Victory! Elephants won’t Be Used as Equipment
Update: District Magistrate Naveen Mahajan of Jaipur has ordered the elephant Polo Cup to be canceled following appeals by PETA India and notification from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) that the cup organisers did not register the elephants with AWBI as required and also failed to submit valid elephant ownership certificates. The District Magistrate’s decision could pave the way for getting all elephant polo matches banned permanently.
After receiving an urgent letter from PETA India and following a series of telephone conversations between the group and Carlsberg India executives, the managing director of Carlsberg India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of world-renowned beermaker Carlsberg Group, announced that the company has now pulled its sponsorship of the Polo Cup, a much-criticised elephant polo match to be held in Jaipur, India, this weekend.
PETA India pointed out in its letter that captive elephants are routinely trained and disciplined with the use of ankuses that are dug into the skin. Captive elephants are also deprived of everything that is natural and important to them and cruelly kept shackled in chains when they’re not performing.
Carlsberg India follows other companies in making the compassionate move to stop supporting this saddening “sport”. In January, London-based Guinness World Records Ltd removed all references to elephant polo records from its iconic book Guinness World Records after we contacted them to let them know that many of the elephants used for polo have been taken from their families in the wild and subjected to a life of chronic physical ailments, social and emotional deprivation and premature death.
Cheers to you, Carlsberg!