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A temple in Kerala has switched to a life-sized robotic elephant in a nod toward ditching the custom of deploying captive animals during festivals and rituals. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India along with actor Parvathy Thiruvothu stepped in as sponsors to donate the ₹5 lakh worth ‘robot elephant’ to Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in Thrissur. Constructed with an iron frame and rubber coating, the mechanised ‘animal’ weighs 800 kg and is around 11-foot-tall.
“JUMBO NEWS! Kerala’s Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple will use a lifelike mechanical elephant to perform rituals, allowing real elephants to remain with their families in nature,” the official Twitter handle of PETA India wrote.
Christened ‘Irinjadappilly Raman’, the ‘elephant’ even underwent the customary ritual – ‘Nadayiruthal’ – of offering animals to the temple gods. The animal was decked in ornamental coverings for the ceremony, similar to the induction of a real elephant.
The ‘mahout’ or operator can operate the trunk of the robot, which comes with five electric motors, with a switch. The animal rights organisation hailed the initiative of ‘cruelty-free festivals’ that encourages the rehabilitation of captive elephants.
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With the ability to carry five people at a time, the machine was created by artists based in Thrissur, who have been engaged in producing elephant statues for the shopping festival in Dubai.
“Indian film actor Parvathy Thiruvothu sent her support to PETA India in presenting this innovative solution that will spare real elephants a life in which they are taken away from their families and forest homes, deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, and kept constantly chained, lame, and lonely,” PETA said in a statement. Requesting everyone to petition the state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to ban the commercial use of the animal, it also added Heritage Animal Task Force data of elephants, frustrated from captivity, killing nearly 526 people in a span of 15 years in Kerala.
Also read: Karnataka forest officials capture elephant which killed two people
Temple priest Rajkumar Namboothiri, in a statement quoted by Indian Express, said that the temple decided to forgo hiring captive elephants owing to its exorbitant rates and rising incidents of animals turning violent. He urged other temples to also follow suit.
On Sunday, PETA had sent a faux fur coat to popstar Rihanna after she sported a supposedly real one, exhorting her stop using animal-based products.
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