Appu, the elephant who refused to kneel

Press, 27 November 1982, Page 15

Appu, the elephant who refused to kneel

From

SHYAM BHATIA

in New Delhi

A baby elephant called Appu has stirred the conscience of Indian animal lovers and led to calls for a fresh look at the country’s animal cruelty laws. Appu, a ’ 13-month-old female, was captured in the wilds of India’s North-East Frontier, bundled into a lorry, and sent to the capital, New Delhi. A local circus company, Apollo, was instructed to train her as a mascot for the Asian Games which begin today (New Zealand time). Last month, after several critical reports in the Indian Press, a spokesman for the Asian Games organising committee denied all plans for training a live elephant mascot. “We never had Appu in our programme." he said. Apollo replied in outraged disbelief: “Why should they do this to us?" The story of Appu is linked to the Indian Government’s plans for staging a huge Asian Games spectacular, the grandest ever, in New Delhi. The organising committee thought the games would get off to a good start if an elephant could be taught to kneel before the chief guest, President Zail Singh, then rise and place a garland of marigolds around his neck. Appu refused to co-oper-ate. She obstinately refused to kneel and had to be persuaded to do so with cranes and pulleys. Phase one of the training was successful, but phase two, as one eye-witness said, turned out to be a “chancy operation.” Apollo circus trainers could not persuade the elephant to place a garland of flowers around the neck of the man in front of her. In one training exercise she threw the garland into the air. In another the exasperated animal refused to pick up. her garland and instead playfully butted her trainer on the side of his head. Horrified officials had nightmare visions of Appu approaching the Indian President on the opening day of the games and knocking his turban flying instead of garlanding him. Reluctantly, and with only a few weeks to go before the games, Appu’s trainers were told that their services were no longer required. The circus owners, whose prestige was at stake, reacted by contacting the local

press. Lurid stories followed of how Appu was dragged off screaming from her mother’s side. One-account even had a herd of angry elephants chasing the lorry in which Appu was taken away. Reaction to Appu’s plight has been overwhelming. One 10-year-old girl wrote to the “Times of India” and offered to give her pocket money towards the cost of re-unit-ing the baby elephant with her mother. More recently, there have been murmurs about the need to respect religious symbols. Elephants, unlike cows, are not religious objects in India, but there is a Hindu god called Ganesh who bears an elephant’s head and roams the universe on the back of a mouse. The “Statesman" newspaper commented in an emotionally charged editorial: “The situation has changed from the disgraceful to the ridiculous. Perhaps the official who thought it a smart idea to make a baby elephant stand on its head to thrill the crowds did not know that though animals can be taught to perform tricks, only with extreme cruelty can they be forced to perform such unnatural acts." Stung by the attacks, the Indian Minister for Sports, Buta Singh, told reporters: “Why do you attach so much importance to Appu? If you give me the same amount of publicity I am ready to dance, prance, and even stand on my head and do all the acrobatics you expect from Appu." The saga of Appu, and of elephant mascots for the games, has not ended. The organising committee still wants elephants to be present. Thirty-four "have now been selected to stand outside the gates of the Nehru Stadium where the sacred -flame will be lit. These animals are docile temple elephants from south India. Last week, a train carrying the animals and their fodder, 100 tons of palm leaves, steamed into New Delhi’s Tughlaqabad railway station. The elephants were led into a nearby park where they rested until the games began. Sadly, some were on heat and had to be kept drugged and chained. The filial elephant line-up for the Asian Games remained incomplete. Copyright—London Observer Service.