World Animal Day: Demand Change, Make Choices that Stop Animal Suffering, and Move the World to Protect Animals

On the occasion of World Animal Day, more than one hundred children of Cambridge School, Srinivaspuri have written to the Prime Minister of India to end cruel elephant rides in Jaipur in Amer Fort. These children support the campaign of World Animal Protection that has been going on for more than a decade to stop cruelty to elephant rides in Amer Fort in Jaipur. The children of Cambridge School, Srinivaspuri, have learnt, through the initiative of their school, their teachers and above all, themselves, came to the realization that elephants are wild creatures who should be cherished in the wild, where they belong, and not exploited in inimical surroundings in places like Amer Fort.

‘Elephant in Amer Fort’, photograph : Shubhobroto Ghosh

“We are extremely pleased that children, the voices and representatives of India’s future, have taken the bold step of writing to the country’s most powerful decision maker,” says Gajender Kumar Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection in India. “Children are the stewards of India’s biological diversity and it is so encouraging to see them taking this initiative to implore the Prime Minister of India to honour India’s National Heritage Animal.”

World Animal Protection is currently celebrating seventy five years of the founding of the organization. Over the years, the organization has helped animals in a diverse range of situations from rescuing animals in disasters, wildlife in entertainment, examination of the zoo establishment, sterilization and vaccination of street dogs, exposing inhumane and unhygienic conditions in factory farms and encouraging stakeholders, government and non government to adopt animal friendly policies.

Jaipur as a UNESCO World Heritage City offers tourists a whole range of opportunities to immerse themselves in history and culture, without harming animals. In fact the presence of captive elephants in Amer Fort is not in consonance with the dignity of the historical heritage of the pink city. There are some positive signs of creating a large elephant sanctuary in Kerala, and this model might be replicated for Rajasthan.

World Animal Protection has engaged with teachers and students of Cambridge School in Srinivaspuri and other schools to sensitise them to the needs of wildlife in entertainment and the plight of animals in food systems. World Animal Protection encourages food choices that take us away from meat based diets to plant based diets that are helpful for animals, human health and the environment. World Animal Protection also persistently highlights the risk of zoonotic diseases that can be an offshoot of wildlife exploitation in captivity and intensive factory farming. In this regard, World Animal Protection pays tribute to Jane Goodall for her stalwart efforts to protect animals all her life and mourns her death.

World Animal Day comes close on the heels of Gandhi Jayanti, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation who covered animals very deeply within his ambit of compassion. World Animal Protection has written to government and non government stakeholders to retire the riding elephants of Amer Fort in Jaipur to a suitable wildlife friendly sanctuary where they can be rehabilitated for the rest of their lives. “We are hopeful that the Prime Minister will heed the heartfelt pleas of the children who want elephants to live free and wild animals to live free on the occasion of this World Animal Day, in 2025,” says Gajender Kumar Sharma, Country Director, World Animal Protection in India.