Lahki the Blind, Abused Street Elephant Finally Retires at New Sanctuary Home!

[joeybee12]

Lakhi the elephant spent the last 60 years of her life working as a begging prop at popular tourist areas in India. Chained and beaten by her owners, Lakhi was forced to walk on harsh concrete streets without breaks, and traverse through busy traffics. After years of this abuse, Lakhi is blind, likely the result of a traumatic injury to the head and suffers from chronic painful foot problems. Yet, in spite of her deteriorating physical health, her owners continued to make her work.

Luckily, Lahki’s retirement has finally arrived! Seeing the sad state of this elderly elephant, the Pune High Court ruled that Lahki should be sent to the Wildlife SOS Center in Mathura.

Wildlife SOS is certainly on a roll with elephant rescues and Lahki is the third formerly abused pachyderm to join their “Herd of Hope” in the past two weeks.

Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of Wildlife SOS said, “We are grateful to the Honorable Pune High Court and the Chief Wildlife Wardens of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra for sympathetically understanding Lakhi’s medical condition and permitting Wildlife SOS to shift her for long-term medical care.”





http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/lahki-the-blind-abused-street-elephant-finally-retires-at-new-sanctuary-home/

I wish they had a photo of her arriving there.

[MADem]

1. You'll probably see one at this link, soon enough.....

http://wildlifesos.org/blog/great-news-lakhi-begins-her-journey-to-freedom/

Many photos at the link of her journey--I'm betting they'll throw up some "arrival" ones soon.

[joeybee12]

2. Those are wonderful...she finally looks happy!

[MADem]

3. Yes, indeed--here, let me K/R your thread! nt

[Glimmer of Hope]

5. I follow them on Facebook to get all their updates. I hope I can visit one day!

[MADem]

6. Cool--if you see a pic of Lahki in his new home, would you be so kind as to post a link? TIA! nt

[mopinko]

4. i wonder if this was the elephant that got us in agra.

it's a racket they have with the tourist guides-
oh look at the dressed up elephant. you want a pic of that, right. i'll stop the car so you can take a pic.
then when you go to leave, the elephant steps up and blocks your car.
the guide tells you, oh, he wants a tip. isnt that cute.
ok, here's a few bucks.

i have to confess that i have told the story many times, and it is one of my enduring memories of my trip to india.

now if they can just save some of the kids that dance for the tourists....