On Saturday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reportedly filed a petition in the Madras High Court in a bid to take away Lakshmi the Elephant from her home at Manakula Vinayagar Temple in Puducherry. The development comes two weeks after the elephant was returned back to the temple, following the intervention by Chief Minister of Puducherry, V. Narayanasami.
https://twitter.com/ShefVaidya/status/1289804770710966277?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwA Twitter user named Murali informed that Puducherry Forest Department is trying to enforce the Tamil Nadu Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules 2011 to seek custody of Lakshmi the Elephant. In a video shared on Twitter, he informed that the temple elephant was happy and slept peacefully in the temple, following her return to her home in the temple after 40 days.
https://twitter.com/rawincare1/status/1289836995724767232?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIndu Makkal Katachi informed that a case has been filed by PETA to take the Lakshmi the Elephant away from the Hindus. “We are warning PETA India it won’t be an online protest this time. We Devotees will go to any extent for our Lakshmi to be in our Temple,” the organisation said in a tweet.
https://twitter.com/Indumakalktchi/status/1289601617960898560?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwPETA patronises on ‘animal cruelty’
On Sunday morning, PETA had tweeted not to torture or chain animals for recreational activities. The ‘animal rights’ organisation uploaded a picture of an elephant, accompanied by an overlay text that read, “Not Ours to Abuse.” In its tweet, PETA wrote, “Elephants are social animals who love to be with their families in the wild. Not on concrete floors, confined and chained to be tortured for rides and circuses.” Despite its overemphasis on animal cruelty, PETA India has spuriously talked about encouraging ‘kindness in animals’ amongst Muslims by sharing guidelines on how to slaughter them ‘kindly’.
https://twitter.com/PetaIndia/status/1289750265088880642?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwPETA conspired to take Lakshmi away but failed
Lakshmi the Elephant was taken away from her home after PETA and the Animal Welfare Board intervened in the matter and accused the Temple of violating the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. BJP leader Maneka Gandhi, too, was involved in the whole affair and she requested Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi and Directorate of Forests and Wildlife to remove the elephant from the temple and shift her to a ‘safer’ location. At the time, Lakshmi the Elephant was forcibly removed from the Temple and shifted to the Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Kurumamber, where her health was reported to have deteriorated.
On July 18, the official Twitter account of Indu Makkal Katchi informed that Lakshmi the Elephant had returned to her home in Manakula Vinayagar Temple. Earlier, Chief Minister of Puducherry, V. Narayanasami, had directed the forest department to return Lakshmi back to her home at the Manakula Vinayagar Temple in the Union Territory. The development was confirmed by the IT cell of the Congress party on social media.