The life of the elephant Raju was a tragedy with a lot of harassment and chains that made him defenseless for the whole 24 hours. On the knowledge of the rescue, the poor creature started weeping with tears of joy.
As we all know, every human as well every animal wishes freedom and comfort. Just in case, can you think of a life with never-ending imprisonment, shackles around your feet for 24 hours long, and being mistreated each and every day for no reason? It would be a nightmare. Unfortunately, that was the life Raju had to spend for almost 50 years.
For this five-decade time, Raju had been carrying thousands of people over his back along the dusty roads of India for food and money. The Dodo also reported that Raju suffered from malnutrition and damages caused by physical abuse at the time of rescue. It was a pain that words couldn’t even describe.
According to the Wildlife SOS; when Raju was exposed as a victim, he was already owned by 27 owners. But no owner has cared for him other than to earn. The poor creature was at the prior stage of malnutrition, and evidence has shown that he was to consume paper and plastic. Other than that, he had overgrown nails. Continuous walks on the rough roads with shackles on his legs had caused severe wounds. Finally, the tragedy ended when the UK-based animal charity Wildlife SOS intervened to end his agony with a gifted liberation. When the team was treating Raju in a way that he had never been treated, he realized that his suffering has come to an end. This made the poor animal weep leaving the team astounded yet emotional. Raju was in chains 24 hours a day in never-ending suffering, acts of intense cruelty by some evil individuals had made this majestic and intelligent creature fall into this tragic stage. It’s hard to imagine the suffering Raju had to endure in the last 50 years.
The Wildlife SOS with the local authorities worked hard on the freedom of Raju. It took about a year-long to make arrangements to confiscate Raju from his cruel owner.
Afterward, the rescued Raju was taken to the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre at Mathura. In there he was subjected to a lot of medications. The team had to carry out a long process to remove the sharp shackles from his feet.
Going back to the past of Raju, it is believed that Raju was taken away from his mother 50 years ago. From that time on, he was in hands of various people with never-ending sufferings. But all those were to an end thank to great hearts of some great humans. Raju is now happy and free from all those tragedies. Also, he has friendships building up with other rescued elephants at the place.
It was the story of Raju the Elephant, way to light from the darkness. In case you like to contribute to Raju’s well-being, Please visit wildlifesos.org.