Raju the crying elephant is facing an uncertain future.
The pachyderm made headlines in July when he supposedly shed a tear upon being freed onto a conservation center in India following 50 brutal years of captivity.
But his rescuers, who carried out a daring nighttime raid to save the emaciated and dehydrated creature, now fear he may be handed back to his owner, identified as Mr. Shahid, who earlier this month launched legal action for custody.
“We are disheartened to learn we have to fight once again for Raju’s freedom,” said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of the Wildlife SOS organization, which saved the animal from its owner, who allegedly kept Raju in spiked chains and used him as a begging prop. “We sincerely hope the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and the courts prosecute Mr. Shahid for his illegal act and find him guilty.”
“This will set a precedent across India and will change the way elephants are treated, that abusers will be punished and justice will be served,” Satyanarayan added.
Wildlife SOS is now asking the public to sign a petition calling on the Government of Uttar Pradesh and its Forest Department to stop Shahid from re-gaining custody of Raju.
“We humbly appeal to you to not allow this to happen,” the Change.org petition states.
“Please protect the elephant and kindly ensure the person who kept this elephant in violation of Indian law without any valid permission or ownership documents is punished under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.”
Raju was rescued on July 4, when vets and wildlife experts from the charity were joined by 20 Forestry Commission officers and two cops.
The squad raided the farm, where Raju was being kept, and officials claimed he openly wept on realizing his ordeal was finally coming to an end.
It took place a year to the day after the charity had been alerted to Raju’s plight by the Forest Department.
A court order allowed rescuers to seize the animal, but Raju’s owner refused to give him up — so the team quickly and quietly sedated the bull and loaded him onto a truck.
He was driven 350 miles to Wildlife SOS’s Elephant Conservation and Care Center refuge in Mathura, where he was treated for several days.
He then joined the “Herd of Hope” — a group of six female elephants who were all rescued by the charity.
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