The sad, lonely existence of African elephant Shankar at Delhi zoo and the fight to release him
The sad, lonely existence of African elephant Shankar at Delhi zoo and the fight to release him
The plight of Shankar — an African elephant from Zimbabwe — who is currently lodged in Delhi zoo will continue for much longer.
The Delhi High Court hearing a case filed by 16-year-old Nikita Dhawan to free the now more than 26-year-old male elephant, who lives solitarily in the zoo, ruled out the plea to send him back to Africa, but ordered the inspection of the living conditions of the elephant before 31 August, when the case will be heard next.
“We will not permit you to take the elephant to South Africa. We will not permit that. It is our property. Don’t worry, we will look after him properly,” the court observed.
The court also sought if Shankar could be sent to a sanctuary or if a companion could be found for him.
As we await further developments in the matter, here’s a look back at the history of Shankar — how he made his way from the Savanna grasslands of Africa — and the case to release him back into the wild.
From Africa to Delhi
Not much is known about Shankar’s time in Zimbabwe.
What is known is that when he was 26-months-old, he was put on a flight from Zimbabwe and presented as a diplomatic gift to the Indian President — Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1998. He was also named Shankar after the president.
Shankar was not alone when he first came to the Delhi zoo, he was accompanied by a companion, Bombai. But Bombai, named after the wife of Zimbabwe’s ambassador, died suddenly in 2005 and since then, Shankar has been living a solitary life at the Delhi zoo.
Today, Shankar is only one of the two African elephants housed in zoos in India, the second being another male at the Mysuru Zoo.
In November 2021, Sonali Ghosh, the then director of Delhi zoo told the Indian Express that she had written to parks in Africa on if there was a possibility of finding a mate for the animal, or if they would take the elephant back.
Reports also say the zoo also attempted to bring the three elephants together. But they found it difficult as Shankar was “untrained and obstinate”, the zoo’s former director, Ramesh Pandey had said.
Case to free Shankar
The matter reached the judiciary when Nikita Dhawan visited the national capital’s zoo in September 2021 and decided to fight for Shankar after seeing him.
“What really struck us was his condition, he looked terribly sad,” she told BBC.
A founder of the non-profit Youth For Animals, the teen then created a petition, calling for Shankar to be removed from the zoo.
— () (@youthforanimals) December 19, 2021
As of date, the petition has received over 1.95 lakh signatures and also received support from international as well as national animal rights groups. The petition was also applauded by Bollywood celebrities such as John Abraham and Pooja Bhatt.
Before approaching court, Nikita had written to Delhi Zoo, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), but got no positive response. She finally resorted to approaching the high court for the tusker’s rights.
“Indian culture gives elephants an elevated status. They are everywhere, in temples, in private ownership and are embedded in our history,” she told BBC. “Yet, we don’t take care of them.”
What the petition says
In her petition filed through her lawyer Dhananjay Grover, Dhawan alleges that Shankar with his distinctly larger ears “is often beaten, chained for 17 hours a day and does not have adequate space to move around”.
The Print reports Grover as saying, “Medical examinations show Shankar is not in good shape, and he is constantly displaying stereotypic behaviour, indicating he’s stressed.”
She further states that African elephants cover 20 to 50 kilometres of ground, but Shankar only has 4,930 square metres to move around.
Further, she mentions that a pathway that once allowed visitors to view Shankar more closely has been permanently cordoned off due to his aggression, which is another key sign of psychological distress.
In a report to ABC News, the animal rights activist says that her main aim is that Shankar be transferred to an appropriate wildlife sanctuary in Africa or elsewhere that has more ample populations of African elephants. If that’s not possible, she says, Shankar should be moved to an elephant sanctuary in India.
“There’s a misconception that male African elephants don’t form social bonds,” she added. “But that’s not true, they’re social beings just like us and Shankar deserves to be with other African elephants. So that’s really the rationale for sending him abroad rather than a domestic sanctuary,” she was quoted as telling ABC News.
Her petition also cites a 2020 notification for the renewal of the licence for the Delhi zoo, in which the Central Zoo Authority noted that the African elephant was kept in isolation, with its legs chained in its enclosure.
Her animal experts echo her petition, which alleges harassment and abuse to Shankar.
Delhi zoo reacts
Officials at the Delhi zoo have refuted Dhawan’s claims of harassment and mismanagement, saying they follow all the norms issued by the Central Zoo Authority when it comes to the matter of caring for elephants.
“We’ve provided greater enrichment for Shankar in his enclosure. There’s a pond and adequate mud for a mud bath; trees, stumps, grass. We have tried our best to replicate its natural habitat,” Dharamdeo Rai, director of the Delhi zoo told The Print, adding that the “only time” the African elephant is chained is when he “enters the period of musth” — when a male elephant’s reproductive hormones rise.
What awaits Shankar?
Nikita Dhawan in an interview to Rediff.com said that the Aspinall Foundation, based in the United Kingdom, is willing to take in Shankar. They have multiple sanctuaries across Africa.
If allowed to leave, there will be a medical examination to clear him of travel.
A ruling in favour of Shankar's freedom would go a long way: The case will set a precedent and will aid the cause of all captive elephants in India.
With inputs from agencies
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