February 26, 2025 • 56 mins
Breaking News: In the wake of horrifying elephant-related tragedies in India, life-sized robotic elephants are being launched at a temple in India as we speak and UnchainedTV is bringing you the news as it happens.
In just 2 months, captive elephant-related incidents have killed 6 people and left more than 50 people injured in India! One temple ceremony turned into a nightmare when two elephants, spooked by fireworks, deprivation, exhaustion and relentless abuse, attacked each other, sparking chaos in the huge crowd. Another captive elephant - at a different festival - gored two people, one of whom later died. In a desperate bid for freedom, that elephant ran for more than 8 miles before being recaptured, highlighting the immense suffering and safety risks posed by captive elephants. Now, realistic, robotic elephants offer the solution! All of India’s abused temple elephants can and should be sent to sanctuary to live out their lives in peace while lifelike robots take their place preserving cultural tradition without cruelty.
UnchainedTV gets the very latest from the woman leading the robotic elephant movement: Sangita Iyer, Founding Executive Director of Voices for Asian Elephants and award-winning filmmaker of the UN-nominated documentary Gods in Shackles. Visit:
https://www.vfaes.org/ to get involved.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Check this out.
Those are not real elephants.
They look like real elephants, but they are
life-size robotic elephants.
And that photo was taken moments ago in
India.
We are bringing you the latest.
Here's what happened.
Captive elephant-related tragedies, which you're looking at,
(00:21):
have now killed six people and left more
than 50 people injured in India.
This one temple ceremony turned into a nightmare
when two elephants, as you can see, spooked
by fireworks, deprivation, exhaustion, and abuse, sparked chaos
in the huge crowd.
There was another captive elephant at a different
festival who gored two people, one of whom
(00:43):
later died in a desperate bid for freedom.
That elephant ran for more than eight miles
before being recaptured.
And you can see the attempts to recapture
that poor, poor, animal.
And this has highlighted the immense suffering and
safety risks posed by elephants used in temple
ceremonies in India.
(01:05):
And now, what a miracle, you are looking
at robotic elephants.
They are realistic, they are life-size, and
they offer the solution.
All of India's temple elephants can be sent
to sanctuary to live out their lives in
peace while these lifelike robots take their place,
preserving the culture without cruelty.
(01:29):
And we are so honoured to have the
woman who is making this happen.
She is spearheading this, Sangeeta Iyer, Executive Director
of Voices for Asian Elephants and award-winning
filmmaker of the UN-nominated documentary, Gods in
Shackles.
What you are looking at now are robotic
(01:49):
elephants.
Tell us all about it, Sangeeta.
It's wonderful to be here, Jane, and what
a great honour for me to be on
this show to talk about these precious animals.
And yes, indeed, they are robotic elephants and
they weigh approximately 800 kilos.
You can multiply that to make it into
pounds, 2.2 pounds.
(02:11):
I mean, one pound, sorry, one kilo is
2.2 pounds.
And they look exactly like live elephants, ears
moving, eyes moving, tails moving, and they even
sprinkle water on the devotees.
And so this is really catching on.
We launched our very first robotic elephant last
year in the Southern Indian state of Tamil
(02:33):
Nadu.
And the first few images that you shared
earlier, that was from the location called Gudalur
at the Sivan Kovil.
And so I went there live to watch
this.
I mean, live on camera that is.
And it was just an incredible privilege to
(02:55):
realise that what we are doing is making
a difference.
This particular elephant you're seeing, his name is
Shiva Shakti.
And Shiva Shakti was just donated recently on
February the 24th to a temple called Bhagavati
Temple, which is located in Thrissur, Kerala.
And Kerala is actually the elephant entertainment hub.
(03:20):
It is indeed the ground zero for elephant
torture.
And this is where my film, Gods and
Shackles, that is now streaming live on Unchained
TV, this is where it was entirely produced.
And so for me, it's a full, like,
you know, coming full circle kind of moment
for me, because this is where everything started.
(03:42):
And to be able to present this incredibly
precious robotic elephant that has, you know, kind
of replaced the live elephant in this particular
temple is just like an aha moment for
me.
And one of the great things about donating
this elephant is that they appreciate, they understand
(04:05):
the value of not using live elephants.
And one of the founders or one of
the persons who actually was responsible who organised
this whole robotic elephant, he came and he
said that just a few months ago, a
live elephant was so frustrated, so distressed that
(04:26):
he gored his handler and killed him instantaneously.
That's when the temple made a commitment that
they would never, ever use live elephants.
But then they didn't know where to turn
until Voices for Asian Elephants.
We came into the picture and we said,
we're going to help you.
You can still have the cultural festivals.
(04:48):
Cultures can thrive.
Elephants don't have to suffer.
People don't have to get killed in the
stampedes.
And there could be a total peaceful coexistence
between elephants and culture and the traditions, right?
So it's a win-win situation for all.
When I'm looking at this, I'm seeing, I
(05:10):
can't tell the difference.
I actually, when you sent me this footage,
I was like, I hope I got this
right.
I hope these are the robot elephants and
not the real ones because I'm looking at
this and I'm like, damn, they look so
real.
Their eyes move, their ears move.
They, as you said, people can also get
(05:31):
on top of them because part of the
abuse is that a lot of times there's,
you know, four or five, six men on
top of these elephants.
And I saw some four men on top
of one of these robotic elephants.
They're so fantastic that you really have to
remind yourself, these are robot elephants.
Look, there's the guys on there.
(05:51):
One, two, three, four, at least, that I'm
seeing.
So they're strong.
They're huge.
How much do they cost?
Because I know that your nonprofit has very
little overhead.
Everything you do goes directly to saving elephants
in India.
That's your life's work.
How much do these cost?
(06:15):
We're going to go straight out to you.
How much do these cost?
They cost about $10,000.
And this includes not just the creation of
the elephant, designing of the elephant, but also
the jewellery and the transportation and all of
the rest that goes with it.
Yeah.
$10,000.
(06:36):
That's not a lot.
No, that's not, not at all.
And this elephant has the ability to do
almost everything that a live elephant does, except
it won't run amok.
You know, the robotic elephant will not run
amok.
He sprinkles water on the devotees, which is
one of the big deals, you know, that
they think that they are blessed when the
(06:57):
elephant sprays water and, you know, their beliefs
are valuable and it can be preserved.
The traditions can be preserved, like I said,
and yet elephants don't have to suffer.
And you mentioned about the men sitting on
top of the elephants, right?
When they do that on live elephants, they
have to control the live elephants using brute
(07:20):
force, which means they'd have to use bull
hook and they have to use long poles
and keep poking and prodding.
In fact, some of the elephants, the live
elephants are even drugged so that they can
be brought under control.
There's so many evil things that they do
to these poor, precious, intelligent, highly supremely social
(07:41):
animals.
And these robotic elephants completely prevent all of
the cruelty and the suffering that live elephants
would never ever have to endure.
Yeah.
And the image that you're just showing, this
is one of the elephants who ran amok
on February the 13th.
(08:02):
And as you showed previously a footage of
two elephants attacking each other, what happened was
there was fireworks that they were lighting up
just behind them, so close to them.
And both these elephants, they were spooked and
they didn't know what to do.
And so they kind of started attacking each
(08:22):
other in the process.
Three people were killed, three devotees were killed,
50 of them seriously injured.
But here's the thing, one of the elephants,
the image that you showed, he was so
badly injured.
He sustained at least 24 grievous injuries.
And worse still, despite those grievous injuries, they
(08:45):
shackled and they took him to wherever he
was brought from and tortured him further instead
of nurturing him.
Of course, there were veterinarians who were trying
to treat them.
But in order for them to bring the
elephants under control, as I said earlier, they
had to impose brute force.
(09:07):
And this is where despite the elephants being
injured, they still had to suffer.
No compassion, no love, only cruelty.
All that has been replaced by the robotic
elephants.
And we are just so excited.
We are over the moon to be contributing
these robotic elephants.
And we are only going to expand.
(09:28):
There are so many temples who are so
delighted seeing the progress and how they can
still preserve their culture and traditions.
And they're actually asking, how can we obtain
these robotic elephants?
So we're absolutely thrilled to be, we hope
to do, provide like two or three more
(09:49):
this year later.
And I'll share with you when it happens.
And yeah, it's all good.
What I would like to say is I
think this is the best spend for animal
rights that I've ever heard.
Because look, we all donate, we donate our
time, we donate our money as much as
we can.
(10:10):
And sometimes it's hypothetical, it's you're giving to
a possibility.
But in this case, for only $10,000,
so two people could split five each and
get an elephant.
My question to you is, because I've seen
this work in the past with other groups,
naming rights.
If somebody donated $10,000, for example, I'm
(10:34):
not saying I'm doing this, but my name's
Jane.
Is there an Indian word for Jane?
Would you be able to name the elephant
after the person who donated?
Take that away.
That's a really good question.
Actually, I'll tell you something, right?
The first robotic elephant was donated by a
person by the name of Ganesh Hariharan.
(10:56):
He donated it in his father's name.
He lives in Chicago, but he donated it
in his father's name.
So we call the elephant Shankar Hariharan.
We gave him the last name.
Now, with regards to this particular elephant, he
was donated by Dolores Whitley.
Obviously, we couldn't call the elephant Whitley because
(11:18):
you need to have an Indian name and
there's no Indian translation.
So what we did was we asked her,
here are three Indian names, which one would
you prefer?
And we gave her the opportunity to select
the name.
So that's something we can do.
And somewhere at the bottom of the foot
(11:38):
of the elephant or something we can say
donated by Jane Valez Michelle, for instance.
That's very sweet of you.
Look, I would go in 50-50 with
somebody.
If somebody were willing to do 5,000,
I would do 5,000.
Or if we could get four people to
(11:58):
do 2,500, I would do 2,500
because I've never seen anything that has such
a payoff immediately.
So I want to say that right now,
I will say that if we can get,
and I'll just say this right off the
top of my head, I wasn't thinking about
it, but I'll do 2,500.
(12:20):
If we get three other people who can
each do 2,500, we can have an
elephant.
I don't need the naming rights.
I will give the naming rights to the
other three people.
Let's keep it out there in the atmosphere
and let's see what happens.
Additionally, you could get 10 people giving $1
(12:40):
,000 each.
But what I love about this is that
the payoff is immediate and we know that
there are temples in India who want these.
So somebody asked, how do we donate?
It's very, very simple.
It's the easiest thing in the world.
You go to vfaes.org forward slash donate.
(13:05):
That's vfaes.org forward slash donate.
That stands for voices for asianelephantsociety.org.
So I urge everybody, look, $5, you can
become a monthly donor.
I love this idea because the payoff is
(13:25):
immediate and what these animals have gone through,
the real ones, I just can't even imagine.
It makes me completely embarrassed to be a
human being.
Let's listen to and watch the actual rampage
that occurred and you will hear the fireworks
in the background.
It's disturbing, but we're only gonna play you
(13:46):
a very short less than 30 seconds of
it.
So that
(14:17):
is, it's revolting and let's not attack any
particular nationality or culture.
We can talk about what's happening to elephants
in zoos here in the United States.
And that's also horrific.
We're going to get to that in a
minute.
So tell us who in their right minds
would set off fireworks when there's two elephants
(14:40):
right there.
Now, before you answer that question, let me
say that right where I live, they set
off fireworks every 4th of July next to
a bird sanctuary.
So again, this is a human problem, not
a problem of any particular ethnicity or or
nationality.
Take it away.
(15:00):
Yeah, absolutely.
First of all, I want to thank you
so much for your generosity.
And you have started a chain reaction, put
it out in the universe.
Thank you for your offer.
And we will promote it on our website.
Okay, with regards to the fireworks, listen, there
are real stringent guidelines, rules, regulations, etc.
(15:22):
Nobody enforces it because the elephant lobby groups,
they have immense power to do whatever they
want.
In fact, the Kerala High Court had issued
specific guidelines saying you have to keep the
elephants at least eight metres apart.
What did you see in that image?
They were right.
(15:42):
I mean, in that video, they were right
next to each other.
And where was the fireworks coming from?
Behind the wall, right next to the elephant,
this this book, they were completely spooked, right?
You saw that.
So you're absolutely right.
Anyone in the right frame of mind will
never do this.
And given that this is a temple, would
(16:02):
you not follow the guidelines?
And would you not conduct ethical practise?
This is our challenge.
And these two elephants that you saw running
amok, these are from a world renowned temple
called the Guruvayur temple.
And my organisation voices for Asian elephants had
launched a public interest litigation three years ago.
(16:26):
And now they're actually still arguing the case.
But some incredible things have happened.
Because the Animal Welfare Board of India, the
Central Zoo Authority, and all of these top
Indian animal welfare organisations run by the government,
(16:46):
they have completely validated what we have been
suggesting all along that elephants are being mistreated.
And that if they are going to be
held in captivity, they need a minimum of
two acres of land to roam freely, unchained
when they're not being used in cultural festivals,
(17:07):
they need to be given a minimum amount
of water, they need to be given a
minimum amount and a certain type of diet,
and they need to be provided with shelter.
That's the absolute basic right to be shaded
from the elements like rain and sunshine and
torrential thunderstorm and lightning that also spooks the
(17:29):
elephants.
And a couple of them have died because
of heart attack, literally, you know, and so
even these basic things, this world renowned temple
cannot provide Guruvayur temple.
And that's what is really gut wrenching to
me.
Like when you are a temple, you are
supposed to practise the basic Hindu tenet called
(17:52):
Ahimsa.
Ahimsa means non violence, yet everything being inflicted
upon these elephants, everything is violent, because in
order to control this massive animal, you have
to impose brute force, real force.
And that in turn hurts these supremely intelligent
(18:13):
and highly sensitive animals.
And so yeah, so it's time, you know,
that all of the religious institutions took charge.
We have some breaking news.
So people are saying they want to donate.
People want to get together to get at
least one elephant out of this broadcast.
(18:35):
So let's go to the comments.
This is super exciting.
We have the incredibly generous Nilofar Ashgarian, who
often helps us, who says that she is
going to second what somebody else said, a
team of 10 to each donate 1000.
So we've got Nilofar, we've got me, and
(18:56):
we've got this person who said that he
or she would, she I guess, I think
you said 10,000, we need 10 people
to do 1000.
So Extropian Transhuman, which is quite a name,
are you willing, you can comment, are you
willing to give 1000?
(19:18):
Because then we're on our way, we've already
got 3000.
And we can move this up throughout the
course of this conversation.
There was somebody else, Bruce Anderson, who asked,
Sangeeta, does this ensure that an elephant will
be released to sanctuary, take it away?
No, it doesn't ensure that they'll be released
(19:38):
into a sanctuary because they don't have sanctuaries
for wild elephants.
They do have wildlife rescue and rehab centres
run by the government.
And it is up to the elephant owners,
you see, because these elephants, so you need
to understand the whole situation behind the captive
elephants of Kerala.
(19:59):
These elephants are owned by private citizens.
What these private citizens do is they lease
out these elephants for these temple rituals, right?
And they make money out of this.
If they are so culturally and traditionally connected,
then they should not even be charging, right?
Or they should not even be using the
elephants in the first place.
(20:20):
So the point in providing these robotic elephants
is to reduce the demand of live elephants.
When you reduce the demand of the live
elephants, it's going to cut into their pocketbook.
And then they'll realise, oh, my goodness, there's
nothing we can do with these live elephants.
So we might as well voluntarily surrender them
(20:40):
into an elephant rehab centre.
So there's nothing we can do to, like
in Thailand, you can buy out elephants.
That's not possible here in India because of
the laws, right, that many of them flout.
And yet when we try to do something
legally and ethically, we get attacked, being called
(21:00):
the enemy of culture, et cetera, et cetera.
But to answer your question, this will actually
reduce the demand for live elephants in many
temples and ultimately cut into the pocketbook.
This is going to take time and effort.
And I cannot guarantee that these private elephant
owners will voluntarily even give those elephants away.
(21:22):
But if they're not able to make money
out of these elephants, which they need in
order to maintain them, then I reckon they
would have no choice but to give them
away.
And we would say, OK, bring them to
the elephant rehab centre.
Again, in India, private rehab centres are not
(21:45):
allowed.
I mean, this is kind of crazy, right?
There are one or two available in different
states, like for instance, in Karnataka.
I know somebody who runs an elephant rehab
centre.
She does a phenomenal job and she collaborates
with the government.
That's the kind of thing we can do
in Kerala in the long run.
(22:05):
But this is not going to happen overnight.
You're saying is that we have to eliminate
the market for the captive elephants used in
temple ceremonies.
And it's kind of like think of stuff
that used to be normalised that isn't anymore.
(22:28):
You know, elephants in circuses.
So you reduce the demand for elephants in
circuses.
You know, when I first started this whole
nonprofit, after 30 years in the news business,
I went with a little GoPro camera in
the middle of the winter in Brooklyn, New
York, to cover a protest against elephants in
the circus.
(22:49):
And I thought, is this even worth it?
And I saw 200 people lined up, shaking
with the cold, nine degrees, demanding an end
to elephants in circuses.
And all the customers were walking right by
with their kids, ignoring us or basically telling
us to get lost.
And I thought, wow, this is an uphill
battle.
(23:09):
But guess what?
Not because of me, because of incredible organisations
like PETA, and because of those protesters, now
Ringling Brothers is out of business, does not
use any animals.
We thought it could never happen.
It happened.
Okay.
As I believe it was Nelson Mandela said,
(23:30):
it's always seems impossible until it happens, until
it's done.
So by making it cool to have these
robotic elephants and creating a demand for the
robotic elephants, then the real elephant's demand vanishes
and that business ends.
And that's exactly what happened with elephants and
(23:51):
tigers and lions and circuses that used to
be everywhere.
And they are, for the most part, with
some exceptions, gone, especially Ringling.
So it's worth it.
These things take over, right?
Can you elaborate?
Yeah, absolutely.
And so, as we are already seeing, we
(24:12):
launched our first robotic elephant last year in
the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, after
this temple watched what happened there.
And yes, exactly.
This is the robotic elephant called Sankar Hariharan.
And he was donated by one of our
precious donors.
And he donated the full amount for us
(24:34):
to buy him.
And we got the decorations and everything.
And so when we did this, actually, this
temple is, it actually borders Tamil Nadu and
Kerala.
So this temple watched what happened there and
said, can we also get this?
And so, of course, they reached out to
(24:54):
us and, you know, we designed this by
collaborating with an amazing designer who's based in
Kerala.
And when we donated now this temple to
this particular temple called Sri Bhagavati Temple, there
are other temples who are actually asking, can
(25:15):
we, can we, can we?
So we are creating ripples.
And this is how we kind of do
it gradually.
But we do it in a manner that
we are not being called the enemies of
the culture.
How are we diminishing the culture in any
way by using the robotic elephants?
We are allowing you to sit on top
(25:35):
of the elephants.
The elephant actually can even squirt water on
the devotees, you know, and you can actually
touch the elephants.
And this elephant actually conducts rituals.
It moves its tails, its tail, and it
can even sort of, we crawl him on
a, on a trolley, right?
(25:56):
He moves his ears.
And even his eyes, his eyes are absolutely
stunningly gorgeous when he looks up and down,
right?
And so you can never tell the difference,
even the colouration.
This is how the festival elephants look because,
you know, they consider it a pride and
privilege.
(26:16):
And so for me, the best way to
present the opportunity or to do this is
to present an opportunity to them and let
them take the reign rather than us impose
things on them.
When they see this trend, it's kind of
trendy right now.
When they see this trend to take over,
then there's going to be an issue with
(26:39):
the demand for live elephants because people are
now seeing, hey, there's peace here.
We can actually conduct this, you know, these
rituals peacefully.
We can, you know, we can fire, we
can use fireworks without worrying that elephants will
run amok.
People will not get killed.
Cultures can thrive.
And so that's, that's where our focus is.
(27:02):
And when the demand for the robotic elephant
increases, the demand for the live elephants will
decrease, will cut into the pocketbook of the
elephant owners who will not be able to
lease out their elephants to the temples, which
means they won't be able to make money
and, you know, elephants will be saved and
it's going to be a win-win situation
for all.
(27:23):
A lot of questions coming up as people
are watching on the Unshaded TV streaming network,
as well as on social media.
Tom wants to know, how is it that
these animals move?
What is the mechanism?
What are the gears?
Is it electric?
Tell us about the technology.
Yeah, it's not, it's not electric at all.
(27:44):
And I'm glad you raised that question, but
let me tell you, this is an artificial
intelligence based technology, artificial intelligence based robotic
technology.
Okay.
And I will tell you about the electrical
information, misinformation or disinformation that is going across
just as it's happening in our political arena.
(28:07):
Some of these elephant owners are pushing out
fake news saying that these elephants are connected
to electrical supply or whatever.
And as a result, four people were electrocuted,
complete nonsense, complete nonsense.
And so with regards to the specifics of
how they make this, I can tell you
(28:28):
that it's made with fibreglass and it's the
duration or fibre optics.
The duration is quite a bit.
And I don't think they have an engine
inside them.
How they move.
Yeah.
Like I said, I don't have the details
on the technology because the designer is obviously
(28:50):
going to keep it close to his chest.
I can only tell you that it's the,
it's an artificial intelligence based technology that they,
it's probably battery operated to my best of
guessing.
And even the batteries are like solar powered.
And so yeah, that's, that's about what I
know about the technology.
I'm not going to pretend like I know
(29:11):
how they are moving, but that's a really
good question.
And I did ask the designer and you
know, there are secrets that they will not
divulge.
That's just the way it goes.
I would have to think that this would
be cheaper for the temple too.
Animals are very expensive to keep up.
They, if you want to keep them alive,
(29:32):
even if they're being abused, they require veterinary
care and they require food, water, housing.
There's all their excrement that has to be
cleaned up.
I mean, it's expensive.
One of the reasons why horses unfortunately end
up going to slaughter is that people get
a horse on a whim or you know,
a romantic notion and then they see how
(29:52):
expensive it is.
So can you appeal to these temples on
a price basis?
Yeah, exactly.
And that's one of the things that we
are already doing.
And we did this with the temple in
Tamil Nadu, right?
Exactly what we said is not only leasing
the elephant from the elephant owner.
So that's one cause.
(30:13):
Number two is transporting them.
That's highly expensive, not just in terms of
money, but also in terms of the stress
and the physical and mental exhaustion that these
elephants have to endure.
And then of course, in terms of feeding,
I mean, many of these live elephants are
deprived of food, water, and shelter, and they're
transported for hours on end beneath the scorching
(30:37):
sunshine.
And sometimes they're paraded on hot, tar roads,
which kind of is really, really heartbreaking and
gut-wrenching.
And sometimes the elephants can't even walk.
The minute they see water, they take the
water and they toss it on their foot
instead of drinking the water.
Like that's how sad it is for these
(30:58):
poor elephants.
And so, yes, there's not just the financial
cost, but also all kinds of other costs.
Here, one of the elephants is being treated.
He's getting foot treatment from one of our
elephant care people called Steve Coyle.
He had actually worked with us in one
of the elephant rehab centres in Kerala.
(31:22):
And we can provide this kind of rehab
for the elephants, even the owners have.
And kind of coax and convince them that
it's in their best interest to kind of
retire these elephants.
And the temples to suggest, look at all
the costs, not just the financial, but all
of the costs.
And you just invest one time.
(31:44):
You don't even have to pay for this.
We are giving this to you.
And you can use the same elephant over
and over and over again, every single year.
In fact, you can add to your elephant
troop.
Maybe we can give you one elephant each
year, you know, if you wish, because they
need like two or three elephants in some
temples.
We are willing to do that for you,
(32:04):
you know?
So yes, indeed.
Yeah.
Money plays a big role.
I'm just so fascinated by this because it's
such a win-win.
And what is the reaction amongst the people?
It seems like they're very fascinated.
I don't know how they would react with
normal elephants, with real elephants, but it seems
(32:27):
that everybody is just playing their part and
not acting like, well, there's something wrong here
because these elephants aren't real.
You're seeing all these people engaged in very
ornate, elaborate cultural traditions, and they're doing it
with the elephants without any, to my view,
(32:48):
negative reaction.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so funny I should bring that up
because when they inaugurated this, because I could
not be there this time, I produced a
recorded video and I played it.
They displayed it on a big, big screen.
And oh my goodness, 300 to 400 women
(33:11):
and 300 to 400 men seated on either
sides.
It was just like pin drop silence.
Everybody was listening so keenly.
And towards the end, there was this massive
applause because everything I said in that related
to how the Hindu traditions actually promote ahimsa,
(33:33):
which is nonviolence, and yet they need to
open their eyes to see the real suffering
of the elephants.
So I used a small trailer of Gods
and Shackles in that presentation so they could
see the difference, you know, between the actual
live elephants and the suffering that they have
to endure and the people have to endure.
And here you have the robotic elephant.
(33:55):
So it takes a lot of awareness and
ongoing education.
And I think the temple authorities have done
a phenomenal job convincing the devotees and the
organiser, Dr. Prakash, who actually approached us.
He, again, reminded the devotees of that, you
(34:15):
know, fateful day when that elephant, the live
elephant, was so distressed and so sick and
tired of being mistreated that he ran amok
and he gored the handler.
And that's when he decided we will never,
ever do this to an elephant or cause
any harm to the people.
And so it's that kind of determination from,
(34:37):
you know, a leadership level that has also
helped.
And we continue to collaborate.
I continue to, you know, give them my
short films so that they can screen them
in the temples whenever they want so they
can educate the employees regarding the beautifully sensitive
and highly intelligent creatures these animals are and
that they deserve to be in the wild
(34:59):
and not in captivity.
So I think the message is getting out
there.
It's a combination of a you can't just
say, OK, I don't want you to use
these elephants in the cultural celebrations.
We offered an alternative.
So that was number one.
Number two is, OK, well, now we have
an alternative.
But, hmm, you know, they're kind of sitting
(35:20):
and thinking exactly what you suggested.
This is not a live elephant.
We cannot touch and feel.
But yes, they can touch and feel this
elephant.
You can see the fascination of all of
these people.
They're taking selfies and their little kids that
used to be terrified of going close to
the elephants are now falling in love with
these elephants.
This way, you could even nurture and cultivate
(35:42):
empathy, love, compassion for these beautiful animals and
indeed all animals.
So it's again, like you said, it's a
win win situation.
Tell us about this image taken minutes ago
in India that was just texted to you.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, this one was this is our amazing
elephant called Shankar Hariharan.
(36:03):
And there is a special event going on
in southern India, actually across India.
It's called Shivaratri.
And if many of you may have heard
or not have heard about Lord Shiva, it
is his birthday.
He is considered to be very, very strong,
but in a very peaceful manner.
(36:23):
Like he's not the aggressive kind of strong
people that think that being aggressive and being
a bully is being strong.
No, but this Lord Shiva, through peace, like
even when people attacked him, even when snakes
came near him, even when the folklore goes
that even when tigers came next to him,
(36:44):
they were so touched by his peace and
calm that they settled next to him.
So it's a huge celebration.
And the image that you shared earlier was
that they were parading Shankar Hariharan on the
streets of Gudalur, right next to this Sivan
Kovil, which is like Shiva temple.
(37:06):
And the organiser, he actually called me live.
And he's like, just watch this elephant.
Look, our elephant has been paraded.
And I just went crazy clicking on my
iPhone, all of the screenshots.
And I'm so happy that you could use
them.
Yeah, it was just really touching to see,
you know, that the elephant that we donated
(37:27):
last year is still being put to proper
use.
This is like really, really heartwarming.
And it's really fascinating because we were getting
ready to do this show and Sangeeta said,
I'm going to text you some images from
India.
I got just minutes ago, like 30 seconds
ago, try to put them up.
(37:48):
And I said, okay.
And I managed to get these two shots.
She sent me about 18 shots.
I managed to get these two up right
before we started, but look at this robotic
elephant in the streets of India being surrounded
by people.
You can't tell that it's a robot elephant
from this distance.
And it's even hard to tell very close
(38:09):
up.
So, you know, I think this is so
fascinating.
And the fact that they only cost $10
,000, it's shocking to me.
I would have thought you'd say $100,000.
$10,000 is very, very cost-effective for
something like this with moving ears, with moving
(38:30):
eyes, with the actual elephant moving, the moving
trunks.
My mind is blown.
And again, if you want to donate to
make one of these happen, we're trying to
get one elephant out of the show, one
robot elephant, you can donate to vfaes.org
(38:52):
forward slash donate.
That's Voices for Asian Elephant Society.org.
And they have very low overhead, huge, overwhelming
amount of everything they raise goes right into
these robotic elephants and similar projects.
And I just think it's absolutely fascinating.
(39:12):
Congratulations.
People are saying, cannot tell, this is genius.
Wow, this is amazing.
It's, you know, it's so much better than
the alternative, which is so cruel and backward.
I mean, let's face it, India is known
for being on the forefront of technology.
(39:35):
And so I would think it would be
a point of pride to say, look at
the high-tech methods that we're using.
That's got to be another selling point, Sangeeta.
Indeed.
And so the thing is, the irony of
it all is that they love technology, but
when it comes to really implementing technology in
terms of cultural celebrations, some of these elephant
(39:58):
owners are still resisting.
But I mean, obviously we are seeing the
temples embracing this opportunity and this option and
the technology.
And so I think it'll get to a
point where the elephant owners will begin to
realise that there's no point in actually owning
the elephants.
(40:19):
Let's leave them in the wild.
This is where they belong.
And, you know, there are times that I,
when I have the social media conversations with
people who comment and stuff like that, I
say, you know what?
We all love technology and India, like you
said, is like in the forefront, on the
forefront of technology.
And the worst thing is that you don't
(40:41):
use the knowledge that you have to serve
the collective good and to ensure that nobody
is harmed.
This includes the animals as well.
You know, they have the best cell phones,
the best selfies that they take, all kinds
of incredible things.
Right.
And they've been to the moon recently, just
last year.
So there are scientists and technology is so
(41:02):
highly evolving drastically in India.
And it's about time, you know, that they
embraced the culture and there's this merging of
culture and technology that can bring forth harmony,
compassion, love, and peace of mind for people
and for the elephants.
(41:24):
And get rid of the horror of elephants
in captivity.
Never take an elephant ride.
Never, ever, ever.
And let's talk about one other thing that
you're doing that is really fascinating.
Again, another high-tech solution to a big
problem in India.
(41:44):
And that is many, many elephants are killed
by trains because they're traversing and the trains
are coming at them.
You've created this high-tech EleSense elephant alerting
system.
Tell us about that.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
And it's an AI-based technology.
And I can tell you that between January
(42:06):
2023 and December of 2024, we have averted
1139 train collisions with elephants.
And in West Bengal, there's been absolutely no
train collision deaths of elephants since we have
installed, especially in this particular region.
(42:27):
So we are now in the process of
expanding it in the Chapramati Wildlife Sanctuary because
the sad reality is India is the most
densely populated country on the planet with 19
% of the world's human population in India.
And so space is a very sacred commodity
(42:48):
and the competition for space is rampant between
people and animals, two dominant species.
And so humans are encroaching into the wild
habitat and they're building train tracks, roadways and
railways and all kinds of structures inside the
wildlife sanctuary, which is the home of these
(43:10):
elephants.
Electrical wires cutting through the forest and they
sometimes drop down because of thunderstorm, rainfall and
everything.
And so many elephants are getting killed.
So we decided, no, we've got to implement
some high tech technology here.
So this is again, artificial intelligence-based technology
grounded in four components.
(43:32):
Number one is that this alert system can
detect the temperature, the height, the pattern and
the movement.
These are the four components that this EleSense
can detect.
As soon as it detects it, that's what
it does.
It sends out that message saying, oh, elephant
movement has been tracked.
And that message is dispersed to everybody, including
(43:55):
our team, the railway department, the forest department
and the tea plantation owners and all of
the relevant stakeholders.
So when the railway department gets this information,
what they then do is they send a
walkie talkie message to the train pilots and
the train pilot then slows down and allows
(44:17):
these elephants to cross over.
We have so many camera trap images that
I'll share with you soon that we have
captured recently of elephants crossing over the train
tracks and the train halted in a distance.
And it's just really heartwarming to see that
we are harnessing technology to see these tangible
(44:39):
outcomes and thus save elephants.
Hundreds of elephants get killed on the train
tracks every single year.
These are like completely senseless tragedies that can
be totally avoided.
And so, yeah, it's really heartwarming to see
the results.
1,139 train collisions with elephants have been
(45:02):
averted since January 2024 and sorry, January 2023
and December 2024.
Absolutely amazing what you're doing for elephants in
India.
I would like to see it expanded globally
to other animals in other parts of the
(45:24):
world.
I know you're also doing something to stop
elephants from falling into water wells, which happens
and you're building like basically a block around
the well so that the elephants can't fall
in.
And the same thing is happening to donkeys
in another part of the world.
(45:44):
I saw it online and I was going
to contact you.
I mean, all your incredible practical ideas need
to spread around the world to other species.
But getting back to elephants, you know, sometimes
people say, well, you're attacking a culture.
No, there's plenty of cruelty directed at elephants
(46:05):
and other animals right here in the United
States.
Let's take a look at the world famous
singer actress Cher and what she had to
say about one particular elephant.
Billy the elephant has been at the LA
Zoo for 33 years.
(46:27):
He lives in constant pain and anguish.
It was seeing Billy suffer that made me
want to help him.
The LA Zoo claims that they're taking good
care of Billy and the other elephants, but
the truth reveals a very dark and different
reality.
(46:48):
We invite the LA Zoo on anytime to
comment on what Cher and other critics have
said.
And I actually contacted an attorney who's been
involved in litigation attempts, unsuccessful thus far, to
get Billy out and said, hey, have you
heard about these robotic elephants?
And he has said that he has offered
(47:08):
the robotic elephant concept to zoos here, there
and everywhere and has not heard a positive
response.
So, you know, that's sad because that would
be a solution to elephants trapped in zoos
as well, Sangeeta.
Absolutely.
And that, I mean, it's, they can even
use the robotic elephant for elephant back rides.
(47:30):
I mean, which child would not want to
climb up this robotic elephant and touch the
year and see the eye movement?
It can be used for elephant back rides
in Thailand, which is where it is rampant.
And even in India, you know, and they
can actually get these people to sit on
their, on the elephant back if that's all
they want, because this is a life size
(47:52):
elephant.
The elephant that we gave was like 10
feet tall.
He's 10 feet tall, this guy, you know,
and so it's, it can be used as
an alternative in every situation, including the zoos,
including circuses, even.
Oh, can I tell you, they in Spain,
they have actually replaced live elephants with the
(48:15):
robotic elephants designed by the same designer who
made our elephant.
And he, he actually created three solid elephants
for the Spanish circus in Spain and his
elephants are displayed at the airports in Bangalore
airport in Dubai, in all of these Middle
(48:36):
Eastern places where there are so many people
from Kerala that live there.
It's just becoming really a global phenomenon and
it's, it's, yeah, it's really, really, it's really
good to see positive changes.
It's just not fast enough for all of
us.
Of course not.
We'd like to see it all end, but
(48:56):
you know, sometimes we have to have patience.
I say that to myself when I start
new projects and I want payoff immediately.
I want to see animals saved like yesterday
when I start a project.
And then I have to remember, Jane, you
have to learn patience.
You can't just expect it to be an
(49:17):
event.
It's a process and it's starting.
The process is the most important part.
You have, how many of these elephants do
you now have?
So this is only our second one.
And this year we are planning to give
away three more in October.
So that we are just trying to enhance
because we need money, right?
(49:38):
For everything.
We are a small organisation and without the
money, we cannot provide this.
And so all of those people who came
up with those brilliant ideas to donate money,
I am more than happy to meet with
them on a Zoom call.
We can all get together on a Zoom
call.
And if you have any questions, I would
be more than happy to answer, you know,
(50:00):
and I can even share with you some
of the intricacies in terms of how the
temples operate, what is going on, why is
change so difficult?
So this way your questions will be answered
one-on-one.
I'm more than happy to do that.
Just send us an email to support at
vfaes.org.
(50:22):
And you can even contact Jane directly, whatever
you want.
I mean, Jane is the one who launched
all of this for us.
So if she wants to take the lead,
by all means, go for it.
I just, I interview a lot of groups
and I, what I love about your organisation
is that it's practical solutions for specific problems.
(50:43):
And so you're drilling down on very specific
things.
We only have a couple of minutes.
Tell us very briefly about your wildlife corridors.
Wow.
I'm so excited to share with you about
the wildlife corridors.
So let me explain to you quickly what
corridors are.
Forests are being broken up into tiny patches,
(51:03):
because as I said, railways are cutting through
the forest, roadways are cutting through the forest.
So these forests are being broken up into
forest patches and even homes and settlements and
everything.
So what we are doing is we are
purchasing plots of land, which we just donated
another, like a four acre plot of land
to the Kerala forest department just in 2024,
(51:26):
March, which has now been officially transferred to
the forest department.
And this corridor, even though it seems like
only four acres, it's a significant corridor for
elephant movement.
So they can come from this patch to
this patch, but they can move peacefully because
there are no obstacles on their way.
(51:47):
And so there are 340 plus elephants living
in that area where we bought the four
acre plot of land.
And we're going to continue to expand that
project in Odisha.
And I'll have something to share with Jane
sometime in the future.
I cannot share much more than that right
now, but it's so exciting.
And these patches of land, we are not
(52:08):
only purchasing, but we're also rewilding.
We are planting saplings and creating water holes
in Odisha on the forest lands, elephant-friendly
saplings like jackfruit, mangoes, and whatever things that
elephants love.
Everything elephant, right?
We plant those things and we have the
tribal people.
We employ 200 tribal people in order to
(52:31):
take care of these plantations, water them, nurture
them, et cetera.
And so when these plantations come to maturity,
then elephants will have regular fruits and regular,
you know, these are fruit yielding trees.
And so we are doing that.
We're employing people.
People are happy.
And now they're more into conservation.
They're like, Ooh, if we protect elephants, guess
(52:53):
what?
We're also going to get paid.
So that's the kind of approach we are
taking rather than vilify them.
We are trying to partner with them, bring
them together.
And collectively we are, we are making a
difference.
And I'm really excited about returning to India
on March the 21st.
And I will share something with you via
(53:14):
WhatsApp and you can share it with your
public.
Wow.
You are doing so much.
I am so impressed.
And it also, you know, it inspires me
because you're hitting the finish line.
You're getting something done.
Like it's not just a proposal.
These robotic elephants are going into the temples.
You are putting these high-tech elephant warning
(53:37):
signals on the train track, saving elephant lives.
You are creating these moats that prevent elephants
from falling into the wells and you are
creating these wildlife corridors.
So it's a win, win, win, win.
And I just want to tell everybody support
Voices for Asian Elephant Society.
And it's come back because you always have
(53:59):
great, great information.
There it is, vfaes.org forward slash donate.
While we're doing asks, I want to tell
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You can download it on your phone for
(54:20):
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Yay!
Check this out.
Those are not real elephants.
They look like real elephants, but they are
life-size robotic elephants.
And that photo was taken moments ago in
India.
We are bringing you the latest.
Here's what happened.
Captive elephant-related tragedies, which you're looking at,
(00:21):
have now killed six people and left more
than 50 people injured in India.
This one temple ceremony turned into a nightmare
when two elephants, as you can see, spooked
by fireworks, deprivation, exhaustion, and abuse, sparked chaos
in the huge crowd.
There was another captive elephant at a different
festival who gored two people, one of whom
(00:43):
later died in a desperate bid for freedom.
That elephant ran for more than eight miles
before being recaptured.
And you can see the attempts to recapture
that poor, poor, animal.
And this has highlighted the immense suffering and
safety risks posed by elephants used in temple
ceremonies in India.
(01:05):
And now, what a miracle, you are looking
at robotic elephants.
They are realistic, they are life-size, and
they offer the solution.
All of India's temple elephants can be sent
to sanctuary to live out their lives in
peace while these lifelike robots take their place,
preserving the culture without cruelty.
(01:29):
And we are so honoured to have the
woman who is making this happen.
She is spearheading this, Sangeeta Iyer, Executive Director
of Voices for Asian Elephants and award-winning
filmmaker of the UN-nominated documentary, Gods in
Shackles.
What you are looking at now are robotic
(01:49):
elephants.
Tell us all about it, Sangeeta.
It's wonderful to be here, Jane, and what
a great honour for me to be on
this show to talk about these precious animals.
And yes, indeed, they are robotic elephants and
they weigh approximately 800 kilos.
You can multiply that to make it into
pounds, 2.2 pounds.
(02:11):
I mean, one pound, sorry, one kilo is
2.2 pounds.
And they look exactly like live elephants, ears
moving, eyes moving, tails moving, and they even
sprinkle water on the devotees.
And so this is really catching on.
We launched our very first robotic elephant last
year in the Southern Indian state of Tamil
(02:33):
Nadu.
And the first few images that you shared
earlier, that was from the location called Gudalur
at the Sivan Kovil.
And so I went there live to watch
this.
I mean, live on camera that is.
And it was just an incredible privilege to
(02:55):
realise that what we are doing is making
a difference.
This particular elephant you're seeing, his name is
Shiva Shakti.
And Shiva Shakti was just donated recently on
February the 24th to a temple called Bhagavati
Temple, which is located in Thrissur, Kerala.
And Kerala is actually the elephant entertainment hub.
(03:20):
It is indeed the ground zero for elephant
torture.
And this is where my film, Gods and
Shackles, that is now streaming live on Unchained
TV, this is where it was entirely produced.
And so for me, it's a full, like,
you know, coming full circle kind of moment
for me, because this is where everything started.
(03:42):
And to be able to present this incredibly
precious robotic elephant that has, you know, kind
of replaced the live elephant in this particular
temple is just like an aha moment for
me.
And one of the great things about donating
this elephant is that they appreciate, they understand
(04:05):
the value of not using live elephants.
And one of the founders or one of
the persons who actually was responsible who organised
this whole robotic elephant, he came and he
said that just a few months ago, a
live elephant was so frustrated, so distressed that
(04:26):
he gored his handler and killed him instantaneously.
That's when the temple made a commitment that
they would never, ever use live elephants.
But then they didn't know where to turn
until Voices for Asian Elephants.
We came into the picture and we said,
we're going to help you.
You can still have the cultural festivals.
(04:48):
Cultures can thrive.
Elephants don't have to suffer.
People don't have to get killed in the
stampedes.
And there could be a total peaceful coexistence
between elephants and culture and the traditions, right?
So it's a win-win situation for all.
When I'm looking at this, I'm seeing, I
(05:10):
can't tell the difference.
I actually, when you sent me this footage,
I was like, I hope I got this
right.
I hope these are the robot elephants and
not the real ones because I'm looking at
this and I'm like, damn, they look so
real.
Their eyes move, their ears move.
They, as you said, people can also get
(05:31):
on top of them because part of the
abuse is that a lot of times there's,
you know, four or five, six men on
top of these elephants.
And I saw some four men on top
of one of these robotic elephants.
They're so fantastic that you really have to
remind yourself, these are robot elephants.
Look, there's the guys on there.
(05:51):
One, two, three, four, at least, that I'm
seeing.
So they're strong.
They're huge.
How much do they cost?
Because I know that your nonprofit has very
little overhead.
Everything you do goes directly to saving elephants
in India.
That's your life's work.
How much do these cost?
(06:15):
We're going to go straight out to you.
How much do these cost?
They cost about $10,000.
And this includes not just the creation of
the elephant, designing of the elephant, but also
the jewellery and the transportation and all of
the rest that goes with it.
Yeah.
$10,000.
(06:36):
That's not a lot.
No, that's not, not at all.
And this elephant has the ability to do
almost everything that a live elephant does, except
it won't run amok.
You know, the robotic elephant will not run
amok.
He sprinkles water on the devotees, which is
one of the big deals, you know, that
they think that they are blessed when the
(06:57):
elephant sprays water and, you know, their beliefs
are valuable and it can be preserved.
The traditions can be preserved, like I said,
and yet elephants don't have to suffer.
And you mentioned about the men sitting on
top of the elephants, right?
When they do that on live elephants, they
have to control the live elephants using brute
(07:20):
force, which means they'd have to use bull
hook and they have to use long poles
and keep poking and prodding.
In fact, some of the elephants, the live
elephants are even drugged so that they can
be brought under control.
There's so many evil things that they do
to these poor, precious, intelligent, highly supremely social
(07:41):
animals.
And these robotic elephants completely prevent all of
the cruelty and the suffering that live elephants
would never ever have to endure.
Yeah.
And the image that you're just showing, this
is one of the elephants who ran amok
on February the 13th.
(08:02):
And as you showed previously a footage of
two elephants attacking each other, what happened was
there was fireworks that they were lighting up
just behind them, so close to them.
And both these elephants, they were spooked and
they didn't know what to do.
And so they kind of started attacking each
(08:22):
other in the process.
Three people were killed, three devotees were killed,
50 of them seriously injured.
But here's the thing, one of the elephants,
the image that you showed, he was so
badly injured.
He sustained at least 24 grievous injuries.
And worse still, despite those grievous injuries, they
(08:45):
shackled and they took him to wherever he
was brought from and tortured him further instead
of nurturing him.
Of course, there were veterinarians who were trying
to treat them.
But in order for them to bring the
elephants under control, as I said earlier, they
had to impose brute force.
(09:07):
And this is where despite the elephants being
injured, they still had to suffer.
No compassion, no love, only cruelty.
All that has been replaced by the robotic
elephants.
And we are just so excited.
We are over the moon to be contributing
these robotic elephants.
And we are only going to expand.
(09:28):
There are so many temples who are so
delighted seeing the progress and how they can
still preserve their culture and traditions.
And they're actually asking, how can we obtain
these robotic elephants?
So we're absolutely thrilled to be, we hope
to do, provide like two or three more
(09:49):
this year later.
And I'll share with you when it happens.
And yeah, it's all good.
What I would like to say is I
think this is the best spend for animal
rights that I've ever heard.
Because look, we all donate, we donate our
time, we donate our money as much as
we can.
(10:10):
And sometimes it's hypothetical, it's you're giving to
a possibility.
But in this case, for only $10,000,
so two people could split five each and
get an elephant.
My question to you is, because I've seen
this work in the past with other groups,
naming rights.
If somebody donated $10,000, for example, I'm
(10:34):
not saying I'm doing this, but my name's
Jane.
Is there an Indian word for Jane?
Would you be able to name the elephant
after the person who donated?
Take that away.
That's a really good question.
Actually, I'll tell you something, right?
The first robotic elephant was donated by a
person by the name of Ganesh Hariharan.
(10:56):
He donated it in his father's name.
He lives in Chicago, but he donated it
in his father's name.
So we call the elephant Shankar Hariharan.
We gave him the last name.
Now, with regards to this particular elephant, he
was donated by Dolores Whitley.
Obviously, we couldn't call the elephant Whitley because
(11:18):
you need to have an Indian name and
there's no Indian translation.
So what we did was we asked her,
here are three Indian names, which one would
you prefer?
And we gave her the opportunity to select
the name.
So that's something we can do.
And somewhere at the bottom of the foot
(11:38):
of the elephant or something we can say
donated by Jane Valez Michelle, for instance.
That's very sweet of you.
Look, I would go in 50-50 with
somebody.
If somebody were willing to do 5,000,
I would do 5,000.
Or if we could get four people to
(11:58):
do 2,500, I would do 2,500
because I've never seen anything that has such
a payoff immediately.
So I want to say that right now,
I will say that if we can get,
and I'll just say this right off the
top of my head, I wasn't thinking about
it, but I'll do 2,500.
(12:20):
If we get three other people who can
each do 2,500, we can have an
elephant.
I don't need the naming rights.
I will give the naming rights to the
other three people.
Let's keep it out there in the atmosphere
and let's see what happens.
Additionally, you could get 10 people giving $1
(12:40):
,000 each.
But what I love about this is that
the payoff is immediate and we know that
there are temples in India who want these.
So somebody asked, how do we donate?
It's very, very simple.
It's the easiest thing in the world.
You go to vfaes.org forward slash donate.
(13:05):
That's vfaes.org forward slash donate.
That stands for voices for asianelephantsociety.org.
So I urge everybody, look, $5, you can
become a monthly donor.
I love this idea because the payoff is
(13:25):
immediate and what these animals have gone through,
the real ones, I just can't even imagine.
It makes me completely embarrassed to be a
human being.
Let's listen to and watch the actual rampage
that occurred and you will hear the fireworks
in the background.
It's disturbing, but we're only gonna play you
(13:46):
a very short less than 30 seconds of
it.
So that
(14:17):
is, it's revolting and let's not attack any
particular nationality or culture.
We can talk about what's happening to elephants
in zoos here in the United States.
And that's also horrific.
We're going to get to that in a
minute.
So tell us who in their right minds
would set off fireworks when there's two elephants
(14:40):
right there.
Now, before you answer that question, let me
say that right where I live, they set
off fireworks every 4th of July next to
a bird sanctuary.
So again, this is a human problem, not
a problem of any particular ethnicity or or
nationality.
Take it away.
(15:00):
Yeah, absolutely.
First of all, I want to thank you
so much for your generosity.
And you have started a chain reaction, put
it out in the universe.
Thank you for your offer.
And we will promote it on our website.
Okay, with regards to the fireworks, listen, there
are real stringent guidelines, rules, regulations, etc.
(15:22):
Nobody enforces it because the elephant lobby groups,
they have immense power to do whatever they
want.
In fact, the Kerala High Court had issued
specific guidelines saying you have to keep the
elephants at least eight metres apart.
What did you see in that image?
They were right.
(15:42):
I mean, in that video, they were right
next to each other.
And where was the fireworks coming from?
Behind the wall, right next to the elephant,
this this book, they were completely spooked, right?
You saw that.
So you're absolutely right.
Anyone in the right frame of mind will
never do this.
And given that this is a temple, would
(16:02):
you not follow the guidelines?
And would you not conduct ethical practise?
This is our challenge.
And these two elephants that you saw running
amok, these are from a world renowned temple
called the Guruvayur temple.
And my organisation voices for Asian elephants had
launched a public interest litigation three years ago.
(16:26):
And now they're actually still arguing the case.
But some incredible things have happened.
Because the Animal Welfare Board of India, the
Central Zoo Authority, and all of these top
Indian animal welfare organisations run by the government,
(16:46):
they have completely validated what we have been
suggesting all along that elephants are being mistreated.
And that if they are going to be
held in captivity, they need a minimum of
two acres of land to roam freely, unchained
when they're not being used in cultural festivals,
(17:07):
they need to be given a minimum amount
of water, they need to be given a
minimum amount and a certain type of diet,
and they need to be provided with shelter.
That's the absolute basic right to be shaded
from the elements like rain and sunshine and
torrential thunderstorm and lightning that also spooks the
(17:29):
elephants.
And a couple of them have died because
of heart attack, literally, you know, and so
even these basic things, this world renowned temple
cannot provide Guruvayur temple.
And that's what is really gut wrenching to
me.
Like when you are a temple, you are
supposed to practise the basic Hindu tenet called
(17:52):
Ahimsa.
Ahimsa means non violence, yet everything being inflicted
upon these elephants, everything is violent, because in
order to control this massive animal, you have
to impose brute force, real force.
And that in turn hurts these supremely intelligent
(18:13):
and highly sensitive animals.
And so yeah, so it's time, you know,
that all of the religious institutions took charge.
We have some breaking news.
So people are saying they want to donate.
People want to get together to get at
least one elephant out of this broadcast.
(18:35):
So let's go to the comments.
This is super exciting.
We have the incredibly generous Nilofar Ashgarian, who
often helps us, who says that she is
going to second what somebody else said, a
team of 10 to each donate 1000.
So we've got Nilofar, we've got me, and
(18:56):
we've got this person who said that he
or she would, she I guess, I think
you said 10,000, we need 10 people
to do 1000.
So Extropian Transhuman, which is quite a name,
are you willing, you can comment, are you
willing to give 1000?
(19:18):
Because then we're on our way, we've already
got 3000.
And we can move this up throughout the
course of this conversation.
There was somebody else, Bruce Anderson, who asked,
Sangeeta, does this ensure that an elephant will
be released to sanctuary, take it away?
No, it doesn't ensure that they'll be released
(19:38):
into a sanctuary because they don't have sanctuaries
for wild elephants.
They do have wildlife rescue and rehab centres
run by the government.
And it is up to the elephant owners,
you see, because these elephants, so you need
to understand the whole situation behind the captive
elephants of Kerala.
(19:59):
These elephants are owned by private citizens.
What these private citizens do is they lease
out these elephants for these temple rituals, right?
And they make money out of this.
If they are so culturally and traditionally connected,
then they should not even be charging, right?
Or they should not even be using the
elephants in the first place.
(20:20):
So the point in providing these robotic elephants
is to reduce the demand of live elephants.
When you reduce the demand of the live
elephants, it's going to cut into their pocketbook.
And then they'll realise, oh, my goodness, there's
nothing we can do with these live elephants.
So we might as well voluntarily surrender them
(20:40):
into an elephant rehab centre.
So there's nothing we can do to, like
in Thailand, you can buy out elephants.
That's not possible here in India because of
the laws, right, that many of them flout.
And yet when we try to do something
legally and ethically, we get attacked, being called
(21:00):
the enemy of culture, et cetera, et cetera.
But to answer your question, this will actually
reduce the demand for live elephants in many
temples and ultimately cut into the pocketbook.
This is going to take time and effort.
And I cannot guarantee that these private elephant
owners will voluntarily even give those elephants away.
(21:22):
But if they're not able to make money
out of these elephants, which they need in
order to maintain them, then I reckon they
would have no choice but to give them
away.
And we would say, OK, bring them to
the elephant rehab centre.
Again, in India, private rehab centres are not
(21:45):
allowed.
I mean, this is kind of crazy, right?
There are one or two available in different
states, like for instance, in Karnataka.
I know somebody who runs an elephant rehab
centre.
She does a phenomenal job and she collaborates
with the government.
That's the kind of thing we can do
in Kerala in the long run.
(22:05):
But this is not going to happen overnight.
You're saying is that we have to eliminate
the market for the captive elephants used in
temple ceremonies.
And it's kind of like think of stuff
that used to be normalised that isn't anymore.
(22:28):
You know, elephants in circuses.
So you reduce the demand for elephants in
circuses.
You know, when I first started this whole
nonprofit, after 30 years in the news business,
I went with a little GoPro camera in
the middle of the winter in Brooklyn, New
York, to cover a protest against elephants in
the circus.
(22:49):
And I thought, is this even worth it?
And I saw 200 people lined up, shaking
with the cold, nine degrees, demanding an end
to elephants in circuses.
And all the customers were walking right by
with their kids, ignoring us or basically telling
us to get lost.
And I thought, wow, this is an uphill
battle.
(23:09):
But guess what?
Not because of me, because of incredible organisations
like PETA, and because of those protesters, now
Ringling Brothers is out of business, does not
use any animals.
We thought it could never happen.
It happened.
Okay.
As I believe it was Nelson Mandela said,
(23:30):
it's always seems impossible until it happens, until
it's done.
So by making it cool to have these
robotic elephants and creating a demand for the
robotic elephants, then the real elephant's demand vanishes
and that business ends.
And that's exactly what happened with elephants and
(23:51):
tigers and lions and circuses that used to
be everywhere.
And they are, for the most part, with
some exceptions, gone, especially Ringling.
So it's worth it.
These things take over, right?
Can you elaborate?
Yeah, absolutely.
And so, as we are already seeing, we
(24:12):
launched our first robotic elephant last year in
the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, after
this temple watched what happened there.
And yes, exactly.
This is the robotic elephant called Sankar Hariharan.
And he was donated by one of our
precious donors.
And he donated the full amount for us
(24:34):
to buy him.
And we got the decorations and everything.
And so when we did this, actually, this
temple is, it actually borders Tamil Nadu and
Kerala.
So this temple watched what happened there and
said, can we also get this?
And so, of course, they reached out to
(24:54):
us and, you know, we designed this by
collaborating with an amazing designer who's based in
Kerala.
And when we donated now this temple to
this particular temple called Sri Bhagavati Temple, there
are other temples who are actually asking, can
(25:15):
we, can we, can we?
So we are creating ripples.
And this is how we kind of do
it gradually.
But we do it in a manner that
we are not being called the enemies of
the culture.
How are we diminishing the culture in any
way by using the robotic elephants?
We are allowing you to sit on top
(25:35):
of the elephants.
The elephant actually can even squirt water on
the devotees, you know, and you can actually
touch the elephants.
And this elephant actually conducts rituals.
It moves its tails, its tail, and it
can even sort of, we crawl him on
a, on a trolley, right?
(25:56):
He moves his ears.
And even his eyes, his eyes are absolutely
stunningly gorgeous when he looks up and down,
right?
And so you can never tell the difference,
even the colouration.
This is how the festival elephants look because,
you know, they consider it a pride and
privilege.
(26:16):
And so for me, the best way to
present the opportunity or to do this is
to present an opportunity to them and let
them take the reign rather than us impose
things on them.
When they see this trend, it's kind of
trendy right now.
When they see this trend to take over,
then there's going to be an issue with
(26:39):
the demand for live elephants because people are
now seeing, hey, there's peace here.
We can actually conduct this, you know, these
rituals peacefully.
We can, you know, we can fire, we
can use fireworks without worrying that elephants will
run amok.
People will not get killed.
Cultures can thrive.
And so that's, that's where our focus is.
(27:02):
And when the demand for the robotic elephant
increases, the demand for the live elephants will
decrease, will cut into the pocketbook of the
elephant owners who will not be able to
lease out their elephants to the temples, which
means they won't be able to make money
and, you know, elephants will be saved and
it's going to be a win-win situation
for all.
(27:23):
A lot of questions coming up as people
are watching on the Unshaded TV streaming network,
as well as on social media.
Tom wants to know, how is it that
these animals move?
What is the mechanism?
What are the gears?
Is it electric?
Tell us about the technology.
Yeah, it's not, it's not electric at all.
(27:44):
And I'm glad you raised that question, but
let me tell you, this is an artificial
intelligence based technology, artificial intelligence based robotic
technology.
Okay.
And I will tell you about the electrical
information, misinformation or disinformation that is going across
just as it's happening in our political arena.
(28:07):
Some of these elephant owners are pushing out
fake news saying that these elephants are connected
to electrical supply or whatever.
And as a result, four people were electrocuted,
complete nonsense, complete nonsense.
And so with regards to the specifics of
how they make this, I can tell you
(28:28):
that it's made with fibreglass and it's the
duration or fibre optics.
The duration is quite a bit.
And I don't think they have an engine
inside them.
How they move.
Yeah.
Like I said, I don't have the details
on the technology because the designer is obviously
(28:50):
going to keep it close to his chest.
I can only tell you that it's the,
it's an artificial intelligence based technology that they,
it's probably battery operated to my best of
guessing.
And even the batteries are like solar powered.
And so yeah, that's, that's about what I
know about the technology.
I'm not going to pretend like I know
(29:11):
how they are moving, but that's a really
good question.
And I did ask the designer and you
know, there are secrets that they will not
divulge.
That's just the way it goes.
I would have to think that this would
be cheaper for the temple too.
Animals are very expensive to keep up.
They, if you want to keep them alive,
(29:32):
even if they're being abused, they require veterinary
care and they require food, water, housing.
There's all their excrement that has to be
cleaned up.
I mean, it's expensive.
One of the reasons why horses unfortunately end
up going to slaughter is that people get
a horse on a whim or you know,
a romantic notion and then they see how
(29:52):
expensive it is.
So can you appeal to these temples on
a price basis?
Yeah, exactly.
And that's one of the things that we
are already doing.
And we did this with the temple in
Tamil Nadu, right?
Exactly what we said is not only leasing
the elephant from the elephant owner.
So that's one cause.
(30:13):
Number two is transporting them.
That's highly expensive, not just in terms of
money, but also in terms of the stress
and the physical and mental exhaustion that these
elephants have to endure.
And then of course, in terms of feeding,
I mean, many of these live elephants are
deprived of food, water, and shelter, and they're
transported for hours on end beneath the scorching
(30:37):
sunshine.
And sometimes they're paraded on hot, tar roads,
which kind of is really, really heartbreaking and
gut-wrenching.
And sometimes the elephants can't even walk.
The minute they see water, they take the
water and they toss it on their foot
instead of drinking the water.
Like that's how sad it is for these
(30:58):
poor elephants.
And so, yes, there's not just the financial
cost, but also all kinds of other costs.
Here, one of the elephants is being treated.
He's getting foot treatment from one of our
elephant care people called Steve Coyle.
He had actually worked with us in one
of the elephant rehab centres in Kerala.
(31:22):
And we can provide this kind of rehab
for the elephants, even the owners have.
And kind of coax and convince them that
it's in their best interest to kind of
retire these elephants.
And the temples to suggest, look at all
the costs, not just the financial, but all
of the costs.
And you just invest one time.
(31:44):
You don't even have to pay for this.
We are giving this to you.
And you can use the same elephant over
and over and over again, every single year.
In fact, you can add to your elephant
troop.
Maybe we can give you one elephant each
year, you know, if you wish, because they
need like two or three elephants in some
temples.
We are willing to do that for you,
(32:04):
you know?
So yes, indeed.
Yeah.
Money plays a big role.
I'm just so fascinated by this because it's
such a win-win.
And what is the reaction amongst the people?
It seems like they're very fascinated.
I don't know how they would react with
normal elephants, with real elephants, but it seems
(32:27):
that everybody is just playing their part and
not acting like, well, there's something wrong here
because these elephants aren't real.
You're seeing all these people engaged in very
ornate, elaborate cultural traditions, and they're doing it
with the elephants without any, to my view,
(32:48):
negative reaction.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so funny I should bring that up
because when they inaugurated this, because I could
not be there this time, I produced a
recorded video and I played it.
They displayed it on a big, big screen.
And oh my goodness, 300 to 400 women
(33:11):
and 300 to 400 men seated on either
sides.
It was just like pin drop silence.
Everybody was listening so keenly.
And towards the end, there was this massive
applause because everything I said in that related
to how the Hindu traditions actually promote ahimsa,
(33:33):
which is nonviolence, and yet they need to
open their eyes to see the real suffering
of the elephants.
So I used a small trailer of Gods
and Shackles in that presentation so they could
see the difference, you know, between the actual
live elephants and the suffering that they have
to endure and the people have to endure.
And here you have the robotic elephant.
(33:55):
So it takes a lot of awareness and
ongoing education.
And I think the temple authorities have done
a phenomenal job convincing the devotees and the
organiser, Dr. Prakash, who actually approached us.
He, again, reminded the devotees of that, you
(34:15):
know, fateful day when that elephant, the live
elephant, was so distressed and so sick and
tired of being mistreated that he ran amok
and he gored the handler.
And that's when he decided we will never,
ever do this to an elephant or cause
any harm to the people.
And so it's that kind of determination from,
(34:37):
you know, a leadership level that has also
helped.
And we continue to collaborate.
I continue to, you know, give them my
short films so that they can screen them
in the temples whenever they want so they
can educate the employees regarding the beautifully sensitive
and highly intelligent creatures these animals are and
that they deserve to be in the wild
(34:59):
and not in captivity.
So I think the message is getting out
there.
It's a combination of a you can't just
say, OK, I don't want you to use
these elephants in the cultural celebrations.
We offered an alternative.
So that was number one.
Number two is, OK, well, now we have
an alternative.
But, hmm, you know, they're kind of sitting
(35:20):
and thinking exactly what you suggested.
This is not a live elephant.
We cannot touch and feel.
But yes, they can touch and feel this
elephant.
You can see the fascination of all of
these people.
They're taking selfies and their little kids that
used to be terrified of going close to
the elephants are now falling in love with
these elephants.
This way, you could even nurture and cultivate
(35:42):
empathy, love, compassion for these beautiful animals and
indeed all animals.
So it's again, like you said, it's a
win win situation.
Tell us about this image taken minutes ago
in India that was just texted to you.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, this one was this is our amazing
elephant called Shankar Hariharan.
(36:03):
And there is a special event going on
in southern India, actually across India.
It's called Shivaratri.
And if many of you may have heard
or not have heard about Lord Shiva, it
is his birthday.
He is considered to be very, very strong,
but in a very peaceful manner.
(36:23):
Like he's not the aggressive kind of strong
people that think that being aggressive and being
a bully is being strong.
No, but this Lord Shiva, through peace, like
even when people attacked him, even when snakes
came near him, even when the folklore goes
that even when tigers came next to him,
(36:44):
they were so touched by his peace and
calm that they settled next to him.
So it's a huge celebration.
And the image that you shared earlier was
that they were parading Shankar Hariharan on the
streets of Gudalur, right next to this Sivan
Kovil, which is like Shiva temple.
(37:06):
And the organiser, he actually called me live.
And he's like, just watch this elephant.
Look, our elephant has been paraded.
And I just went crazy clicking on my
iPhone, all of the screenshots.
And I'm so happy that you could use
them.
Yeah, it was just really touching to see,
you know, that the elephant that we donated
(37:27):
last year is still being put to proper
use.
This is like really, really heartwarming.
And it's really fascinating because we were getting
ready to do this show and Sangeeta said,
I'm going to text you some images from
India.
I got just minutes ago, like 30 seconds
ago, try to put them up.
(37:48):
And I said, okay.
And I managed to get these two shots.
She sent me about 18 shots.
I managed to get these two up right
before we started, but look at this robotic
elephant in the streets of India being surrounded
by people.
You can't tell that it's a robot elephant
from this distance.
And it's even hard to tell very close
(38:09):
up.
So, you know, I think this is so
fascinating.
And the fact that they only cost $10
,000, it's shocking to me.
I would have thought you'd say $100,000.
$10,000 is very, very cost-effective for
something like this with moving ears, with moving
(38:30):
eyes, with the actual elephant moving, the moving
trunks.
My mind is blown.
And again, if you want to donate to
make one of these happen, we're trying to
get one elephant out of the show, one
robot elephant, you can donate to vfaes.org
(38:52):
forward slash donate.
That's Voices for Asian Elephant Society.org.
And they have very low overhead, huge, overwhelming
amount of everything they raise goes right into
these robotic elephants and similar projects.
And I just think it's absolutely fascinating.
(39:12):
Congratulations.
People are saying, cannot tell, this is genius.
Wow, this is amazing.
It's, you know, it's so much better than
the alternative, which is so cruel and backward.
I mean, let's face it, India is known
for being on the forefront of technology.
(39:35):
And so I would think it would be
a point of pride to say, look at
the high-tech methods that we're using.
That's got to be another selling point, Sangeeta.
Indeed.
And so the thing is, the irony of
it all is that they love technology, but
when it comes to really implementing technology in
terms of cultural celebrations, some of these elephant
(39:58):
owners are still resisting.
But I mean, obviously we are seeing the
temples embracing this opportunity and this option and
the technology.
And so I think it'll get to a
point where the elephant owners will begin to
realise that there's no point in actually owning
the elephants.
(40:19):
Let's leave them in the wild.
This is where they belong.
And, you know, there are times that I,
when I have the social media conversations with
people who comment and stuff like that, I
say, you know what?
We all love technology and India, like you
said, is like in the forefront, on the
forefront of technology.
And the worst thing is that you don't
(40:41):
use the knowledge that you have to serve
the collective good and to ensure that nobody
is harmed.
This includes the animals as well.
You know, they have the best cell phones,
the best selfies that they take, all kinds
of incredible things.
Right.
And they've been to the moon recently, just
last year.
So there are scientists and technology is so
(41:02):
highly evolving drastically in India.
And it's about time, you know, that they
embraced the culture and there's this merging of
culture and technology that can bring forth harmony,
compassion, love, and peace of mind for people
and for the elephants.
(41:24):
And get rid of the horror of elephants
in captivity.
Never take an elephant ride.
Never, ever, ever.
And let's talk about one other thing that
you're doing that is really fascinating.
Again, another high-tech solution to a big
problem in India.
(41:44):
And that is many, many elephants are killed
by trains because they're traversing and the trains
are coming at them.
You've created this high-tech EleSense elephant alerting
system.
Tell us about that.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
And it's an AI-based technology.
And I can tell you that between January
(42:06):
2023 and December of 2024, we have averted
1139 train collisions with elephants.
And in West Bengal, there's been absolutely no
train collision deaths of elephants since we have
installed, especially in this particular region.
(42:27):
So we are now in the process of
expanding it in the Chapramati Wildlife Sanctuary because
the sad reality is India is the most
densely populated country on the planet with 19
% of the world's human population in India.
And so space is a very sacred commodity
(42:48):
and the competition for space is rampant between
people and animals, two dominant species.
And so humans are encroaching into the wild
habitat and they're building train tracks, roadways and
railways and all kinds of structures inside the
wildlife sanctuary, which is the home of these
(43:10):
elephants.
Electrical wires cutting through the forest and they
sometimes drop down because of thunderstorm, rainfall and
everything.
And so many elephants are getting killed.
So we decided, no, we've got to implement
some high tech technology here.
So this is again, artificial intelligence-based technology
grounded in four components.
(43:32):
Number one is that this alert system can
detect the temperature, the height, the pattern and
the movement.
These are the four components that this EleSense
can detect.
As soon as it detects it, that's what
it does.
It sends out that message saying, oh, elephant
movement has been tracked.
And that message is dispersed to everybody, including
(43:55):
our team, the railway department, the forest department
and the tea plantation owners and all of
the relevant stakeholders.
So when the railway department gets this information,
what they then do is they send a
walkie talkie message to the train pilots and
the train pilot then slows down and allows
(44:17):
these elephants to cross over.
We have so many camera trap images that
I'll share with you soon that we have
captured recently of elephants crossing over the train
tracks and the train halted in a distance.
And it's just really heartwarming to see that
we are harnessing technology to see these tangible
(44:39):
outcomes and thus save elephants.
Hundreds of elephants get killed on the train
tracks every single year.
These are like completely senseless tragedies that can
be totally avoided.
And so, yeah, it's really heartwarming to see
the results.
1,139 train collisions with elephants have been
(45:02):
averted since January 2024 and sorry, January 2023
and December 2024.
Absolutely amazing what you're doing for elephants in
India.
I would like to see it expanded globally
to other animals in other parts of the
(45:24):
world.
I know you're also doing something to stop
elephants from falling into water wells, which happens
and you're building like basically a block around
the well so that the elephants can't fall
in.
And the same thing is happening to donkeys
in another part of the world.
(45:44):
I saw it online and I was going
to contact you.
I mean, all your incredible practical ideas need
to spread around the world to other species.
But getting back to elephants, you know, sometimes
people say, well, you're attacking a culture.
No, there's plenty of cruelty directed at elephants
(46:05):
and other animals right here in the United
States.
Let's take a look at the world famous
singer actress Cher and what she had to
say about one particular elephant.
Billy the elephant has been at the LA
Zoo for 33 years.
(46:27):
He lives in constant pain and anguish.
It was seeing Billy suffer that made me
want to help him.
The LA Zoo claims that they're taking good
care of Billy and the other elephants, but
the truth reveals a very dark and different
reality.
(46:48):
We invite the LA Zoo on anytime to
comment on what Cher and other critics have
said.
And I actually contacted an attorney who's been
involved in litigation attempts, unsuccessful thus far, to
get Billy out and said, hey, have you
heard about these robotic elephants?
And he has said that he has offered
(47:08):
the robotic elephant concept to zoos here, there
and everywhere and has not heard a positive
response.
So, you know, that's sad because that would
be a solution to elephants trapped in zoos
as well, Sangeeta.
Absolutely.
And that, I mean, it's, they can even
use the robotic elephant for elephant back rides.
(47:30):
I mean, which child would not want to
climb up this robotic elephant and touch the
year and see the eye movement?
It can be used for elephant back rides
in Thailand, which is where it is rampant.
And even in India, you know, and they
can actually get these people to sit on
their, on the elephant back if that's all
they want, because this is a life size
(47:52):
elephant.
The elephant that we gave was like 10
feet tall.
He's 10 feet tall, this guy, you know,
and so it's, it can be used as
an alternative in every situation, including the zoos,
including circuses, even.
Oh, can I tell you, they in Spain,
they have actually replaced live elephants with the
(48:15):
robotic elephants designed by the same designer who
made our elephant.
And he, he actually created three solid elephants
for the Spanish circus in Spain and his
elephants are displayed at the airports in Bangalore
airport in Dubai, in all of these Middle
(48:36):
Eastern places where there are so many people
from Kerala that live there.
It's just becoming really a global phenomenon and
it's, it's, yeah, it's really, really, it's really
good to see positive changes.
It's just not fast enough for all of
us.
Of course not.
We'd like to see it all end, but
(48:56):
you know, sometimes we have to have patience.
I say that to myself when I start
new projects and I want payoff immediately.
I want to see animals saved like yesterday
when I start a project.
And then I have to remember, Jane, you
have to learn patience.
You can't just expect it to be an
(49:17):
event.
It's a process and it's starting.
The process is the most important part.
You have, how many of these elephants do
you now have?
So this is only our second one.
And this year we are planning to give
away three more in October.
So that we are just trying to enhance
because we need money, right?
(49:38):
For everything.
We are a small organisation and without the
money, we cannot provide this.
And so all of those people who came
up with those brilliant ideas to donate money,
I am more than happy to meet with
them on a Zoom call.
We can all get together on a Zoom
call.
And if you have any questions, I would
be more than happy to answer, you know,
(50:00):
and I can even share with you some
of the intricacies in terms of how the
temples operate, what is going on, why is
change so difficult?
So this way your questions will be answered
one-on-one.
I'm more than happy to do that.
Just send us an email to support at
vfaes.org.
(50:22):
And you can even contact Jane directly, whatever
you want.
I mean, Jane is the one who launched
all of this for us.
So if she wants to take the lead,
by all means, go for it.
I just, I interview a lot of groups
and I, what I love about your organisation
is that it's practical solutions for specific problems.
(50:43):
And so you're drilling down on very specific
things.
We only have a couple of minutes.
Tell us very briefly about your wildlife corridors.
Wow.
I'm so excited to share with you about
the wildlife corridors.
So let me explain to you quickly what
corridors are.
Forests are being broken up into tiny patches,
(51:03):
because as I said, railways are cutting through
the forest, roadways are cutting through the forest.
So these forests are being broken up into
forest patches and even homes and settlements and
everything.
So what we are doing is we are
purchasing plots of land, which we just donated
another, like a four acre plot of land
to the Kerala forest department just in 2024,
(51:26):
March, which has now been officially transferred to
the forest department.
And this corridor, even though it seems like
only four acres, it's a significant corridor for
elephant movement.
So they can come from this patch to
this patch, but they can move peacefully because
there are no obstacles on their way.
(51:47):
And so there are 340 plus elephants living
in that area where we bought the four
acre plot of land.
And we're going to continue to expand that
project in Odisha.
And I'll have something to share with Jane
sometime in the future.
I cannot share much more than that right
now, but it's so exciting.
And these patches of land, we are not
(52:08):
only purchasing, but we're also rewilding.
We are planting saplings and creating water holes
in Odisha on the forest lands, elephant-friendly
saplings like jackfruit, mangoes, and whatever things that
elephants love.
Everything elephant, right?
We plant those things and we have the
tribal people.
We employ 200 tribal people in order to
(52:31):
take care of these plantations, water them, nurture
them, et cetera.
And so when these plantations come to maturity,
then elephants will have regular fruits and regular,
you know, these are fruit yielding trees.
And so we are doing that.
We're employing people.
People are happy.
And now they're more into conservation.
They're like, Ooh, if we protect elephants, guess
(52:53):
what?
We're also going to get paid.
So that's the kind of approach we are
taking rather than vilify them.
We are trying to partner with them, bring
them together.
And collectively we are, we are making a
difference.
And I'm really excited about returning to India
on March the 21st.
And I will share something with you via
(53:14):
WhatsApp and you can share it with your
public.
Wow.
You are doing so much.
I am so impressed.
And it also, you know, it inspires me
because you're hitting the finish line.
You're getting something done.
Like it's not just a proposal.
These robotic elephants are going into the temples.
You are putting these high-tech elephant warning
(53:37):
signals on the train track, saving elephant lives.
You are creating these moats that prevent elephants
from falling into the wells and you are
creating these wildlife corridors.
So it's a win, win, win, win.
And I just want to tell everybody support
Voices for Asian Elephant Society.
And it's come back because you always have
(53:59):
great, great information.
There it is, vfaes.org forward slash donate.
While we're doing asks, I want to tell
you, please support Unchain TV.
We are the world's only free vegan nonprofit
streaming network with 2000 videos.
You can download it on your phone for
(54:20):
free, on your TV, go to Unchain TV
online.
And you know, we're doing something unique, but
we do need you to download it for
free and get involved.
This episode is brought to you by Unchain
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Unchain TV is a nonprofit organisation producing plant
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(54:42):
spice up those healthy veggies, grains, and legumes.
For more information on Unchain TV productions, just
visit unchainedtv.com.
That's unchainedtv.com.
So it's a vegan Netflix.
Okay.
That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
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Your life will change.
(55:04):
It's just that easy.
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