Animal rights protesters took to the streets on bicycles in the Indian city of Jaipur on Sunday, demanding an end to elephants being used to carry tourists to one of the country’s top attractions, the iconic Amber Fort.
Encouraging the use of bicycles rather than burdening elephants was the aim of the protest, organized by the animal charity World Animal Protection (WAP) to mark World Elephant Day yesterday.
About 100 elephants carry tourists along the 1km path up the hill to the fort. It is a steep climb on hard cobbled stones. The combined weight on the elephant’s back of two tourists, the mahout (elephant keeper) and the clunky wooden seat that holds passengers can be up to 300kg.
“It’s not just a question of the cruel methods that are used to train them in order to make them docile, but also the fact that many are in dire need of medical help. The ailments range from tuberculosis, blood problems, blindness, malnourishment and foot injuries from walking on hard surfaces,” WAP global media manager Kirsty Warren said.
Animal rights group in the city have been campaigning against the elephant rides for several years now and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is fighting a case in the courts.
However, the groups have had little luck beyond persuading the Rajastan state government’s Department of Tourism to limit the number of passengers from the previous maximum of four to two, and the number of rides a day to five in winter and three in summer.
The elephant owners say they need the income maintain their livelihoods, while the department wants the revenue from the fort and the elephant ride is a large part of the attraction.
Although jeeps are available to make the journey for those who cannot manage the tiring walk, many tourists prefer the thrill and novelty of riding an elephant.
Charities have been talking to authorities about alternatives.
“We want them to promote the use of bicycles instead, not on the same steep path, but on a less steep route to the fort entrance,” WAP India country director Gajender K Sharma said. “And we have urged them to create a sanctuary for the elephants near the fort where tourists can watch them in a natural habitat. That could become a separate tourist attraction.”
“The elephant is a wild animal even if it has been ’domesticated.’ Because they are social, calm and gentle, we take advantage of their temperament and use fear and pain to make them submit. But it is a wild animal,” Sharma said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not