Captive Elephants
Arjuna, Mysore’s palace elephant suffers for a lifetime of exploitation.
Conservation and The Captives
Why is this Beneficial to our Conservation Initiatives ?
Tourism will suffer in Sri Lanka and Kerala if cruelty to captive elephants continue. There is growing worldwide disgust with this exploitation of elephants. Pinnawala's near 90 captive elephants competes with Guruvayur (Kerala, India) Temple's 57 chained elephants for top billing as "most cruel." But, sad to say, Pinnawala's elephants have a walk-in-the-park compared to the tight chains and torture seen at Kerala's Guruvayur Temple.
The Problem:
As Sentient Beings, elephants must remain wild. This goal, being illusive, leads us to the next best thing, to stop the abuse of captive elephants.
Connect to your heart, help those that can’t speak for themselves
The Work:
Tourist Elephants - The public must be made aware of the harm and abuse caused by training elephants for tourism purposes. From riding them at “training centers”, to petting them at the Pinnawala elephant orphanage - it’s all bad.
Our tools: outreach to tour companies, and direct public education, even messaging thru advertising, via billboards.
Myanmar, Ethical Elephant Tourism. Green Hills Valley Elephant Camp is the best, most ethical, tourist elephant camp that our crew visited while in Myanmar last month. Please support ethical businesses. Please don't ride the elephants (unless you're the mahout and riding bareback). Our Wildlife Biologist, Marija Minić has nailed it once again!
Temple elephants: The Temples need an expansive public shaming for their expanding use of elephants. Buddha and Ganesh would not condone this.
Banning Private Ownership: As long as there are elephants in captivity, we promote the best possible conditions for them. Bullhooks are archaic and inhumane. Monitoring of feed, water, shading and physical condition is ongoing and best includes third-party oversight. Circus ‘ and the parading of elephants, should be eliminated entirely. Ringing Bros, as example, has stopped the performances, but remain adversaries in the fair treatment of their retired performers. SavingGanesh is going after all these issues in a multi-faceted approach, and more boots on the ground are always welcomed.
Example of good husbandry practices: Mysore Palace maintains their festival elephants in Nagarhole National Park and they remain semi-wild - they are released daily into an unfenced forest reserve. Of their own accord, they return each evening to the forest boundary where mahouts will climb bareback onto their necks and guide them about a kilometer to the feeding area.