freedom at one minute past midnight on July 4th, which felt so extraordinarily fitting,’ Mr Satyanarayan said.
‘The other elephants in the sanctuary awoke from their sleep as we pulled in and came to have a look – it was an extraordinary moment.’
Raju was then fed bananas, banana leaves, mango and bread and biscuits and given water before the charity’s head wildlife vet Dr Yaduraj Khadpekar began the painstaking process of removing his shackles.
Mr Satyanarayan said: ‘It took him and two handlers 45 minutes to liberate him as they’d been wound round his legs to prevent their removal and to cause pain if anyone tried to take them off.
‘We all had tears in our eyes as the last rope which held the final spike was cut and Raju took his first steps of freedom.
‘The entire team were exhausted, but incredibly elated as he has suffered such unthinkable abuse and trauma for so, so long. He’d been beaten so badly, his spirit is broken.’
Over the weekend, Raju received emergency medical attention to his wounds as well as a proper bath and food.
‘It will be a long rehabilitation process, but we will teach him that humans don’t mean pain and brutality, but it’s going to take time,’ Mr Satyanarayan said.
‘When he is ready he will initially join two companion elephants called Rajesh and Bhola, who once also suffered unthinkable cruelty.
‘They’ve both been rehabilitated and once he settles he will learn how to live again by following their example, before he joins the rest of the elephants – including five flirtatious females to live out his days.
‘But for the moment he’s tasting freedom for the first time in his life and he’ll spend the rest of his life in a safe compound living out his days in dignity, free from suffering and pain.’
The charity has now launched a campaign to raise £10,000 to help Raju begin the start of his new life in a new enclosure which will allow him to roam with his adoptive family.
♥R♥A♥J♥U♥
Readers: There are always donations needed for many important things on this planet. All I ask is that you find one thing that your passionate about and do something. Whether it is your time or money that you give, give to something that is meaningful to you. I have even stated that if enough people just give a few dollars, oh what a difference that would make. If you can help ensure that Raju has a peaceful abundant life for the rest of his years, please donate. Visit Wildlife SOS to donate to Raju. Thank you.
Peace & Love.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 10th, 2014 at 1:18 pm
I saw this article yesterday and I agree with you, it’s upsetting the way animals are treated for our “pleasure.” Nothing living should be caged, harnessed or exploited for financial gain.
I applaud the day when humanity’s treatment of animals is exposed for the slavery that it is, and corrected.
/SB
July 10th, 2014 at 1:45 pm
This was not a treatment for our pleasure. This was man being inhuman to a living entity.
July 10th, 2014 at 2:55 pm
Dagu – you missed the obvious. The elephant was being treated badly for the mahout’s pleasure.
/SB
July 10th, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Sorry, SocialButterfly. english is not by best subject. I am learning it on this blog. We have elephants and it is my idea that owning an elephant should be with license. I see so much cruelty.
July 10th, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Hafa adai. This is my complaint about women from Taiwan and Russia coming here to work illegally as bar girls and you know what else.
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The federal government has allowed tourists from Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and a few other countries to enter Guam without going through a visa screening process through U.S. embassies or consulates abroad. Certain Russian tourists also are allowed visa-free travel into Guam.
==============
From that we have gotten so many jobs taken away from Guam citizens because of this practice. DO SOMETHING, gov of Guam.
July 10th, 2014 at 4:23 pm
I think the US is heading for some type of confrontation with Russia because they have brought to Guam the 30 year old son, Roman Seleznev, of a member of the Soviet parliament.
The U.S. should not engage in extra-legal apprehensions of criminals in foreign countries, unless they are of the ilk of Adoph Eichmann or Osama Bin Laden. Certainly not for property crimes. While the U.S. has no extradition treaty with the Maldives, it could have applied the kind of pressure it applied to countries to deny Snowden entry to force the Maldives to deport this guy back to Russia. Once there, it seems unlikely Russian State Security would allow this guy to engage in hacking of credit card systems in the United States under their noses.
July 10th, 2014 at 5:14 pm
Makes one wonder, just who is the animal here? Elephants, being very intelligent, they know sadness and what a miserable and cruel existence is.
July 10th, 2014 at 8:55 pm
Art#6, Bull. Sometimes that’s the only way to get them. The US Supreme Court has found it 100% legal. It makes no difference how they get to the United States but once here they are fully liable to the US judicial system.
July 10th, 2014 at 9:06 pm
Hafa adai: Ramon Seleznev probably committed a crime, but he is innocent until proven guilty. He is a flight risk, so he will not be given bail. Now let due process go to work!
Under the Obama administration let it be known, if you’re committing crimes against the citizens of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA you’re going to go to jail. You will be caught and brought to America to stand trial. You will be considered innocent until found guilty.
If you’re considered a flight risk, you will go to jail for safe keeping until your case is heard in court! This guy is a significant flight risk! He will be jailed until and during his trial. His rich and powerful dad has a ton of money. He can afford the best lawyers America has to offer. They being the greedy sons of bastards they are are chomping at the bit to get the case.
If this was bush or one of the other white boys sitting at that oval desk, Ramon Seleznev may have been given a pass, Ben Laden and many others were, but this is Obama, one bad as Black man and he evidently don’t play that.
Take note, international criminals.
Hafa adai.
July 10th, 2014 at 9:09 pm
Hafa Adai, what is up with the storm or typhoon heading our way.
July 11th, 2014 at 8:04 am
Sarah(nit-wit)Palin has just called for President Obama’s Impeachment. If tea party republicans gain control of the Senate, this is the first thing that they will do, remove our President. We all know that they will lie, cheat, and use every under-handed dirty trick in the book to accomplish this. We have no National news media to tell us anything that might be true, they are all owned by the 1%er’s.
The republicans MUST be stopped at any cost and before they sell the whole damn country to the 1%er’s, if they haven’t done so already. I don’t know of anything that can be done other than voting in November. In my state the representatives will only represent themselves. There is no Democracy left in Fl., none to speak of at any rate.
If EVERYBODY gets out there to vote come November, protests, screams, shouts and holds their breath until they turn blue in the meantime, we can put this monster called the republican party in check. Otherwise we don’t have much of a chance. DO NOT FORGET TO GO AND VOTE.
July 12th, 2014 at 8:00 am
Al, you are one sane voice among the idiots that rant against the republicans but refuse to vote.
July 12th, 2014 at 8:02 am
Please, Please, Please listen to Al. Copy it down and paste it on your wall. Make bumper stickers and display it.
Get out and vote and bring someone to vote with you.
July 12th, 2014 at 8:03 am
You have been saved Kadi#10, relax.
July 12th, 2014 at 8:04 am
Thanks Al#11. Let’s hope enough people will listen to make a difference.