January 17, 2026 05:17 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Europe scrambles troops to Greenland as Trump’s takeover push triggers Arctic power showdown | Nobel drama: Venezuelan leader presents Peace Prize to Trump | Iran protests turn fatal for Canadian citizen, Foreign Minister confirms | Major blow to Mamata! SC stays FIRs, flags state meddling in central probe as ‘serious issue’ | Supreme Court snub shocks Vijay’s Jana Nayagan, release now in deep trouble | Trump tariff bomb on Iran trade: Tharoor flags existential crisis for Indian exporters | 'Mobocracy in court?': SC explodes over Calcutta HC chaos in ED vs Mamata showdown | Dalal Street on hold! Maharashtra civic polls pull the plug on market action | Big blow to TMC! Calcutta High Court dismisses case against ED in I-PAC raid row | 10-minute delivery dead! Govt crackdown forces Blinkit, Swiggy and Zomato to backtrack after gig workers revolt
Kerala
Image Credit: Screenshot grab from video/PETA Twitter

Kerala temple gets mechanical elephant to offer prayers in end of animal cruelty

| @indiablooms | Mar 01, 2023, at 08:51 pm

Thrissur/IBNS: A temple in Kerala's Thrissur has got the country's first robotic elephant which will perform daily prayers, media reports said.

The mechanical elephant was dedicated to the deity at the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in the district on Sunday.

The initiative, which is a joint venture of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA India and actor Parvathy Thiruvothu, will end the 'cruelty' meted out to the captivated elephants in offering prayers.

PETA said as quoted by The Print, "An inaugural ceremony held today was followed by a performance by the percussion ensemble led by Peruvanam Satheesan Marar.

"Subjecting live elephants to the extreme loudness of the timpani is cruel, as it is damaging and distressing for live elephants."

Head priest Rajkumar Namboothiri said he was "extremely happy and grateful" that prayers would now be performed in a cruelty free manner, The Print reported.

PETA has appealed to all temple administrations and event organisers to also switch to life-life mechanical elephants.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.