An Open Letter to Pamela Anderson : Blog # 214

An Open Letter to Pamela Anderson

I have always fancied writing an open letter to someone the world knows. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be addressed to the lady mentioned above J. More strange is the topic which I am going to write to her about.

Recently, there was a controversy about Thrissur Pooram and Pamela Anderson. Thrissur Pooram is a 200 year old temple festival which attracts viewers from around the world. It is celebrated during summer (April – May) in the small city of Thrissur in Kerala. The controversy is about the usage of Elephants in this festival. Elephants are an integral part of pooram like many other festivals in Kerala. There was a petition that was filed though a society that prevents cruelty against animals requesting the elephants to be replaced with imitations (cardboard cut-outs or such) for the festival. I found this petition to be a tad bit misguided. The representation of facts is also questionable. The picture below is the one which featured on that society’s India page on Facebook. 

An elephant which is made to participate in the festival need to be certified by a veterinary doctor that it is in the pink of health. It is also reviewed by a committee comprising of high level officials of the state administration including the District collector who is an IAS officer. When the elephants stand on the roads during day time, thick sacks are laid on the road on which water is poured continually so that their feet doesn’t get hurt by the heat. Elephants are periodically fed water melons so that they are not thirsty. Also, elephants are transported using trucks so that they don’t have to walk long distances. There is an elephant owners association who are well aware of the repercussions if they do not follow the above guidelines. Also, most of them are genuinely interested in the animal’s welfare.

Now, there is this issue of chaining up the elephants. Their legs are chained so that they don’t run and hurt people. This is only during the peak hours of the festival and this is not done for all the elephants. I have a dog at home. Do I love him? Absolutely! Do I go out and play with him during my morning tea? Yes I do. Do I pet him before I go to sleep? I do. But if a guest comes home, do I chain him up till they leave? I do that too. It is only this precaution which the organizers of the festival are also taking.

Why can’t they use cardboard cut outs of elephants for the festival? Why do you have to cook Turkey for thanksgiving? Won’t mashed potato do? It is tradition! In this case, it is a 200 year old tradition! I consider people who treat animals well to be more intelligent and sensible than a layman. In my opinion, what a society pursuing as noble a cause as animal welfare should do is to suggest alternatives which results in the comfort of the animals and not take simplistic approaches like attempting to do away with a practice altogether.

This picture shown here is an elephant which participated in this year’s festival. This is the true picture of the state of elephants used in the pooram.

It also raises questions about the credibility of information that is being circulated in social media. For a person who sees only the first picture, it is very easy to be mislead and get worried about these poor animals. Am I saying there is nothing to be changed about the way elephants are treated? Absolutely not. There is always room for improvement. But it needs to be done through thorough understanding of the context and ensuring that there is no misrepresentation of facts.

I am from Thrissur. But I have taken care to not get carried away. The above mentioned guidelines are factual.

p.s. Including this disclaimer - I wrote a blog on Jallikattu opposing it. If that is the case, why do I support usage of elephants in festival then? I don't .Not any more. When I wrote the above blog, I felt it was justified. Now I feel it is wrong. We should stop using elephants for festivals. Why am I not deleting the above blog post? It is to show that when it comes to things close to our heart, most of us lose objectivity. 

Link to the Jallikattu blog: Jallikattu must stop!

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