Animal

Elephant cries in pain as man repeatedly flogs its head


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Shocking footage has emerged showing an elephant crying in pain as a man repeatedly flogs its head.

The young male elephant is filmed being straddled by a man in a murky river.

It appears they are trying to give him a wash, but the cruel beating begins when the man is passed a large stick.

The man starts whipping his head and the whimpering elephant keels over into the water.

The elephant thrashes about in the river but the man continues to beat his head.

The elephant’s head is whipped until it keels over

Maneesha Arachchige, an activist from Rally for Animal Rights and Environment [RARE], has claimed the elephant’s name is Vishwa and he belongs to a Buddhist temple called Sasanawardena Pirivena in Mirigama, south of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

She said the root cause for elephants suffering in Sri Lanka are Buddhist parades called peraheras.

The controversial parades use dozens of elephants at a time, dressing them up in colourful costumes and forcing them to march for miles night after night.

Maneesha told Metro.co.uk: ‘Cruelty and Torture is part of the captive elephant industry in Sri Lanka. If there were no peraheras then there will be no demand for captive elephants in Sri Lanka.

‘If we want to see an end to the tears cries and pain suffered by captive elephants then we have to implement bans on using captive elephants in peraheras.’

Vishwa was tied to a tree for two weeks as part of a Buddhist ritual
Vishwa the elephant with his Buddhist keepers

A monk who works at the temple has posted several videos and pictures of Vishwa on Facebook.

In one video, the monk says was Vishwa was tied to a tree for two weeks as part of a Buddhist ritual.

Catching wild elephants is illegal in Sri Lanka, but it’s suspected many elephants that end up in Buddhist temples are stolen by poachers who kill their mothers.

This latest disturbing video follows an outcry surrounding another elephant called Myan Prince.

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The keeper appears to whip the elephant whose legs are tied to trees (Picture: RARE)
A keeper appears to pose for a photo on top of the chained elephant (Picture: RARE)

Earlier this month, outraged activists posted several videos of the 15-year-old male elephant in distress at the Bellanwila Temple, just south of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

He was filmed lying helplessly on its side as his keeper shouts and whips him, and in another he is heard wailing in pain as he flaps about a pool.

One of his keepers was also pictured posing on the elephant’s back to apparently taunt the activists protesting at the temple.

Elephants are considered sacred animals in Sri Lanka, and often become pets at Buddhist temples, which use them in annual pageants.

In August last year, Metro.co.uk revealed the tragic plight of Tikiri, a 70-year-old elephant from a different temple, who was forced to parade through the streets at a Buddhist festival.

Tikiri’s emaciated body was exposed by activists (Picture: Lek Chailert)
Tikiri’s starved body and leg shackles were hidden by a colourful costume during the perahera festival (Picture: Lek Chailert)

Tikiri’s story outraged animal rights groups all over the world after it emerged her emaciated body was being hidden by a colourful costume.

More disturbing photos showed her collapsed on the ground after the annual Esala Perahera, a Buddhist festival in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

A spokesperson for the Sacred Tooth Relic, a Buddhist temple that hosted the festival, said Tikiri was not as ‘feeble and unfit’ as the pictures suggested, claiming she suffered from a ‘digestive ailment’ that allegedly prevented her from ‘putting on weight’.

She was returned to her keeper following an outcry by activists, but the ordeal had taken too much of a toll on her health, and she died in September.





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