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The book hopes to highlight the conditions of captive elephants, as they are currently used and kept in India. Initially started as an informal documentation, Gods in Chains later expanded to become a ‘handbook of sorts’, for anyone wanting to know more of the reality behind the veil of glamour and majesty of the captive pachyderm, especially in temple rituals and festival processions. The often troubled and complex relationship with their only companion, the ‘mahout’, is also a story of pathos and heartbreak for a deeply social and community-minded animal.
Key features
* This book hopes to open a chapter in the process of devising and implementing better management and welfare practices for captive elephants.
* It is an easy guide for students, policymakers, animal welfarists, beaurocrats and every individual who would like to make a difference in the lives of these great wild creatures, with whom humans have forged a deep and abiding relationship.
* This book was commissioned by the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (WRRC) and Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) in an attempt to encapsulate the ‘living and training conditions of captive elephants’. It offers an insight into the inherent problems of the existing system. The WRRC is an Indian wildlife conservation group and CUPA is an animal welfare charity, both located in Bangalore, Karnataka.
* The book has given various practical recommendations that need to be strictly implemented by all the agencies if this goal is to be achieved. The WRRC’s dream would be to assist the Government in the formation of an elephant sanctuary someday, where these magnificent animals could roam in protected areas set aside for them.
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Pages : 239
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