Hyderabad: Students at Glendale Academy enjoyed a special visit from Ellie, a life-size animatronic elephant voiced by actor Dia Mirza, as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India kicked off an empathy-building tour of schools in the city.
Ellie will engage with thousands of students, blinking her eyes and flapping her ears like a real elephant, while sharing an age-appropriate story about the trauma of being separated from her mother, the abuse she suffered in a circus, and her eventual rescue and happy life at a sanctuary.
PETA India Senior Education Coordinator Meenakshi Narang stated, “Ellie, the mechanical elephant, helps children realize that animals, like us, experience pain, fear, joy, and love, and they deserve to live in peace.”
PETA India highlighted that captive elephants used for entertainment are often forcibly taken from their families and natural habitats, beaten into submission, and controlled with ankuses—heavy batons with sharp steel tips. Years of confinement and mistreatment lead many elephants to develop abnormal behaviors, and they often suffer from inadequate food, water, and veterinary care.
