Video evidence gathered between 2021 and 2022 reveals that elephant Joymala (also known as Jeymalyatha) is shackled in chains on a hard concrete floor near constantly, controlled with the threat of weapons, and kept in complete isolation from other elephants despite assurances from authorities that she is “absolutely doing good”.
Two separate heart-wrenching videos in which Joymala can be heard screaming in pain while being severely beaten by the mahouts associated with the Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple were released to the media in 2021 and 2022. Subsequently, PETA India approached the authorities in Tamil Nadu – where she is captive – and her home state Assam requesting that she be rescued and rehabilitated. Joymala has apparently been kept illegally in Tamil Nadu for more than a decade, as she was never returned to Assam in violation of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
You can help, too!
Act now to request that the Assam and Tamil Nadu governments work together to seize Joymala and rehabilitate her at a sanctuary, where she can live the rest of her life unchained and in the company of other elephants.