It’s nearly impossible to imagine, but for 50 years, this elephant was confined, shackled up and abused. He was constantly made to walk the hard streets of India to amuse humans. He has the scars to show his suffering and the lack of health is clear.
Nevertheless, Raju hung in there. Finally, rescuers from the UK-based association Wildlife SOS showed up and saved this animal in a very moving encounter. Raju seemed to know these guys were his saviors.
Unbelievable but true, Raju the elephant was chain shackled with limited mobility for 24 hours a day. This went on for a horrific 50 years.
Rescuers from Wildlife SOS showed up and freed the animal. Naturally Raju was a skeptical.
But then something happened. He seemed to realize he was now free. And he began to cry.
The team was blown away as they witnessed this elephant crying, with tears running down his face.
“It was incredibly emotional. We knew in our hearts he realized he was being freed. Elephants are majestic and highly intelligent animals. We can only imagine what torture the past half a century has been for him.”
They believe that Raju was probably taken from his mother in the wild, then had been shuffled around various cruelty-prone owners for literally decades. But now, he was finally FREE.
Raju now relaxes peacefully in a wonderful sanctuary in India where he has new friends in the form of other rescued elephants. Pooja states: “Today he knows what freedom is and he will learn what kindness feels like.”
Absolutely horrid to imagine how any human could do this to an animal. Sadly, this still goes on around the world. But at least Raju is now safe and living comfortably. No doubt he more than deserves it after suffering for nearly five decades.
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