PETA AU Global Issue 4 2020

The Stories of Nosey, Gajraj, and Sunder Winning Their Freedom!

Nosey in chains

Angel: © iStock.com/Bulat Silvia • Torn paper: © iStock.com/yasinguneysu

Have Your Holiday Gift Change a Life

Nosey exploring her new home

PETA had only hours to act. Nosey, an elephant whose suffering it had been documenting for years, had just been confiscated by Alabama authorities! A humane officer had found her marooned in her own manure, swaying neurotically in a cramped trailer. PETA’s chief lawyer on the case postponed her anniversary dinner and sped to the airport, not even stopping to pack a bag. The Long Road to Rescue For over a decade, PETA had done everything possible to win Nosey’s freedom from circus operator Hugo Liebel, holding protests, meeting with members of Congress and state regulators to plead Nosey’s case, urging authorities to bar her appearances, and persuading venues not to host performances involving the arthritic, ailing elephant. PETA filed dozens of complaints with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which cited Liebel for nearly 200 federal Animal Welfare Act violations – but still rubberstamped his exhibitor’s license. Gajraj dustbath: © Wildlife SOS | WildlifeSOS.org • Sunder and Lakshmi: © Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan • Nosey free: © The Elephant Sanctuary | Elephants.com • Elephant trunk: © iStock.com/primeimages Perseverance Pays Nosey’s pitiful condition finally persuaded a Lawrence

Scores of donkeys are forced to carry tourists up and down 900 steps all day in the “Lost City” of Petra. Buzz was starving and covered with wounds from being beaten and shocked with a

County, Alabama, animal control officer to ask a judge to have her seized. She was transported to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. On the day of reckoning, Nosey’s supporters waited with bated breath, but Lawrence County District Court Judge Angela Terry ruled that the elephant would not spend the rest of her life in abject servitude. PETA supported Lawrence County attorneys every step of the way, providing mountains of evidence as well as elephant experts to testify in court as Liebel fought tooth and nail to get his meal ticket back. Today, Nosey is thriving. She wades in a pond, roams the forest, tosses branches around, and runs back and forth through an elephant-size “doggie door” to her barn. Indian Deities in Name Only Meanwhile, PETA India was hard at work securing rescue for two more desperately sad and lonely elephants. Gajraj was only 12 when he was torn away from his family and given to a local rani (queen) as a wedding gift. He spent 50 years in solitary confinement, usually chained by all four legs, suffering from abscesses and grotesquely swollen joints. PETA

India sent veterinarians to treat him, but despite their pleas, the rani refused to free him.

court – and won! But on the day of his move, people rioted, tried to stop the transport truck, and threatened PETA India staff. However, his rescuers did not falter, even when angry men on motorbikes gave chase. From Beatings to Blessings Now, Sunder is safe at the 122-acre (49-hectare) Bannerghatta Biological Park, where he delights in foraging in the woods, swimming in ponds, and hanging out with his best friend, Lakshmi. He recently made news again when he was observed cleverly using twigs to scratch his ears and clean his teeth. Finally, he can enjoy the blessings he’s always deserved.

PETA India and its affiliates publicized Gajraj’s plight, telling his story in the UK’s The Sun . More than 200,000 supporters signed a petition demanding his release, and the Forest Department finally impounded him. In 2017, he was unchained and sent to the Wildlife SOS sanctuary! There, he spent the rest of his life, happy, roaming free, and relishing the company of other elephants and kind caretakers before passing away in his sleep last summer. Rioters Jeopardize Sunder’s Escape Sunder was chained inside a temple to collect money from villagers in exchange for “blessings” – a cursed existence. An undercover video showed his handler beating him as he lay on the ground, and his body bore the horrifying evidence – including a massive leg wound and a hole in his ear. Hundreds of thousands of people saw the video, including Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney, and demanded his release. PETA India took the footage to

Taser. His stomach was full of plastic garbage, which he had eaten in desperation. But now, he’s safe and healing, thanks to expert care from veterinarians at PETA Asia’s clinic.

For over a decade, PETA had done Courtesy of The Elephant Sanctuary

Take Action Now Please visit PETA.org/UniverSoul to urge UniverSoul Circus, one of the few US circuses

still exploiting wild animals, to go 100% human. At PETA.org/AmberFort , please ask India’s minister of tourism to end elephant rides, for which elephants are chained and beaten. You can also support PETA’s work for elephants by making a donation today at PETA.org.au/Donate .

everything possible to win Nosey’s

PETA-supported Animal Rahat is also helping donkeys who are forced to haul backbreaking loads of bricks and sand in India.

Please visit PETA.org/HelpDonkeys to help provide these animals with food, medicine, and other care: Just $65 can provide food and care for a rescued donkey for a month.

freedom from hard-hearted circus operator Hugo Liebel.

In the US, countless dogs are kept chained or stuck in backyard pens, where they spend the winter shivering and curling up into balls in an attempt not to freeze.

Sunder relishes elephant companionship at last.

Gajraj taking a dustbath

F

O

R

R

E

G

V

E

E

T

N

T

If the law doesn’t allow them to be confiscated, PETA

O

I

Sunder bore scars from repeated beatings.

Gajraj spent 50 years in solitary confinement.

H

GAJRAJ AFTER

provides them with veterinary care, food, fresh water, toys, love, and a sturdy, wooden, straw-filled doghouse. Won’t you be an angel for a cold, lonely dog? For $265, you can sponsor a doghouse at PETA.org/Doghouse .

E

L

P

A

N

I M

S

Global 7

L

A

6

KIND OF A BIG DEAL