ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP GOES WILD OVER ELEPHANT POLO CRUELTY

[Guest guest]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=subcontinent & xfile=dat\

a/subcontinent/2006/november/subcontinent_november541.xml

Animal rights group going 'wild' over elephant polo

From our correspondent

 

15 November 2006

 

 

JAIPUR — Is it the love for the animals or a war of one-upmanship between

two animal rights groups?

 

The elephant polo — an ancient traditional sport and now a major tourist

attraction — has stirred up a hornet's nest with the PETA-India calling a

ban on the proposed elephant polo festival. The festival is being organised

by another animal rights activist Mark Shand, a relation of Camilla, Duchess

of Cornwall and wife of Prince Charles.

 

Calling the elephant polo just another method of deriving 'sadistic'

pleasure by seeing the captive jumbos in excruciating pain, Anuradha Sawhney

of the PETA-India has written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to

ban the Alternative Cartier Elephant Polo Cup-2006. The event is sponsored

by the international brand Cartier and organised by Shand, who runs an NGO

called Elephant Family for the preservation of Asiatic elephant.

 

The festival is being promoted by another NGO Help in Suffering (HIS) that

was in the forefront for banning the use of metal spear (ankush) to control

the elephants.

 

People opposing the elephant polo have not only written to Rajasthan chief

minister, who is considered a close friend of Shand but also have launched a

web site United against Elephant Polo to protest against the event. Calling

the game an 'immense cruelty', Sawhney told a Jaipur daily from Mumbai that

the organisers were defending their action by saying that no spear will be

used during the match to control the elephants. However, she asked " what

about its use before and after the match?

 

" It is with a lot of pain, torture and abuse that a wild captured elephant

is prepared to play the game/sport of 'elephant polo'. "

 

She said that it was disheartening to know that the elephants were being

exploited for such activities at a time when they deserved to be retired and

rehabilitated to a sanctuary.

 

The web site also appealed to the corporate sector to think before they leap

into sponsoring such events.

 

However, lot of people have questioned the timing of opposition from the

PETA-India as the elephant polo is being played for a long time in

Rajasthan.

 

In fact, in the recent past the elephant polo has become a major tourist

attraction. Recently, during the ICC Champions Trophy the Rajasthan Tourism

and Development Corporation (RTDC) had organised a special elephant polo

match for the visiting cricketers.

 

Timmie Kumar of the HIS while questioning the motive behind the PETA-India

opposition, said the entire controversy has been created because PETA-India

was 'envious' of the fact that a local NGO was getting international

exposure through this festival for the first time.

 

" I would be the first person to oppose any cruelty to animals, " Kumar was

quoted as having said by the Jaipur daily.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

>>However, lot of people have questioned the timing of opposition from the

>>PETA-India as the elephant polo is being played for a long time in

>>Rajasthan.

 

I am quite surprised at this argument. PETA (and others) are questioning

this now because it is a high profile event taking place now. Seems obvious to

me and, I am sure, most people.

 

S. Chinny Krishna