Raju, an aged elephant, is estimated to have been sold at least 27 times, moving from owner to owner. After 50 years of living in humiliation, misery, and starvation, he cried tears of relief and joy when he was finally freed in an incredible rescue operation in the summer of 2014.
Raju was believed to have been captured as a baby and held in chains, beaten and abused for 50 long years, changing hands 27 times during his life, each owner extracting the maximum out of this poor mute-and-timid giant. He was starved, abused, and kept tied up with spiked chains that bore into his flesh.
Every day, the majestic animal was forced to hold out his trunk to beg for coins and food from tourists. The poor giant was found bleeding from spiked shackles and living on handouts from passing tourists and survived eating plastic and paper.
Pooja Binepal, the U.K. spokesman for Wildlife SOS, said: “He hasn’t been fed properly and tourists started giving him sweet food items and because he was in a state of hunger and exhaustion he began eating plastic and paper.”
Wildlife SOS was alerted about Raju’s plight by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in India. It took an entire year before Raju could be freed. Since Raju’s owner did not have supporting legal documents for his possession, it became possible for the charity to go ahead and rescue him from his plight.
To save Raju, a daring midnight operation was launched in July 2014 by a 10-strong team of vets and wildlife experts from the charity; they were additionally joined by 20 forestry department officers and six policemen.
The operation, which significantly coincided with the American Independence Day, was conducted under the cover of darkness so that few people would get in the way. It would also protect the animal from the heat of the sun.
However, even on the fateful evening when the mercy mission began, Raju’s owner tried to prevent his rescue.
“He began to shout commands to terrify Raju—and try to provoke him,” Satyanarayan said. “It created an incredibly dangerous situation as a bull elephant could snap a human like a tooth pick if he becomes afraid or angry.”
“When that failed he then put a series of chains around his legs in an attempt to prevent us removing him, so viciously tight that were cutting into his legs.”
As the team was working hard to rescue Raju, they were astounded to see tears rolling down the mammal’s face.
“It was so incredibly emotional for all of us. We knew in our hearts he realized he was being freed,“ Satyanarayan said. ”Elephants are not only majestic, but they are highly intelligent animals, who have been proven to have feelings of grief, so we can only imagine what torture half a century has been like for him.”
Every step likely caused Raju searing agony due to the shackles around his legs, but the animal calmly complied and walked 200 yards to the transportation truck. “It was as if he knew we wanted to help him,” Satyanarayan said.
Once Raju was loaded and given additional sedation, a convoy then escorted the five-and-a-half tonne elephant 350 miles on the back of an open-top lorry to the charity’s Elephant Conservation and Care Center at Mathura.
“Incredibly he stepped out of his truck and took his first step to freedom at one minute past midnight on July 4, 2014, which felt so extraordinarily fitting,” Satyanarayan said.
When the rescuers got Raju to safety, they fed him food and water before the charity’s vet, Dr. Yaduraj Khadpekar, cut the shackles off him. “We all had tears in our eyes as the last rope which held the final spike was cut and Raju took his first steps of freedom,” said Satyanarayan.
Though the rescuers were tired, they were elated as Raju was finally freed from all the unimaginable abuse and suffering. The mammal tasted “freedom for the first time in his life.”
After rehabilitation, Raju is living a happy retirement life at the Elephant Conservation and Care Center in Churmura. He’s being pampered, having his own large enclosure, access to a pool, food, and medical attention.
To celebrate Raju’s fifth year at the conservation, the elephant was given his own healthy cake made out of cooked pulses, fruit, and vegetables, to savor every bite!
