Asian elephants are highly revered in India, seen as the embodiment of the Hindu god Lord Ganesh. But despite this, abuse of these magnificent creatures is widespread at temples in parts of India.
"During my visit to some of the temples in the southern Indian state of Kerala, I discovered that these sacred animals are being exploited for profit behind the insidious veil of culture and religion," said filmmaker and biologist Sangita Iyer in an interview with CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday. "There were blind elephants. There were elephants that were wounded — ghastly wounds, bleeding out of their ankles. And I thought to myself, I had to expose the atrocities."
Iyer grabbed a camera and ended up with 25 hours of footage, which ended up turning into the 2016 documentary ‘Gods in Shackles’ that won awards at several international film festivals. Last month, she also published a book, ‘Gods in Shackles: What Elephants Can Teach Us About Empathy, Resilience, and Freedom.’
"I use all of that as a pulpit to expose the atrocities against the elephants," she said.
Like humans, elephants are extremely social creatures and are strongly family oriented. But when young elephants are taken away from the families and forced to perform at festivals and ceremonies, it can cause serious trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Their brain size is three times as large as human brain. Their prefrontal cortex that is situated the seat of the consciousness is so highly evolved, they get completely traumatized being ripped apart from their families," Iyer explained. "Kids as young as like two to three years old babies are taken away from their moms, and they’re brutalized and forced to perform."
After the release of her documentary, Iyer founded the Voices for Asian Elephants Society and continues to advocate for the welfare of these animals. While regulations to protect elephants exist in Kerela, they’re seldom enforced – something that Iyer’s organization is working to fix.
"These are the ways that we are educating and empowering people because there’s a significant dearth of knowledge even when it comes to policy and decision making," she said.
"This knowledge is verxjmtzywy new right now and so a lot of education is required… The public needs to be aware of what elephants go through when they are held in captivity."
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People feeds elephants as mahouts wave Indian flags during Republic Day celebrations in Ahmedabad, India, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
