Elephant who cried for freedom faces new chains

When wildlife campaigners rescued Raju, a starving elderly elephant, from his chains earlier this year video footage and photographs of him crying at his release moved millions around the world.

But he could soon be clapped in irons once again. The people who mistreated him have asked a court to order his return to them as their lawful property.

Elephants are protected by law in India but several thousand are still kept by unscrupulous owners and abused by their handlers.

Video footage of Raju's release showed his legs being unshackled from heavy chains, with spikes that had pierced his thick hide. Long spear-like spikes were recovered from his enclosure. Though illegal, they are widely used in India to train and control working elephants.

Many of the elephants are chained outside Hindu temples, or hired out for rides at children's parties or at lavish weddings.

Several hundred are kept at Jaipur's Amber Fort, where they ferry tourists up the fort's steep paths in desert conditions, and are hired for elephant polo matches.

Campaigners say they should not be kept in captivity or in Northern India, where the arid conditions and searingly hot roads torment them. They need the wet grasslands and rainforests of India's south to thrive.

Kartick Satyanarayan, a co-founder of Wildlife SOS, the group that rescued Raju, said the group would contest the court application on the grounds of the applicants' cruelty.

"The animal is on the path of recovery and is doing fine after being rescued from slavery. He was on the verge of death when he was rescued and since then we have invested a lot to rehabilitate him.

"We have a foolproof case against the self-proclaimed ownership as there are no ownership documents. Moreover, the treatment the elephant received was against the law. We will put these facts before the court."