This photo shows 70-year-old emaciated elephant Tikiri eating at the Temple of the Tooth in the central city of Kandy, where she was brought to attend an annual Buddhust pageant. After a social media firestorm over using a feeble emaciated animal in the parade, the authorities withdrew her from the festival allowing her rest and medication.
Every summer, in Kandy, the religious capital of Sri Lanka, the great Buddhist festival of Esala Perahera takes place. Flagship animation of the event: ten days of nightly processions of caparisoned elephants. This year, like every year, the elephant Tikiri was to be one of them… until photos of her physical state leaked onto the web and caused a real outcry.
Tikiri is a 70 year old elephant. Each year, on the occasion of the Perahera Festival in Sri Lanka , we can see her parading in the evening on her 31st, masked mouth, sequins and blue costume on her back. Wednesday August 14, Tikiri was to participate in the grand finale of the show.
But August 13 changed his dire destiny. It took a few photos posted by the Save Elephant Foundation to create general outrage. We see the animal, stripped of its light clothes, exhausted and the skin on the bones … far, far, from the magical image to which the spectators were accustomed.
“ No one saw his rickety body or his weakened state because of his costume. No one saw the tears in her eyes, hurt by the shiny decorations that adorned her mask, no one saw how difficult it was for her to walk when her paws were tight » writes the association on its page Facebook.
“He is about to die”
After these revelations and in the face of media and social media pressure, the owners of the elephant finally decided to remove the poor beast from the event because of his “state of health” . “Tikiri is being treated,” they told AFP by phone.
Despite this last-minute and unexpected rescue for the animal, its chances of survival are slim. “ It is obvious that the animal is severely malnourished, it is on the verge of death,” Asian elephant expert Jayantha Jayewardene told AFP .
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