Kochi: Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff has gifted a mechanical elephant to the Nediyathali Sri Siva Temple in Kodungallur, located between Kochi and Thrissur in Kerala, in honour of the temple’s commitment to never hiring or keeping real elephants.
The 3-metre-tall, 800-kilogram mechanical elephant, named Thaleeswaran, will be inaugurated at 11 am on August 16 by Member of Parliament Benny Behanan and Kerala MLA V.R. Sunil Kumar.
The actor donated the mechanical elephant with the support of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
According to a release, Thaleeswaran is the 11th landmark mechanical elephant donated by PETA India to temples, the first in the Kodungallur region, and the seventh to be embraced by a temple in Kerala through PETA India’s compassionate efforts.
The use of mechanical elephants allows real elephants to remain with their families in forest habitats, sparing them the suffering of being constantly chained, controlled with weapons, and deprived of their natural lives, it added.