Crippled elephant in agony rescued from 'barbaric' tourist rides

11 November 2023 , 16:57

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Rama was rescued by a charity largely funded by UK donations

A charity has rescued an elephant crippled by tourist rides in the shadow of the Taj Mahal.

Rama suffered horrific spinal injuries because of an ill-fitting saddle. Vets found shards of bone had snapped away, leaving him in agony. But despite this, he also had to perform tricks for street beggars.

Now, a team from UK-Indian outfit Wildlife SOS are about to start emergency treatment on 25-year-old Rama. The charity’s Suvidha Bhatnagar said: “We were totally shocked when the X-ray report showed that he had suffered multiple fractures.

“Many of these injuries are between two and three years old, meaning Rama has been living in intense pain for years.

“His vertebral column was injured but, thankfully, not the spinal cord.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Vets were shocked by Rama's condition

“This means he is still able to walk. But with cracks in the vertebral column and infected rope burns across his body that are filled with pus, he must have been almost crazed with pain.”

The case comes a decade after the team saved another brutalised bull elephant called Raju, who wept as the spiked chains that had been on his legs for 50 years were cut away by their vets.

The same kind of “barbaric” chains were used on Rama, causing wounds. He is now at the charity’s hospital in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, largely funded by UK donations. Co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan said: “The owners used him for street begging, tourist riding and wedding processions.”

Mr Bhatnagar added: “He will now be given rest, lots of good food and intensive medical treatment at our hospital. It will be a long recovery and we are appealing for donations to help. Recently, we tried to save two elephants that were so abused that they died. Rama is one of the lucky ones.”

The charity’s Debbie Haynes said: “We ask UK tourists to ask when considering riding or bathing elephants if a lifetime of pain for the animal is worth 30 minutes of ‘fun’ for them.”

• You can support the charity at wildlifesos.org/donate

Sarah Arnold