An elephant named Gouri (“ride no 86”), who severely injured a male shopkeeper in Amer in October 2022, attacked a female Russian tourist on 13 February in the main courtyard of Amer.
PETA India has demanded for Gouri’s rehabilitation and for all elephant rides to be replaced immediately with eco-friendly motorised vehicles, as was recommended in a report of the committee constituted by the Project Elephant division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, per an order of the Supreme Court of India.
PETA has written a letter to Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Tourism, Art and Culture, Diya Kumari regarding this.
In the latest attack, recorded on CCTV at Amer Fort, Gouri can be seen grabbing the Russian tourist in her trunk, swinging her vigorously, and then slamming her to the ground, breaking her leg. The mahout can also be seen falling off the elephant’s back. In October, Gouri attacked a shopkeeper, resulting in his being hospitalised with broken ribs and other broken bones.
“Elephants used for rides are controlled through pain and fear and chained when not in use, so the frustration of being treated so cruelly can and does cause some of these sensitive animals to run amok or lash out,” said PETA India Director of Advocacy Projects Khushboo Gupta. “Despite being a known danger, Gouri continued to be used to carry tourists at Amer Fort. PETA India calls on Rajasthan authorities to send her to a sanctuary and replace the use of elephants with decorated electric cars.”
The press release of PETA said that for 16 months, PETA India has been appealing to Rajasthan’s Archaeology and Museums Department to stop using Gouri for rides and send her to a sanctuary, where she could begin to recover from the mental trauma of a lifetime of enslavement. According to a 2018 Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) report, Gouri is kept in Rajasthan illegally, without an ownership certificate.
