Russian Victim of Captive Elephant Attack at Amer Fort Makes Heartfelt Plea for the Animal’s Rescue  

Russian Victim of Captive Elephant Attack at Amer Fort Makes Heartfelt Plea for the Animal’s Rescue  

This news release is also available in Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Tamil.  

Amer Fort, 5th March 2024 (GNI) : The victim of a recent attack by elephant Gouri (“ride no 86”) at Amer Fort, a Russian woman named Kochetova Mariia, has written to the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister for Tourism, Art and Culture, and Archaeology and Museums Diya Kumari making a heartfelt appeal for the elephant’s rescue and rehabilitation. In it, Mariia notes that she has come to learn that the same elephant attacked a shopkeeper just 16 months before.  

Mariia writes, “I do not wish for Gouri to be punished. Instead, I believe she has been punished enough by a lifetime of being trained with violence and forced to give rides, which clearly upsets her. For Gouri’s mental health and to protect other humans from a potential fatal attack, I urge you to please stop forcing Gouri to give rides and send Gouri to a sanctuary where she can begin to recover from her mental anguish, live unchained and in the company of other elephants.” The full letter can be viewed here.  

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has released terrifying footage (available here) showing the moment Gouri attacked the tourist in the main courtyard of Amer Fort near Jaipur, Rajasthan. The footage, captured on CCTV on 13 February 2024, shows the elephant grabbing Mariia in her trunk, swinging her vigorously, and then slamming her to the ground, breaking her leg. The same elephant injured a male shopkeeper in October 2022, breaking his ribs and causing other serious injuries. At that time, a first information report was filed, but the use of Gouri for rides at Amer Fort shortly resumed.  

Out of concern for public safety and the animal’s welfare, PETA India has been appealing to the regional government for the past 16 months to urgently move Gouri to a sanctuary, where she could begin to recover from the mental trauma of a lifetime of enslavement. Now, Mariia has joined the clarion call.  

Another elephant named Malti (“no 44”) remains in captivity in Amer, even though a team of veterinarians constituted by the High Powered Committee of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India recommended her rehabilitation at a sanctuary, the government body Animal Welfare Board of India previously noted in a report that she shows signs of anxiety, and a Rajasthan government health certificate labelled her unhealthy and unsound. Her handlers beat her with sticks at Amer Fort in June 2017 and publicly subjected her to violence again in March 2019. PETA India has been appealing to authorities for years to have her sent to a sanctuary for specialised care. 

PETA India has also written to the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister for Tourism, Art and Culture, and Archaeology and Museums Diya Kumari calling for all elephant rides to be replaced with eco-friendly motorised vehicles, as was recommended in a report of the committee constituted by the Project Elephant division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, per an order of the Supreme Court of India.  

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram. Ends GNI