{"id":132800,"date":"2019-05-06T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=132800"},"modified":"2019-05-02T15:02:19","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T14:02:19","slug":"tragic-end-for-a-gentle-giant-elephant-struggles-against-its-chains-before-it-collapses-and-dies-at-indian-national-park-prompting-allegations-of-neglect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/05\/tragic-end-for-a-gentle-giant-elephant-struggles-against-its-chains-before-it-collapses-and-dies-at-indian-national-park-prompting-allegations-of-neglect\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragic End for a Gentle Giant: Elephant Struggles against Its Chains Before It Collapses and Dies at Indian National Park, Prompting Allegations of Neglect"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><em>Heartbreaking video shows the beast of burden tugging at its chains then falling<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Elephant handlers said they asked for a vet for the sick animal but no help came<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>The elephant, named Drona, had twice taken pride of place in a religious parade<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>29 Apr 2019 &#8211; <\/em>Elephant handlers in India have accused authorities of neglect after video footage emerged showing a working animal collapsing and dying.<\/p>\n<p>Mahouts, or handlers, told local news media that they could see the 37-year-old male elephant, identified in reports by the name Drona, was unwell, but their calls for a vet went unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>The heartbreaking video was captured on April 26 at the\u00a0Nagarahole National Park in\u00a0the southwestern state of Karanatka.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 1024px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-132800-1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1024x576_MP4_231080526860959459-1024x576_MP4_231080526860959459.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1024x576_MP4_231080526860959459-1024x576_MP4_231080526860959459.mp4\" >https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1024x576_MP4_231080526860959459-1024x576_MP4_231080526860959459.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Men are seen bathing the shivering beast of burden, which heaves on its chains with its foot and trunk.<\/p>\n<p>The elephant then collapses under its four-ton weight and falls onto its left side.<\/p>\n<p>Elephant camp officials said Drona died when he went to drink water from a tank, and suddenly collapsed.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_132801\" style=\"width: 644px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal-1.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-132801\" class=\"size-full wp-image-132801\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"634\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal-1.jpg 634w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal-1-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-132801\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sick elephant, identified by the name Drona, tugs at his chains moments before collapsing,<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He had reportedly been showing symptoms of illness since Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>The first mahout to see Drona dead said he suspected a heart attack was the cause.<\/p>\n<p>But vetenarians will carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of death.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_132802\" style=\"width: 644px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal2.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-132802\" class=\"size-full wp-image-132802\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"634\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal2.jpg 634w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal2-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-132802\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The stricken elephant slumps in the ditch where he is being bathed and falls onto his left side.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Drona won fame in 2017 and 2018 when he carried the golden howdah, or platfrom, in processions to mark the Hindu religious festival of Dasara in the city of Mysuru.<\/p>\n<p>The annual cavalcade of 15 colourfully decorated elephants brought from the\u00a0Nagarahole forest is the highlight of the three-mile (five kilometre) religious procession.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_132803\" style=\"width: 644px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal3.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-132803\" class=\"size-full wp-image-132803\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"634\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal3.jpg 634w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/elephant-animal3-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-132803\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The dying elephant lies where he fell. Handlers said they asked for vetinary care but no help came.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-6971369\/Elephant-struggles-against-chains-collapses-dies-Indian-national-park.html?ico=embedded\" >Go to Original \u2013 dailymail.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2022\tHeartbreaking video shows the beast of burden tugging at its chains then falling<br \/>\n\u2022\tElephant handlers said they asked for a vet for the sick animal but no help came<br \/>\n\u2022\tThe elephant, named Drona, had twice taken pride of place in a religious parade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":132803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[786,619,570,239,120,840,857,759,831,991,126],"class_list":["post-132800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-rights-vegetarianism","tag-animal-justice","tag-animal-rights","tag-animals","tag-brics","tag-conflict","tag-cruelty","tag-exploitation","tag-india","tag-veganism","tag-vegetarianism","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}