Voices for Asian Elephants, an NGO, has given a life-size robotic elephant to Sree Sankaran Kovil in Gudalur, Nilgiris, which will replace the animals.
Robotic elephants are being provided to temples to end the practice of parading elephants for temple rituals and to end their suffering, according to Sangita Iyer, founding executive director of the organisation.
Annually, an average of 25 captive elephants die in Kerala. There are also instances of mahouts dying every year. The population of captive elephants had dropped to 397 from approximately 500 in 2019, she told mediapersons.
