It took us an entire day to load the elephants. Stiff resistance from the circus, hostile mobs, and agitated elephants made it nearly impossible to edge them toward the waiting trucks, let alone get them to climb in. The circus dogs and horses had long since been loaded onto their vehicles and were well on their way to rescue centers in the state, but the elephants -- shackled by heavy chains and blocked and antagonized by an ever-growing angry crowd of circus folk -- were proving much more difficult.
We weren't leaving without them. There was a near-stampede, multiple confrontations, a smashed truck, and a full night of camping outside the circus (if the circus didn't get us, we thought the mosquitoes would) with a horde of riot police. But we were still there the next morning, directing in a new lot of trucks and building a new ramp to load the girls. None of us could remember the last time we'd eaten, but we weren't really thinking about it. We have to get these girls out.
And so we did. After a lifetime in the circus, laboring under terrible conditions of abuse and neglect, four elephants named Goldie, Sylvie, Ruby, and Pearl found themselves travelling in a pair of trucks to a temporary transit facility in Pune.
During transit, a care and management plan was drawn up and implemented. A large shade shelter was set up; a pond was dug and filled with water; and orders were placed for a range of healthy, nutritious foods for the new girls. Our Wildlife SOS veterinarians pre-ordered de-worming tablets and nutritional supplements to be administered as soon as the girls were in our care and comfortable. Feeding and treatment registers were started to keep a record of their care and management.
A government veterinarian was called in to assess the elephants' health, and confirmed via four detailed health reports the truly depressing condition of these four beautiful animals. Our vets were eager to get started on treatment and get these elephants on the road to recovery.
Initially a little nervous about the new environment, the girls settled down quickly, their curiosity driving them to explore the area. They tried out their new pond and took naps in the shade of their shed. Trees fascinated them, and baths meant gleeful spraying of water on everyone -- drenched T-shirts and thrilled faces all around. They gorged on the fresh fruit and vegetables that arrived every day with their fodder. And because special fruit treats like mangoes made the veterinary treatment possible, the girls began getting medicated foot-soaks for their debilitated feet, and disinfection and treatment for the wounds and scars they'd incurred over their years in captivity.
For a little over a month, the elephants lived in our care, with access to fresh food, water, shade, and veterinary treatment -- as well as the freedom to interact with each other and behave normally, never forced to do anything that hurt them or didn't come naturally. We watched them constantly, awed by their personalities, slowly learning their personal characteristics and preferences, falling in love with these amazing animals that were now so much part of our family. At night, when the keepers got into bed, the four girls would lie down and sleep -- a luxury the short chains at the circus would never have allowed them -- their soft rumblings reassuring us that they were finally comfortable enough around us to let their guard down.
But just as the elephants settled into their new lives, the circus challenged our rescue in court, seeking custody of them and the other animals. In response, we provided the court with health reports and statements that detailed the detrimental conditions the four had been made to live in, the unnatural and uncomfortable acts they had been made to perform, and the awful physical and mental condition it had all left them in. We also made the court aware that the circus had been forcing these elephants to perform illegally, and had been violating several guidelines and orders of the authorities.
Yet, in an astonishing decision, the court granted custody back to the circus, ordering all four elephants back to their previous owners. The court based this decision on a procedural flaw committed by the enforcement authorities prior to the elephants' confiscation, and chose to ignore all evidence of cruelty and mismanagement put forward by those with the animals' best interests at heart. Disregarding Goldie's advanced age and blindness, Ruby's painfully neglected feet, Pearl's incessant stereotyping (i.e., behavior indicative of intense mental and psychological stress), and the scars left by chains on the backs of Sylvie's legs, these four girls were handed right back to the circus -- a setback not just for the girl's recovery and our work, but for progress of animal welfare in the country.
What followed was a nearly nine-hour standoff with a hostile mob from the circus. We found our hearts breaking as Ruby, Pearl, Goldie, and Sylvie were dragged back to the very place from which they'd been rescued. We are still shocked and still reeling from the loss, but we are seeking legal recourse, and we've also launched a petition to garner support for the elephants, educate the public about the cruelty inflicted on performing animals, and emphasize to the authorities how essential it is that these elephants be granted the freedom they need and deserve. There's a huge hole in our lives now; their feeding and treatment registers lie half-empty; their happiness and indeed their very lives are at stake. We have to get these girls out.
A link to the petition can be found here.
Please sign it, share it, and use your voice to say that after all these years of suffering, it is only right that the girls be given the freedom, care, and life they deserve -- which they got a brief, all-too-fleeting taste of just after their rescue.