Press Release: March 8, 1999

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“Loki” the Indian Elephant: Update on Situation

Following the appeal to the Indian Government initiated by Deanna Krantz, Director of India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN), that included letters from Congressman Sam Farr and several animal protection and conservation organizations, there has been no official response yet other than to say that the matter of the elephant will be immediately investigated. The investigation was initiated swiftly. Minister Maneka Gandhi sent Mr. Dilipsingh to evaluate the elephant’s condition. He is said to be the Director of Animal Welfare with the Central Government as well as a joint secretary.

The official findings will probably conclude that Loki is doing well….. “Even if he’s still in chains, after all, he’s killed so many people….. and how could he have been so abused as alleged, because he’s so tame. He’ll eat out of your hand…..”

On March 5th, Mr. Dilipsingh telephoned Ms. Krantz promising to see her first and then to go with her to see the elephant and that, yes, her staff could take proper food and medicines that might be needed. She waited all day on March 6th but Mr. Dilipsingh never came until that evening.

Early that evening a crowd of reporters arrived with Mr. Dilipsingh at her Animal Refuge to interview her. They had been taken by Mr. Dilipsingh to the Elephant Camp with the Wildlife Warden, Mr. Udaiam, officiating. The press had been allowed for the first time to film the animal and to feed him. An impressive show had been put on to convince the reporters that the shackled elephant was so tame that he could be fed by hand and that all was well. But “Loki” is not tame. He is broken in body and spirit and will spend the rest of his life in chains if the officials refuse IPAN’s offer, backed by local citizens and international animal welfare organizations, to provide him with the sanctuary of a large enclosure.

The main question Mr. Singh asked IPAN’s Director Deanna Krantz was “Why would the Forest Department be cruel?” After a second meeting with Ms. Krantz and the Conservator of Forests on March 7th, he promised to telephone her that evening with a definite agreement, to the effect that IPAN would be permitted to care for the elephant. But he never called.

At this second meeting the Conservator did not recall a telephone call from the State Minister of Forests a week earlier, with Ms. Krantz present in the Minister’s office, giving oral consent for IPAN to feed the elephant and provide whatever veterinary treatment was necessary. Yet there was a second witness (Mr. Nigel Otter) to confront the Conservator’s memory lapse.

Deanna Krantz is being used as a smoke-screen by the authorities. They blame her for making a lot of trouble, shifting the focus away from the plight and future of Loki, the elephant. But there are uncounted numbers of Indian citizens, from jungle tribals and city journalists, to schoolchildren and college students, who are with her all the way. If India is truly a democracy, these voices will not be silenced and Loki will be saved and given sanctuary rather than leading a life in chains.

Recent studies of virus infections in captive elephants in the U.S. have lead experts to consider that elephants can die of sadness. IPAN staff know this Makhna intimately after 4 months of life-saving care, and he knows and trusts them. Without proper physical and psychological care, he will continue to suffer and probably die.

IPAN still hopes that the authorities responsible for Loki’s fate will open their hearts to the rising voice of public concern from within India and around the world. There is nothing to hide and there is no shame or blame where there is compassionate action and humane concern.

BACKGROUND:

A wild elephant, severely injured while being captured by the Tamil Nadu State Forest Department in July, 1998, is now in chains. He was kept for 7 months in a log crate in which he could neither walk nor lie down. The chains are opening up old wounds and he is being starved. Some of the experienced staff at the Mudumalai Elephant Camp, where the elephant is being held by the Forest Department, believe he will soon die.

Deanna Krantz, Director of India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN), a division of Global Communications for Conservation, Inc., New York, and her staff, saved this animal’s life during 4 months of intensive care while he was incarcerated. She has film documenting the capture and mistreatment of this animal, being gored repeatedly by trained tuskers while drugged, cut down to the tendons on all 4 legs by heavy chains, almost dying from massive infection, being re-infected by incompetent veterinarians, and being beaten on his wounds to make him “sleep” (go down in submission). “As a veterinarian with a doctoral degree in animal behavior, the standard “training” of elephants is ethically unacceptable to the sensibilities of normal people”, says IPAN Chief Consultant, Dr. Michael W. Fox.

Ms. Krantz has appealed to all local authorities, offering to provide food and veterinary care once again, and also to build a large enclosure so that he can move freely without being in chains. But she is being ignored and blamed for causing trouble. “Loki”, as she calls this 40 year-old Makhna (tuskless male), needs to be moved away from the Elephant Camp where he was incarcerated for so long, routinely beaten, and where he will be in perpetual fear. The ideal location is near the State Elephant Camp at IPAN’s Animal Refuge, under the supervision of IPAN Field Manager, Nigel Otter, with whom Loki has bonded.