In India, a temple elephant was replaced with a mechanical one (5 photos)

Pity the elephants. People often complain that elephants seem tired and tortured at various festivals and celebrations in India. And now the complaints have been listened to - a temple in southern India has presented a realistic robotic elephant for use in rituals.





This is a mechanical elephant. Realistic, right?

All in order to prevent cruelty to animals.

A mechanical elephant has been donated by animal rights group PETA to the Purnamikavu Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The 10-foot, 1,800-pound mechanical elephant named Baladasan can move its ears and tail! It was donated in recognition of the temple's commitment to never own or hire live elephants for its festivities. It will be used to conduct temple ceremonies in a safe and cruelty-free manner.



No, it looks pretty impressive from the front

Elephants are widely used in Kerala for religious and other purposes. And yet it is so common that cases of elephant escapes also happen every year in Kerala, if not someone gets trampled by an elephant.





Appreciate the paint and texture, even the creases and wear marks

According to the reports of the Heritage Task Force, 526 people have been killed by elephants used for Pooram and other religious purposes in the last 15 years. So to remedy the situation, the temple has introduced this mechanical elephant, which is the third mechanical elephant in Kerala.



Children can pet without fear

Kerala laws require elephants to rest for at least 12 hours after a five-hour parade and five hours after a journey. But elephants often suffer in captivity due to harsh training and poor living conditions.

There have been cases in the past of elephants used for temple ceremonies getting out of control, damaging property and injuring or killing people. But a mechanical elephant will behave very obediently and will not run away. Well, until the robots rebel. In the meantime, we use it.



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