An abused elephant is still living in horrendous conditions in captivity almost two years after Paul spearheaded an apparently successful campaign to save it.
Paul was among a number of stars, including Pamela Anderson, who took part in a 2012 drive to re-house Sunder the elephant in a sanctuary after he was discovered being abused in a temple near Mumbai, India.
The celebrities believed they had succeeded in securing the beast's
transfer after sending personal letters to Indian officials, and they
were told the elephant would soon be roaming free in a rescue centre
near Bangalore, India.
However, bosses at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta)
have now revealed Sunder remains in the same poor conditions at the
temple, where they recently filmed him being harshly beaten yet again.
Peta's
Dr Manilal Valliyate says, "Sunder has only known chains, loneliness,
darkness and beatings for at least half of his life. We look forward to
the day that Sunder is unchained, in the company of other elephants,
able to bathe in ponds."
Paul did what he thought would work - at the moment. Don't fault him... PETA is getting ridiculously slammed too for taking the photos -as if they should have done something violent instead? That's not their way..
ReplyDeleteObviously PETA's pictures have stirred EXACTLY the kind of response that WILL help Sunder. They know what they are doing.
Of course, I am keeping tied to this story, looking for new intervention for Suder (at least). ...already made a plea to Paul to personally revisit India and see Sunder to the Sanctuary - as above: simply buying Sunder from these abusers* and actually staying until he arrives at the Sanctuary would not only do the trick better than anything else, but no doubt would be even less expensive than the original 'campaign'. The trick is in Paul having to wait around while the transfer takes place ... moving an Elephant a few hundred miles is not a quick thing.
It's VERY doable though, with some smart thinking and quick action.
*Mahouts differ greatly - from having extreme respect for their charges - to being as cruel as we see here. Don't think that Sunder is the only Elephant being treated this way.
Nevertheless, NONE has to be treated like this - and IF some of the more enlightened Mahouts joined up with McCartney in not only getting Sunder to Sanctuary, but also in making a BIG noise about humane treatment of their meal tickets ... well, we could very possibly see an overall shift in India towards an overall much more respectful and ethical treatment of working Elephants across the country.
THAT would be big news. The opportunity for such a miracle is golden right now - and has never before been so possible:
McCartney
+Social Media
+the world watching
+Mahouts weighing in on humane treatment...
Let's hope this can somehow get done.
Better yet, forget 'hope'!
How can I help?
It's just the kind of thing that Paul and John and George and even Ringo, used to often take on, and make news doing -while doing major good in the world: Bangladesh, UNICEF ("All Across The Universe"), OneVoice etc.
THIS could be QUICK, Easy, make a colossal impact and undoubtedly endear Maca to the world again at a level probably not seen since those 4 lads from Liverpool were all the rage.
Far more importantly, it could simply change how Elephants are treated from here forward.
Again, we rarely get such an opportune moment. It would be tragic to let it slip by.