Elephant Who Spent Decades Giving Rides Has Best Response To Freedom

For the past 40 years, Priyanka the elephant has spent her days giving people rides through the city streets of India with a heavy seat strapped to her back.

With constant pressure on her spine and no shelter from the sun, Priyanka walked and walked every day with an aching back and feet burnt from the hot asphalt roads.

The 44-year-old elephant was also regularly rented out for parades, which forced her to march long distances among noisy spectators. As she walked along the routes, people would often startle her with loud music and firecrackers or even try to climb onto her as she passed.

Like many elephants taken from the wild to be used for entertainment, Priyanka never knew what it was like to be part of an elephant family — until now.

Wildlife SOS India learned of Priyanka’s plight over a year ago and has tracked her movements ever since — knowing that it was only a matter of time before the team could bring her to safety from her owner, who was keeping her illegally. The organization planned her rescue over the course of months, and the chance to save her finally presented itself last week.

“We immediately mobilized a rescue team to assist the local Forest Department in the area to conduct a daring seizure operation along with the local police department,” the rescue wrote in an update. “But even perfect opportunities can easily go wrong, and we had to keep everything on the down low for the safety of Priyanka and the amazing team that had gone out to rescue her.”

The team successfully seized Priyanka, though her previous owner tried to have the elephant returned to him — despite not having any valid ownership documents. But a few days later, with paperwork and permissions finalized, Priyanka was clear to go to her new home at Wildlife SOS’ Elephant Conservation and Care Center.

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