PETA Files Legal Action For Elephant’s Release

A court in Mumbai will hear the case of Sunder the Elephant and decide his fate after a PETA investigation found that the 14 year old elephant was the subject of cruel treatment and horrible living conditions.

A petition was filed citing the inaction of the Forest Department despite the fact that Dr. Patanagro Kadam Maharashtra State Minister of Forests had ordered the elephant to be released.

The authorities responded saying that the elephant is in a musth condition where testosterone levels in the elephant reaches 60 times its normal level and as such Sunder cannot be moved due to his aggressiveness.

JS Saluja an attorney for the forest department says there is no evidence the elephant is being tortured.

Claim by the Forest Department has been rejected by 2 Animal Board of India experts who visited the elephant and found it was neither aggressive nor uncooperative.

A further affidavit filed by the state forest department contradicts its own statement and says that Sunder the elephant is not in a musth condition. A veterinarian examined Sunder and confirmed the findings according to Dr. Manilal Valliyate who initiated legal action on behalf of PETA.

The order to relocate the elephant was issued in August 2012 and Sunder was supposed to be moved at PETA’s expense to a sanctuary in Karnataka India.

That order was challenged by a local member of the legislative assembly who gifted Sunder to a temple nearly seven years ago..

Sunder spent the next 6 years in chains at the temple where he was not fed properly and which resulted in him being in a state of malnutrition. PETA says the elephant was beaten and denied mobility as well.

“Sunder has already suffered so much it’s high time for Sunder to be freed from this abuse and sent to a sanctuary, where he can roam, bathe in ponds, live unchained and in the company of other elephants. Every day Sunder’s rescue is delayed means another day of unimaginable suffering for this poor young elephant,” said Dr. Manilal Valliyate, Director of Veterinary Affairs.