Watch: Indian temples turn to cruelty-free robot elephants, made in Kerala

THRISSUR, India, March 3, 2025 (AFP) - It flaps its ears and squirts water from a waving trunk. Still, this elephant is a life-size mechanical replica rolled out to replace the endangered animals in India's Hindu temples.

Made of fibreglass and rubber and trundling on a wheeled metal frame strong enough to hold a rider, the model is one of dozens that animal rights campaigners are trumpeting as an alternative to keeping elephants in captivity in India.

Elephants are used during many Hindu temple ceremonies, paraded through packed crowds with flashing lights, thumping drums and ear-splitting music.

Deadly attacks by panicked pachyderms are common.

"It is a wild animal; it likes to live in jungles," said C.G. Prakash, 68, a former official at the popular Chakkamparambu Bhagavathy temple in India's southern Kerala state.

"We are capturing it and torturing it. It's unethical".

Prakash was instrumental in bringing the robot elephant to the temple.

The Voice for Asian Elephants Society donated it, claiming it would aid "cruelty-free temple traditions."

 Campaigners from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India say the more than 2,700 captive elephants in the country often face "severe physical and psychological stress". Despite being herd animals, they are often kept alone and chained up for much of the day.

PETA has funded more than a dozen models since 2023, donated on the condition that temples move their elephants to approved sanctuaries.

"Mechanical elephants help retain age-old traditions in a modern way," said PETA's Khushboo Gupta.

"They help ensure real elephants can remain with their families in their natural jungle habitats".

Like the real thing, models are draped with a golden headdress and bedecked with flower garlands. Modelmakers say a luxury version - complete with electric motors powering a nodding head, rolling eyes and a lifelike swishing tail - can cost more than $5,500.