Retirement Home for Elephants

Posted by Miss Cellania in Animal on May 4, 2008 at 11:24 am


Elephants are expensive to feed and care for, and many of India’s elephants earn their living with years of hard work. Then after the elephants are too old for labor, they are often neglected or cast aside due to their maintenance costs. But a new retirement home is opening on a thousand-acre preserve at Kottur, Kerala. The government will pay a nominal fee to buy elephants too old for work and provide them with room to roam and proper veterinary care.

“We want them to enjoy their last years after being such good workers without worrying where their next meal will come from,” said V.S. Verghese, Kerala’s chief wildlife warden who is in charge of the scheme.

“They’ll get special treats like big slabs of rice, a course sugar called jaggery, and honey. And vets will be on hand.”

The first 30 elephants are scheduled to move in this month. Link -via Fark


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COMMENT

5 comments to "Retirement Home for Elephants"

  1. Tempscire
    May 4th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

    Aw. Good for the elephants. I wonder how long they'll be able to keep this running, though.

  2. Ashley
    May 4th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

    I'm glad the government of at least one country is stepping in to protect the animals that, through no fault of their own, have become a burden on society.

    I wish our government spent more of my taxes on things like the Humane Society and ASPCA and less on idiotic pork barrel spending.

  3. Parker
    May 5th, 2008 at 3:13 am

    Spending (more) money on housing and feeding poor people of the nation vs. housing and feeding exploited animals...good choice..it gets more press.

  4. Tracy
    May 5th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    There's an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee for "retired" zoo and circus elephants: http://www.elephants.com/sanct.htm

  5. windowshoppist
    May 6th, 2008 at 4:08 am

    I've wondered before what happens to "working" elephants. I'm glad someone is taking care of them.

    Parker: do you really think it has to be a zero-sum game? Why not do both?


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