Big Win For Animal Welfare as Indian Temple Swaps Out Real Elephant With Life-Sized Robotic Elephant

A new life-sized robotic elephant will replace live elephants in ceremonies at a temple in Kerala, India, amid growing animal welfare concerns.

Source: The Telegraph/Youtube

The animal-like model is 10 feet 6 inches tall and is named Irinjadappilly Raman. They will use this robotic animal in place of a live elephant to conduct ceremonies at the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple, according to a press release from PETA in India, who donated the elephant.

Rajkumar Namboothiri, head priest of the temple, said he was “extremely happy and grateful” for the donation.

“We are extremely happy and grateful to receive this mechanical elephant which will help us to conduct our rituals and festivals in a cruelty-free way, and we hope that other temples will also think about replacing live elephants for rituals,” Namboothiri said in the release.

There has been much talk in recent years about the use of live elephants in temple rituals and celebrations. While elephants are considered sacred in Indian culture, their use in temple activities has been criticized by Animal rights activists for being cruel and inhumane. These animals are often subject to cruel punishment and beatings with weapons. Captive elephants can begin to have deteriorating health and can display antisocial behavior after being deprived of adequate food, water, or veterinary care. Frustrated captive elephants can often break free and harm other animals, humans, or property. The majority of elephants in captivity in India are held illegally, and PETA India said that captive elephants have killed 526 people in Kerala over a 15-year period from 1997 to 2012.

This is why some temples in India have begun to explore the use of robotic elephants as a way to preserve tradition while avoiding harm to living animals. These life-sized mechanical replicas are designed to look and move like real elephants, and they can be controlled remotely by temple staff.

We hope that this robotic elephant will influence other temples to do the same and avoid harming living animals while preserving tradition.

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