Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / UnchainedTV: Woman on a Mission: Save the World's Elephants!

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UnchainedTV: Woman on a Mission: Save the World's Elephants! · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

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are so excited to have an extraordinary woman
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with us today.
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Today we're going to meet a woman on
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a mission to save elephants.
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Sangita Iyer, who made the award-winning documentary
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Gods in Shackles, says we dream of a
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day when people and elephants can live harmoniously.
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Too many elephants are getting killed in conflicts
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with humans.
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We simply cannot allow them to disappear from
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the face of this earth.
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There are less than 40,000 Asian elephants
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in the world.
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Around 60% of them, and that means
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27,000 elephants or more, wander the jungles
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of India.
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The problem is this, 80% of the
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elephants' habitats have been occupied by people.
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In other words, people and elephants are sharing
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80% of the land mass in India.
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You are looking at some of the video
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that Sangita Iyer has taken herself as she
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tries to wake the world up and get
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the world's help.
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Sangita, tell us, what is your mission?
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Thank you so much.
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It's nice to see you and good to
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have you.
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Thank you for having me.
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My mission is to do everything possible to
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protect the endangered Asian elephants, particularly in India.
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As you clearly mentioned, 55% to 60
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% of the Asian elephant population is in
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India.
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I'm doing everything I can to save them.
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At the same time, 18% of the
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world's human population is also in India.
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18%, can you believe?
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1.41 billion people.
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India is the most densely populated country on
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the planet.
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These two dominant species are trying to sustain
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themselves and exist.
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Coexistence peacefully is critically important.
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That's what I'm trying to do through my
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organisation called Voices for Asian Elephants.
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Now, you hit the world stage big time
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with your award-winning documentary, Gods in Shackles.
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This is just one of the many, many
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headlines that you got.
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This one from the BBC.
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This is in 2020, the woman trying to
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save India's tortured elephants.
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You really brought to the world's attention that
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these so-called temple ceremonies, where these animals,
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these sensitive, intelligent, social beings are shackled and
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paraded and forced to submit to fireworks and
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all sorts of...
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You see right here, this is the middle
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of a festival.
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There's giant fire.
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It's absolutely horrifying.
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It seems like the world did not know
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about this.
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They did not know this is the shackle.
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You can see a man's leg on the
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left.
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You can see the injuries to these elephants
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on the right.
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The idea that all of this is being
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done in the name of religion and spirituality,
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why did you decide that you had to
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devote your life's work to exposing this horror?
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Because that is the tragic paradox, is that
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in India, elephants are worshipped as Lord Ganesh.
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Lord Ganesh is the embodiment of elephants.
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Lord Ganesh is considered to be the wisest
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Lord and the one that actually blesses people
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with prosperity, etc.
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To make this God happy, they are actually
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exploiting and abusing God's own creations.
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That's the tragic paradox that I found.
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This is true even in the wild.
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I felt that India is considered to be
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one of the most ancient spiritual countries in
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the world.
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Hinduism, which is what India is grounded in,
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is actually based on Ahimsa.
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Ahimsa is non-violence.
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Everything being inflicted upon these supremely intelligent animals,
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everything is violent.
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I felt that I needed to make sure
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that people realise that no God would want
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God's own creations to be abused.
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It's not going to make God happy by
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witnessing God's own creations being treated so horribly,
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all in the name of culture and religion.
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But there are a select few elephant owners,
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so to speak, who actually mint money.
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They've made it their business, literally, to commercialise
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these elephants that are considered India's heritage animal
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and a Schedule 1 animal, which means they
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deserve the maximum protection, but they are still
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being captured from the wild and exploited for
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profit in the name of culture and religion.
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A lot of people are blindsided by it,
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so I needed to expose that.
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You did an award-winning documentary.
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It really got global attention, but you also
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have a channel on Unchained TV, our non
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-profit global streaming network.
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You've covered some of the same issues.
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I took this off of one of your
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shows on Unchained TV.
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Let's watch it.
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We'll talk about it on the other side.
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The city of Trishul in the southern Indian
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state of Kerala is bustling.
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Tourists from all over the world arrive in
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droves to greet the dawn of Trishul Puram.
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It's the annual festival that marks a special
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date on the Hindu astrological calendar.
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It's the largest gathering of male Asian elephants
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in the world.
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So what was used perhaps 80, 50, 100
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years back, and that was used as a
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symbol of royalty, or as a symbol of
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religious function, and only very wealthy landowners would
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keep elephants.
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Now it has come down to the common
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people who also want to enjoy the elephant.
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The elephant's role is simple.
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Stand shackled beneath the scorching sun and display
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their majestic tusks.
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In the wild, elephants wander across vast areas
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for up to 16 hours a day, grazing
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on a wide variety of vegetation and drinking
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at least 200 litres, just under 55 gallons
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of water a day.
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But in these festivals, they are deprived of
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food, water, and shelter.
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Even blind elephants are paraded in these festivals.
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Suparna Ganguly, founder of Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation
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Centre, launched the first ever investigation of captive
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elephant welfare across India in 2014.
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It was never in any of India's religious
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texts, or in any Hindu religious texts, to
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that extent Christian, Islam, nobody mentions the usage
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of elephants anywhere.
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But unfortunately, when it is a very glamorous
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animal, and in functions and parades, it can
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look spectacular.
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So you can watch more of that on
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Unchained TV, our global streaming network, if you
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haven't downloaded it.
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You can download it on your phone.
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You can download it on any television using
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an Amazon Fire Stick, a Roku device, or
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an Apple TV device.
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It's on all Samsung TVs.
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And you can also watch online, just go
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to unchainedtv.com.
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So what have the religious leaders said when
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you confront them about torturing animals and claiming
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that this is some kind of spiritual religious
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experience?
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So there are a lot of Hindu priests
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that are speaking out right now.
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In fact, I did interview a Hindu priest
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in my film, Gods and Shackles.
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And I want to announce today that I'm
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willing to give you the entire film that
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you can actually share.
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This is incredible.
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Thank you.
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Wow.
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We're doing this on Unchained TV.
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What a gift.
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What a gift.
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The world needs to see this.
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Go ahead.
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Yeah, thank you.
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And you are a gift.
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You are a gift because you're giving the
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elephants the opportunity to be screened and to
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be watched and so to educate people.
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So anyway, so this priest, he talks about
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the fact that the elephant owners are exploiting
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these elephants.
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It has nothing to do with cultural religion.
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And when he became the priest of this
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particular temple, he stopped using this elephant for
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parading.
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Instead, he had the priests walk around doing
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exactly the same things that the elephants do.
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And he said, we can still, you know,
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embrace our culture and traditions.
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All right.
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We've got so many callers lined up.
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Everybody is interested in this subject.
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Annie and Sherman Oaks, your question or thought?
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Annie?
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Can you hear me?
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Yes.
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Yes.
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Yes, I can.
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Yes, I can.
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Go ahead.
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Thank you so much for this.
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And Sangita, I cried Gods and Shackles so
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powerful.
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What motivated you?
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How did and how long did it take
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you?
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How much work did it take you to
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actually go through and show the reality?
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Because I know there's a lot of rebellion
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against it.
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Go ahead.
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That's a good question.
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That's a good question.
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Your answer, Sangita?
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Yeah.
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Well, thank you, first of all, for your
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kind words.
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What really inspired me was their suffering, actually.
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And this is Lakshmi.
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It is her eye that you just saw.
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She was blinded.
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And I actually covered her entire story in
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this film, Gods and Shackles.
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And yes, there is a lot of rebellion.
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And I am also cyber bullied frequently.
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And there are so many of these temple
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owners, actually elephant owners, excuse me, who try
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to suppress my voice.
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But actually, it gets only louder because I
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don't allow them to suppress my voice, nor
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do I allow them to hide reality.
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They distort the truth.
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And they try to make me appear like
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a bad person, projecting their own insanity on
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me.
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And I'm like, no, no, no.
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Don't shoot the messenger.
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Focus on what I am saying and try
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to use that to bring forth changes.
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We live in a modernised world.
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And elephants belong in the wild.
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This planet does not belong to human beings
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alone.
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We share this magnificent web of life with
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so many other species on the planet.
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We need to make sure that whatever we
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do, we honour and revere and respect all
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of these creatures of the earth.
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And one of the other reasons is, of
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course, I love elephants.
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I consider elephants to be my soul animals.
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And I wanted to do anything and everything
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I can.
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And this was the best I could do,
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which is to produce this film.
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I want to grab these callers while they're
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there.
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Renee in Los Angeles, your question or thought
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for Sangeeta Iyer.
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Hi, first of all, thank you so much.
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Everything that each of us does is so
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critical.
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And ironically, I just saw an article come
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up, Jane, I sent it to you.
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It's entitled, How Israel Became the Global Centre
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of Veganism.
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And it's all about the animal rights movement
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for compassion in Israel.
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And even in the marches, the Israel Arab
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and Jewish vegans marched together for animal compassion
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and animal activism.
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So you are a small part of an
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international movement.
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And every piece matters, everyone that hears your
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story, and your motivation is going to be
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inspired and hopefully change their lifestyle.
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Because the way that they look at animals
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and how we treat them.
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So I just wanted to say that I
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respect you tremendously.
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And I'm sure it's been a long and
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painful journey, but you are making a difference.
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Oh, thank you so much.
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Appreciate it, Renee.
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And actually, Jane, I mean, we can't do
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this alone.
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Jane partners with everybody.
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She collaborates and she gives so many of
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us the opportunity to speak on her beautiful
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Unchained TV and exposes these atrocities.
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And so you guys can just take what
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you're listening here or watching and just share,
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share everywhere.
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We've got the social media and let us
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create awareness and this movement that you talked
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about, Renee.
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Wow, that is so powerful.
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And I just thank you so much, Renee.
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And she's a wonderful supporter of animal rights
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here in Los Angeles.
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So glad she was able to call in
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Michael in Los Angeles, your question or thought
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for Sangeeta Iyer of Voices for Asian Elephant
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Society.
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Yes, good morning, everyone.
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Thank you, Jane, for having the show.
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And thank you, Sangeeta, for all you're doing.
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My question is, you know, in India, are
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there any animal protection laws in place to
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help these endangered species?
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I just wonder how much support you're getting
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from the government.
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Yeah, thank you.
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That's such an important question.
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And yes, there are several animal protection laws,
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wildlife protection laws, forest protection laws.
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The problem is not about having these laws,
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but the problem is in implementing these laws.
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And that's where, you know, it's not being
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enforced.
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And so there is a problem with that.
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And as a result, and there's corruption, you
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know, corruption is rampant.
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I don't need to say that a lot
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of people know that this is the situation
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in India and in many countries, not just
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in India.
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Corruption is rampant and it's destroying our planet
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on all levels in all countries.
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And it's no different in India.
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And so to answer your question once again,
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it's like there are so many laws, but
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who's enforcing it?
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And do you have the courage to really
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enforce it genuinely and authentically rather than just
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say, oh, I'm enforcing the law and then
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under the table, get some, you know, some
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benefit.
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So that's the challenge everywhere around the world.
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Wow.
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And the video that you've taken is so
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extraordinary.
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I love the comments, but I also just
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want to see the video of these animals.
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You are doing very specific work to save
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these animals who are losing their habitat to
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the never ending human encroachment.
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As you mentioned, there's only about 25,000
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left in India of these Asian elephants.
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A lot of them get hit by trains
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and you have worked very, very ferociously to
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create technology to help them avoid that.
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Tell us about that technology.
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Yes, I am so excited.
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I'm so happy you asked that question, Jane,
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because I remember when we were planning to
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feature this film called Deadly Tracks on your
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channel, you were like, yeah, we need to
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give hope.
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And I am here to give hope because
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we actually partnered with a local conservation organisation
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and a couple of them actually, and we
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created this amazing groundbreaking technology called EleSense.
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And this EleSense technology, it detects elephants around
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500 to 750 metres in the surrounding areas.
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It detects the presence of elephants through laser
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and thermal detectors.
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And then it sends out an SMS message
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to the forest department, the railway department and
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our team.
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And then they send a walkie talkie message
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to the train pilots to slow down.
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And just by doing this, we have averted
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637 elephant deaths between January and December 21st
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of 2023.
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And now we are getting ready to expand
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it.
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And I am so excited to be able
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to return to India and to be able
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to expand this project, launch our phase two,
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and just instal this in Buxa Tiger Reserve,
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where just recently, towards the end of November
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2023, three elephants, including a newborn baby elephant,
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were killed.
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And that was just really gut-wrenching.
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And one pregnant elephant was killed towards the
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end of August of 2023.
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We gotta stop this.
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And so we are so excited to be
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able to launch this in that area and
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hopefully avert more tragedies.
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And that's why your donations to vfaes.org,
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you see it there on your screen, will
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go directly to raising the funds to buy
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that technology and put it into place.
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It's not free.
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More about that in a second.
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We've got another caller, Sarah Unhold.
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Your question or thoughts, Sarah in LA.
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Hi.
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My question is, I rode an elephant when
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I was about four years old at the
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zoo in Louisville, Kentucky.
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And I saw recently it was one of
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the worst zoos ever.
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I think all zoos are prisons where animals
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go to die.
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But my question is, what are the actual
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elephants that they use for people to ride
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them?
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And what do you have going on that
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people could do like today to help educate
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people that, you know, we didn't know that
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was wrong?
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You know what I mean?
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Good question.
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Good question.
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Sangeeta.
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Yeah, so I've produced this film called Brutal
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Elephant Rides.
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It is again on Unchained TV.
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Just go and watch it.
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It's only six or seven minutes long.
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And I explain the scientific reasons behind why
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people should not ride elephants.
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They use all kinds of elephants, African and
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Asian elephants.
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Africans have African elephants have like a convex
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kind of back.
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Asian elephants have a concave back and protruding
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spine.
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And when people sit on their backs, it
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really, really hurts their spine.
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And there's a string that goes underneath their
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tail.
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They can't poop.
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They can't do their stuff.
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It's just gut-wrenching.
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Imagine somebody doing that to human beings.
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I mean, we're not going to tolerate that,
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would we?
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We do this for horses as to the
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horses as well.
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Horseback riding, elephant back riding.
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These things should become a thing of the
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past, honestly, because we consider ourselves to be
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highly evolved.
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There are so many, you know, articles and
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research material and videos.
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And look at this one that you're just
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watching.
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Five people, five people and a rider on
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these elephants.
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It's disgusting.
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And I want to say something about my
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own experience when I went to India 30
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years ago.
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And I was very ignorant at the time.
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And, you know, to this day, I am
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ashamed that I didn't know better.
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I rode an elephant with my mother.
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I guess you could consider the work I'm
19:51
doing right now with you a living amends
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to make up for that.
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But it brings tears to my eyes because
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I feel so guilty.
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I didn't know any better.
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Like most tourists, I was like, there's elephants.
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I love elephants.
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Let's ride them without any thought process.
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Are you working with, and please forgive me,
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elephant community, you know, shame on me.
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But that was 30 years ago.
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I didn't know better.
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I know better now.
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And now we can spread the word to
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other people not to do the same.
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Don't ride camels either.
20:22
Don't ride donkeys either, wherever you are.
20:25
But let's talk about elephants.
20:26
A lot of these tour package groups, online
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travel agencies will encourage and build a package
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that includes an elephant ride.
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Is there any kind of campaign to get
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them to stop that?
20:41
So, yeah, thank you.
20:42
That's a great question.
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First of all, I want to say to
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you, there's no need to be ashamed.
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We all do ignorant things because we are
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not aware.
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And your salvation is by doing what you're
20:54
doing right now.
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You know, you're healing by actually sort of
21:00
repenting and whatever, like you're spreading these beautiful
21:04
messages.
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So please don't feel ashamed.
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And nobody should feel ashamed, especially if you
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did this out of ignorance.
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But if you did this intentionally, knowing what's
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going on, then it is definitely shame on
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you.
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Okay.
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But to answer your question with regards to
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campaigns, yes, in the UK, the Born Free
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Foundation has been doing a tremendous job with
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campaigns.
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Pren, which is pro elephant network that I'm
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a part of, they also have launched several
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campaigns.
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It's not just as a package included, even
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in these temples, they've started including elephants that
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are tethered behind the temples as packages.
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And so I have actually launched a high
21:52
court case in Kerala against a temple that
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actually owns some 49, 50 elephants, all of
22:00
them crammed inside like an elephant factory farm.
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And it's disgusting what's happening there.
22:07
So, but over the last year, I've been
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fighting alone.
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And this year, we're going to continue with
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the fight, Supreme Court case, Supreme Court cases,
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high court cases, a lot of these kinds
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of campaigns, you know, to have people sign
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the petition.
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And when you see a petition, guys, take
22:24
a second to sign, it's not going to
22:26
really cost you anything to take just 30
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seconds, 40 seconds.
22:31
You can go to bfaes.org, you can
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donate there, you can also sign petitions and
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get involved.
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Obviously, Sangeeta cannot do this alone.
22:41
She has a small team, but it requires
22:44
donations.
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I mean, to be able to how much
22:49
does it cost for each implementation of a
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device that would prevent a train hitting an
22:58
elephant or elephant family like that package?
23:02
What does that cost?
23:03
So it's not just one device, per stretch
23:08
of eight kilometres, we need 40 devices and
23:11
4440 devices of installation, preparation, organisation, and the
23:18
whole works collaboration with everybody like and even
23:21
creating the device from the scratch, getting the
23:24
components, all of that inclusive, it's about $50
23:26
,000.
23:27
But it's, yeah, it's nothing, right?
23:30
It's like an eight kilometre stretch, and you
23:32
have 40 devices.
23:34
And if it can save 637 elephant, I
23:38
mean, avert 637 elephant deaths, then is it
23:42
worth it?
23:43
You know, that's the question we asked, because
23:45
we are already producing results, amazing results.
23:49
And so that was a pilot project.
23:51
And now we are getting ready to launch
23:53
our second phase.
23:54
Let's go to questions that are online.
23:57
There are people watching.
23:58
We're on all different platforms on our streaming
24:00
network, which is behind me, as well as
24:03
Facebook, as well as YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, X.
24:10
Okay, so Bruce wants to know, and this
24:15
is an important question.
24:16
Can you respond to Britain's law, Low Welfare
24:20
Activities Abroad Act, the UK does have funds
24:23
designated to help with elephant welfare in the
24:26
range country, specifically India?
24:30
Yeah, that's a really brilliant question.
24:32
Speaking of which, I was invited to speak
24:35
at the UK Parliament in June of 2023.
24:38
And I'm closely working with a member of
24:41
the Parliament called Henry Smith.
24:44
He is he's the one that actually pushed
24:47
this law that you're talking about forward.
24:49
And he's done an amazing job campaigning.
24:53
He's our caution.
24:58
It's escaping me.
24:59
He is one of our patrons.
25:01
And he has been incredibly supportive.
25:03
So yes, we are working with them.
25:05
The problem is every government is afraid of,
25:08
you know, ruffling feathers with the with other
25:11
countries, and they're trying to be cautious and
25:15
and, you know, there's always this backlash of,
25:18
oh, you being, you know, the the kind
25:23
of people who dominated our country, why are
25:26
you coming back and telling us what to
25:29
do?
25:29
There's all these, you know, reverse racism happening,
25:34
and they use everything possible to really not
25:38
address the issue.
25:39
That's the whole problem.
25:41
Like, if we just kind of peel off
25:42
all these nasty layers, and just get to
25:46
the bottom of it, the problem is we
25:48
are talking about protecting elephants.
25:51
We're not talking about racism.
25:53
We're not talking about, oh, colonialism, that you
25:56
guys dominated our country, and now you're coming
25:58
back to tell us what to do.
26:00
No, we are experiencing these things.
26:02
And of course, you know, as, as a,
26:05
you know, partner nation, we are providing you
26:08
with certain amounts to do certain things.
26:12
What are you doing?
26:13
You know, and so they do have the
26:15
right to ask, but everybody is kind of
26:17
kind of walking on eggshells, you know, so
26:19
that's, that's the whole issue.
26:22
I understand what you're saying, Bruce.
26:23
Thanks for that question.
26:25
Wow, yeah, the elephants don't know.
26:27
I always say here in the United States,
26:29
they don't know if you're Democrat, Republican, liberal
26:31
or conservative.
26:32
If you are being tortured, you just want
26:36
to stop being tortured.
26:38
So this is really a fascinating conversation.
26:42
And I'm sorry to say, but similar issues
26:45
are happening with different species all over the
26:48
world.
26:49
Just last week, on this very show, we
26:52
were talking about the war against kangaroos in
26:57
Australia, and how kangaroos are not shoes, and
27:01
how the Australian government sides with the people
27:05
killing the kangaroos.
27:07
And that's why there is now an Animal
27:08
Justice Party in Australia to fight for the
27:12
kangaroos.
27:13
Because as the member of parliament we had
27:16
on Emma Hearst said, even the Environmental Party
27:19
is in favour of wiping out these kangaroos.
27:23
And they claim their pests and they claim
27:24
they're rising in numbers when the research shows
27:26
they're dramatically dropping in numbers.
27:29
And if we lose all this wildlife, we're
27:33
going to go too.
27:34
And we're at the point now where we
27:37
have reduced mammal wildlife biomass to only 4
27:43
% of total mammal biomass, where we've increased
27:48
the biomass of livestock, meaning animals raised to
27:52
be killed for food, to 62%.
27:55
So we're really barreling toward mass extinction.
28:01
So it's just insane to me that people
28:05
don't see this for what it is, and
28:07
they just buy this, oh, they're pests, or
28:10
it's religious, or there's no excuse for animal
28:14
abuse.
28:14
Yeah, I just want to say one thing
28:17
very quickly.
28:18
The National Academy of Sciences has produced a
28:22
research which suggests that humans make up only
28:27
0.02% of the earth's biomass.
28:31
And yet our species has managed to decimate
28:34
83% of the wildlife.
28:37
Imagine 83% of the wildlife we have
28:39
decimated.
28:40
Every single day, every 24 hours, 150 to
28:47
200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles are going
28:52
extinct because of our activities.
28:55
So at some point, we need to take
28:56
action.
28:57
And as Jane so beautifully said, when these
28:59
species become extinct, we are actually going to
29:03
collapse along with this magnificent web of life.
29:07
It's so scary.
29:08
We're going to take a short break here
29:09
on Voice America Radio, but we're staying alive
29:13
on the Unchained TV network.
29:15
We're staying live on all of our socials.
29:18
We'll be back in a second.
29:20
Thank you so much for that.
29:22
Always love that music.
29:24
And I always take this opportunity to tell
29:27
folks about our streaming network.
29:30
You can download this streaming network, and it's
29:34
absolutely free.
29:36
You can download it on your phone.
29:38
You can download it on your TV.
29:40
It's on all Samsung TVs.
29:41
You can also get it via Amazon Fire
29:43
Stick, your Roku device, your Apple TV device,
29:46
all those little devices.
29:47
You just put an Unchained TV one word,
29:49
and it pops right up.
29:50
And people actually don't believe this.
29:52
They say, well, what's your angle?
29:53
Well, there is no angle except trying to
29:55
save the planet, because it doesn't matter how
29:57
much money you have.
29:58
If there's no planet, it doesn't matter.
30:01
Okay, so we are free.
30:03
We give away the content for free just
30:05
to wake people up because the mainstream media
30:09
is not covering the story.
30:11
Yes, brilliant manoeuvres by people like Sajita Iyer
30:16
to do an entire documentary could result in
30:20
an article.
30:22
So you had an article in the BBC
30:25
about saving elephants from torture in temples.
30:31
But you had to spend years, risk your
30:35
life, and spend pretty much all your money
30:38
to get that done to get one article
30:40
in the BBC and other articles.
30:44
But the point is that it shouldn't require
30:46
heroic, extraordinary efforts, Herculean efforts to get these
30:51
issues that are so important covered by the
30:54
mainstream.
30:54
And when we come back, I want to
30:56
find out if Indian media is telling your
31:01
story, because this is a story really about
31:05
India.
31:06
And these 25,000 elephants that still exist
31:10
in India, it's going to require a group
31:14
effort.
31:15
You're doing everything you can to save India's
31:17
elephants.
31:18
But it's going to require the government.
31:20
It's going to require corporations.
31:21
It's going to require donors from around the
31:24
world for you to achieve your vision.
31:28
Just saving them from the train tracks is
31:32
$50,000 for one short period of train
31:36
tracks.
31:37
So we're going to come back right now
31:39
to our broadcast.
31:41
We thank Voice of America for giving us
31:43
this chance to speak.
31:46
You are listening to Unchained TV.
31:49
To reach the show today, call in to
31:51
1-866-472-5788.
31:54
That's 1-866-472-5788.
31:58
You may also send an email in to
32:00
jane at unchainedtv.com.
32:03
Now back to the show.
32:05
We are talking to Sangeeta Iyer.
32:08
She took this video.
32:10
She has devoted her life to saving India's
32:13
elephants.
32:14
They are in trouble, people.
32:16
They need our help in order to survive.
32:20
She has documented some of the biggest problems.
32:24
The fact is India is one of the
32:26
world's most populous nations, and more and more
32:29
people are encroaching on the elephant's habitat.
32:32
There's also the trains, and she has unveiled
32:35
a plan that is already saving elephants' lives
32:39
to put high-tech frequencies where the train
32:43
operators know there's an elephant and can avoid
32:46
killing them.
32:47
It has already saved a lot of lives.
32:49
She's also got a campaign against elephant riding,
32:52
and perhaps most notably with her film Gods
32:54
and Shackles, which won so many awards, she
32:57
is fighting the abduction and breaking of these
33:01
animals for use in temple ceremonies.
33:05
Why you?
33:07
Sangeeta, tell us what your story is and
33:11
why you decided to devote your life to
33:14
this cause.
33:17
Before I do that, I just wanted to
33:19
quickly say that the footage that you saw,
33:21
yes, I filmed it on my own, but
33:23
I could not have done it without the
33:25
support of National Geographic Society.
33:27
They believed in my mission, and I produced
33:29
this 26-part short docu-series of which
33:32
nine of them are streaming on NatGeo, multiple
33:35
NatGeo channels, and the rest, and including the
33:38
ones on NatGeo, are streaming on Unchained TV
33:41
as well.
33:42
So my journey began when I was a
33:44
three-year-old child.
33:45
My grandparents used to take me to this
33:47
temple.
33:48
I was born and raised in the southern
33:49
Indian state of Kerala, and my grandmother, actually,
33:54
she would just take me to the temple
33:55
and just leave me at the feet of
33:58
a bull elephant, and the two of us
34:01
would hang out, and this bull would take
34:03
care of me like I was his own
34:04
child.
34:05
He would just hold me, and I mean,
34:07
I had no fear at all.
34:09
It's almost like I was looking forward to
34:11
it while my grandparents went into the altar
34:13
and prayed and worshipped.
34:15
I just hung out with the So the
34:17
love, my love for elephants goes really, really
34:20
deep, and then one day when I became
34:24
a teenager, my grandma actually told me a
34:27
story, and she said that, Sangeeta, do you
34:29
know when you were four or five years
34:31
old, you once asked me this question, how
34:34
come that chain has a shackle, and how
34:36
come I don't have anything like that on
34:39
my legs?
34:40
So my smart grandma, she went out and
34:42
bought like anklets, and she wore me the
34:45
anklets, and she said, look, now you have
34:46
it too, and I said, no, no, but
34:48
their anklets are tied together.
34:51
They can't even move their legs, but I
34:54
can walk freely, and my grandma said I
34:56
became totally speechless.
34:59
So now when I look back at that
35:01
story, which is actually documented in my book,
35:03
Gods and Shackles, I think that my destiny
35:09
had been carved out when I was, you
35:11
know, three or four years old, because I
35:13
was paying deep attention, and I started asking
35:16
profound questions to my grandma and my grandpa,
35:19
and then, of course, life took over.
35:22
I moved to Mumbai with my parents.
35:25
Of course, we still had elephants there.
35:28
You know, in Mumbai, there are some places
35:30
where there are elephants, and every time I
35:33
saw an elephant, my heart would skip a
35:35
beat.
35:35
It's almost like this is my love, the
35:37
love of my life, and then, of course,
35:41
I moved to Canada, and I've been living
35:43
here for 35 years, so I mean a
35:46
lot happened in between, but about 12 years
35:50
ago, I returned to Kerala where I was
35:52
born, and one of my friends said I
35:55
want to take you to the temples there
35:58
so you can see what's happening with the
36:00
elephants, because he knew that I love elephants,
36:03
and I said, okay, I'll bring a camera,
36:06
and I brought my camera, and I started
36:07
filming as a videographer, and I was utterly
36:11
devastated.
36:11
All this footage that you're seeing, I gathered
36:14
this with my mini camera, hidden camera, and
36:18
I shared it, and I used it to
36:20
produce my short films, and then, of course,
36:22
I hired another camera person to film some
36:25
of the things that you saw in Gods
36:27
and Shackles, but the images that you're seeing
36:29
now, those were filmed for the 26-part
36:32
short docu-series, The Wild Elephants, and so
36:35
began my journey in 2012, 2013, and I
36:42
gathered approximately 400 hours of footage and then
36:45
produced this film, Gods and Shackles.
36:47
Little did I know that it would garner
36:49
the attention of the United Nations General Assembly,
36:52
where it was screened and nominated for the
36:55
World Wildlife Day.
36:57
It was just really touching, and it won
36:59
approximately 12 International Film Festival Awards, even the
37:03
most prestigious Indian Film Festival Award, and I
37:08
was so humbled to receive an award from
37:10
the President of India for this documentary, so
37:13
all these things, I mean, it's not, I'm
37:16
not bragging about all the things.
37:18
You have to say, you know, you have
37:21
to say what you've accomplished, so people can
37:23
understand and know why they should support you.
37:27
Oh, thank you, and I say this because
37:30
I didn't produce the film to win anything.
37:34
I produced the film just so people get
37:36
to see the suffering of the elephants, and
37:39
they, you know, they try to help them,
37:42
they change their habits, they change their mindsets,
37:45
and thinking it is happening, and hey, I'm
37:48
going to tell you something else.
37:50
Okay, so after my film had been launched,
37:53
and over the last, say, five, six years,
37:56
people have started getting a feel that, oh
37:59
my God, this is not right, this is
38:00
not right.
38:01
Guess what?
38:01
They've started launching robotic elephants in Kerala, and
38:06
many temples, many temples are now using, and
38:09
I am so proud to share with you,
38:11
this is the news that I'm breaking here,
38:14
that our organisation, Voices for Asian Elephants, is
38:18
going to be launching a robotic elephant.
38:21
I'm so excited.
38:23
I can't tell you when, where, and how,
38:25
but very soon, because I don't want the
38:28
saboteurs to come and sabotage our efforts, so
38:31
I'm excited, so excited that one step at
38:35
a time, we're really making changes, and then
38:37
in June 2023, remember you talked about people
38:41
occupying the space, Jane, what we did was
38:44
we bought a four-acre plot of land
38:47
in Kerala, and we are rewilding this land,
38:50
so what, I mean, you may think, oh,
38:52
it's just four acres, but here's the thing,
38:54
you have a forest patch on one side,
38:56
and then on the other side, and in
38:58
the middle, you have tea plantations, you have,
39:00
you know, rubber plantations, so what we did
39:04
was we bought that four-acre space in
39:06
between these two forest patches, cleared up the
39:09
whole thing, and connected, so we have created
39:12
a corridor, and 340 plus elephants can now
39:17
wander that space freely and happily without any
39:21
concerns, because we have created the safe place,
39:24
safe space, there is no, there are no
39:27
electrical fencing, there are no wells, I'm returning
39:31
to India to see all of this, and
39:33
again, I'm not saying when exactly, but very
39:35
soon, and I'm just so excited that we're
39:38
going to continue to do this work, and
39:40
make sure that elephant, we protect elephants in
39:42
every which way, but again, like Jane said,
39:45
all of these projects require funding, so anything
39:49
you can do to support, you'll be part
39:51
of our wonderful elephant-saving mission, so thank
39:56
you so much, Jane, this is awesome.
39:58
Wow, this is so exciting, you've heard it
40:00
here, breaking news, this is the first time
40:03
this has come out, that robotic elephants are
40:07
going to be used in India in place
40:10
of actual elephants, and you know, when one's
40:13
a success, everybody's going to want to follow,
40:16
so are you saying, this is fascinating, I
40:19
think this is big, and you know, we
40:22
could always appeal to the idea that so
40:24
much technology is coming out of India right
40:26
now, you know, in other words, not sell
40:29
it even on an animal rights basis, but
40:31
sell it on, this is the future, this
40:33
is technology, don't you want to be the
40:36
leader in a technological revolution, and so that's
40:40
another way to get like the government on
40:41
board, just even leave animals out of it,
40:44
so is this for temples?
40:47
Yeah, this is for a temple, this is
40:49
for a temple in the bordering state, so
40:53
there's this little, I can't discuss more details,
40:58
because I know, leave it, oh, we've got
41:01
a caller actually, is Jose still on hold,
41:04
I'm sorry, he's been waiting a while, Jose,
41:09
sorry to keep you waiting, your question or
41:12
thought.
41:14
No, it's totally fine, no, no, it's very
41:16
fascinating hearing about the electronic elephants, I think
41:19
that's a brilliant idea, it'll still bring tourists
41:21
in, and but you know, obviously there'll be
41:23
no animals involved, I just wanted to say
41:24
thank you for defending the elephants, I think
41:26
they're beautiful creatures, I just had a quick
41:28
question, why do you believe the people of
41:31
India ignore the non-violent religious principle of
41:35
Himsa?
41:35
Thank you.
41:36
Whoa, what a great question, thank you, Jose,
41:40
sorry, once more, what was the question?
41:43
Why do the people of India ignore the
41:46
spiritual principle, I don't know much about this
41:49
religion, or any religion, so I don't want
41:51
to say the wrong religion, but the principle
41:54
of a Himsa is a religious principle, and
41:57
that's non-violence, and yet violence is being
42:00
ignored.
42:01
Yeah, yeah, I got it, okay, sorry, that
42:04
I missed that word ignored, okay, so I,
42:08
you know, that's a good question, I don't
42:09
have a straightforward answer, if I said I
42:12
did, then I would be lying, but what
42:14
I think is going on, is that the
42:17
elephant mafias, as I call them, the elephant
42:20
owners, they are brainwashing, I mean, we see
42:24
brainwashing happening in the United States right now,
42:28
I mean, and in different parts of the
42:30
world, everywhere, so there are these memes that
42:34
they put out, saying, oh, this is part
42:36
of our culture, this is part of our
42:38
traditions, we got to do this, and so
42:40
there are so many gullible people who buy
42:43
into that, and these people, they don't see,
42:46
they don't go behind the scenes to investigate
42:49
the way I did, and even if somebody
42:52
like me said, you know, that these things
42:54
are happening, they would feel sad, you know,
42:56
when the movie was being screened across India,
42:59
so many, in the thousands, in the droves,
43:03
people showed up in theatres, and to talk
43:06
to me, to touch me, and all these
43:07
kinds of things, I'm like, let's just, I'm
43:10
not, I'm just a messenger, the message here
43:13
is that we actually live up to our,
43:17
you know, whatever, ahimsa, which is what India
43:20
is grounded in, ahimsa is not a religious
43:23
principle, but it is something that India is
43:26
grounded in, and it was actually launched by
43:29
Mahatma Gandhi, and you know, he said, the
43:32
greatness of a nation and its moral progress
43:34
is determined by the way the elephant, I
43:37
mean, the animals are treated, of course, I
43:39
said elephants are treated, but yeah, that's, that's,
43:42
that's, that's what it is, and so when
43:44
these people are brainwashed, they just don't know
43:47
what to do, and you create awareness, you're
43:50
empowering them, I've launched my second NatGeo project,
43:54
where we are actually talking to school teachers
43:57
to start implementing ecological principles in their curriculum,
44:02
and this is something that I'm going to
44:03
be launching, it's going to be completed next
44:06
year, so we're starting now from scratch, so
44:08
I'm doing, on the outside, these films, etc.,
44:12
we are launching, and then we are doing
44:13
the projects, and then we are going into
44:15
schools, and then we're helping teachers create curriculum
44:17
units, I mean, it's all, like, we're leaving
44:20
no stone unturned, and ultimately, I just hope
44:26
that it resonates with people, and they, and
44:29
they are speaking out, like I said, and
44:32
a lot of temples are now embracing and,
44:34
you know, using robotic elephants, and we are
44:36
going to be launching one, so it takes
44:38
time, these practises have been instilled in their
44:41
minds over the centuries, so it's going to
44:45
take at least a few years for us
44:47
to make them unlearn these things, and then
44:49
learn the new things, right, so it's a
44:52
process.
44:53
So are you going to be doing a
44:55
video, a short documentary on the robotic elephants?
45:00
Yes.
45:01
Because that, I think, would be a really
45:04
good way to, you know, popularise it, it
45:07
could be something that makes more money.
45:10
I hate to say it, but it always
45:12
comes down to follow the money, and if
45:15
you can make more money showing robotic elephants
45:18
than you can with that, with real elephants,
45:22
then people will jump on board with it,
45:24
and so maybe you can partner with some,
45:27
you know, India is so high-tech now,
45:31
there are tech billionaires who are Indian, who
45:33
might want to partner with you on a
45:36
for-profit basis for that aspect of it.
45:39
It reminds me of the circuses, you know,
45:42
when the circuses were attacked for using animals,
45:46
they said, well, you know, you're putting us
45:47
out of business.
45:48
No, what happened was Cirque du Soleil came
45:51
around, well, first of all, PETA and a
45:53
lot of incredible organisations protested for years, so
45:56
they attended many of those protests, but at
45:59
the same time Cirque du Soleil was showing
46:02
more spectacular performances with people who have a
46:07
right to say, yes, I want to do
46:08
this, or no, I don't want to do
46:09
this, and they were becoming more interesting than
46:13
the elephant and the animal-based circuses, so
46:17
the combination of the protests and the innovation
46:21
of Cirque du Soleil really put Ringling Brothers,
46:25
Barnum & Bailey out of business.
46:27
Now they claim they're coming back without animals,
46:30
but it's a very similar kind of situation
46:33
of what you're talking about with the elephants.
46:36
Absolutely, and you hit the nail right on
46:38
because I think that, you know, with India
46:41
launching all kinds of scientific mechanisms into, they've
46:47
entered the solar system, the lunar system, and
46:50
they've got all these robots everywhere, I'm sure
46:54
that they could take pride in, you know,
46:57
implementing technologies, and these robotic elephants are created
47:01
by Indian technologists and Indian artists, and this
47:05
EleSense device that I talked to you about,
47:07
it is actually developed by the local technical
47:12
people who understand the local terrain and who
47:16
are also conservationists, so it's a combination of,
47:20
we are actually partnering with a combination of
47:22
different kinds of people, conservationists, technologists, and like
47:26
you said, if, you know, we would love
47:28
for like a billionaire tech person to join
47:32
us and support our efforts, and even companies,
47:36
it takes time, this is the first time
47:38
we are launching, and so once we have
47:40
this thing and once we produce a short
47:42
film or film or whatever we choose to
47:45
do, it will get some mileage, I think,
47:48
and people will, you know, see this and
47:51
say, hey, not only is it that it's
47:54
not good, it's, I mean, that animals are
47:56
protected, but also it is safer for humans,
47:59
because when elephants are paraded in festivals, they
48:03
run amok, they're stampede, and so many hundreds
48:05
of people get killed every single year.
48:09
Wow, well, that's another thing, so we only
48:12
have a little bit of time, I have
48:14
a couple of questions, you said that you
48:16
got an award from the President of India,
48:19
so what I don't understand is how is
48:21
the President of India seeing, maybe it was
48:25
the previous President, I don't know, a President
48:27
of India, seeing this film, Gods and Shackles,
48:31
and being so moved by it that you
48:32
get an award, but at the same time,
48:35
they're not responding politically to the answer, the
48:39
solution, which is to crack down on these
48:42
temples abusing elephants.
48:45
Yeah, so it was a previous President, and
48:50
I hope to meet the new President, I
48:56
mean, I really don't have an answer for
48:59
that either, but that's a really good question,
49:02
and the sad reality is that because of
49:06
the tremendous increase in human population, they're more
49:10
focused on development, and actually reckless development, and
49:15
because humans are their vote banks, animals cannot
49:19
vote, at the end of the day, that
49:21
is what it boils down to, politics plays
49:24
a toxic role everywhere around the world, it's
49:28
really toxic, and it's spewing poison everywhere, and
49:32
you know, disinformation, misinformation, as we all know
49:36
is happening right now, and one of the
49:39
things is that some people, they want to
49:42
do the right thing, but they just don't
49:44
have the courage, they just don't have the
49:46
courage to do or say things, because they
49:48
don't want to offend others, or they don't
49:51
want to lose their position, you know, so
49:54
again, it's just a matter of...
49:56
You've gotten cyber bullied for standing up for
49:58
the elephants, but it didn't stop you, I
50:01
have a suggestion, get a Bollywood star to
50:06
partner with the mechanical bull, and do a
50:10
big media event unveiling the mechanical bull with
50:14
celebrity, we live in a celebrity culture, and
50:16
I don't care whether you're talking about India
50:18
or Hollywood, celebrities bring out the media, and
50:21
I think if you, unfortunately, I wish it
50:25
could be from the perspective of be nice
50:27
to animals, be kind to animals, but if
50:31
you do it from a technology perspective, and
50:34
you do it from a celebrity perspective, and
50:36
kind of bury that other message a little
50:39
bit, that really gets more mainstream coverage, do
50:44
you have any Bollywood celebrities that you can
50:46
reach out to?
50:48
I've tried, we keep trying, and there's one
50:53
Bollywood celebrity, Abraham, John Abraham, who is actually
50:57
an animal lover, he's actually a top-notch
51:02
Bollywood star, and I mean, he lives in
51:07
Mumbai, and the launch is taking place in
51:09
the Southern Indian region, and at the end
51:12
of the day, like whether he, you know,
51:14
he has the time, because he's got shoot
51:16
schedules, and all these things, right, so it's
51:19
one of those things where, you know, they
51:22
need to prioritise, they need to feel that
51:26
this is really important, and they need to
51:27
prioritise, it's not a lack of trying, but
51:30
at some point it'll work, we are just
51:33
waiting to sort of amp up our profile
51:35
a little bit more, so celebrities will come
51:38
and join us, and there are Bollywood celebrities
51:40
who are working with PETA India, so that's
51:43
really exciting, and I'm happy for that, and
51:45
I'm happy for them, so yeah, it'll take
51:48
some time, and we will make that happen,
51:51
even if we don't have them at this
51:53
time, maybe sometime in the future, because we're
51:56
not going to stop launching robotic elephants, you
51:58
know, so we're going to continue to do
52:00
that a little bit, a few at a
52:02
time.
52:03
Yeah, maybe you can partner with PETA on
52:04
this, I mean, it sounds like it's right
52:06
up their alley, I know they have a
52:09
robotic animal that they have at the animal
52:12
rights conferences, I think it's a cow, and
52:15
it's super, super fascinating, it's always a big
52:18
hit, it's one of the things that everybody
52:21
likes to see, and so I can't believe
52:26
all the things you are doing, and how
52:28
are you getting this done, in other words,
52:30
you have just listed so many projects, each
52:34
one would be enough for one organisation, how
52:37
do you get, how are you getting this
52:39
done, how are you funding it?
52:42
So, I have a really good team of
52:45
board of directors, and of course, all of
52:47
us are volunteers, and they, I have a
52:51
good grant writer, our secretary is amazing, we
52:54
have a few volunteers who are actually doing
52:58
some fundraising, but obviously, it's not nearly enough,
53:01
we are getting some funding just recently from,
53:04
you know, top foundations, but we would love
53:06
for people to start doing their own fundraisers,
53:10
like you can log on, you can, you
53:12
know, go to GoGiving, or whatever, like, I
53:15
don't know what it's called, GoFundMe, or, you
53:18
know, Global Giving, or whatever, you can launch
53:21
your own campaign under our, and you can
53:24
launch it under Facebook, you can do Facebook
53:27
fundraisers, and go to our organisation, and choose
53:31
our organisation to support us, so, yes, funding
53:34
is critically important, and it is something that
53:37
we struggle for, but given that we are
53:40
such, we are so focused on saving lives
53:42
at the moment, we just sometimes feel that
53:45
once we have all these results, more and
53:47
more foundations will start supporting us, and just
53:50
last year, like I said, you know, we
53:52
had only one foundation the previous year, but
53:54
last year, we had another foundation who came
53:57
on board, and we hope to continue to
53:59
follow that path, and show them, you know,
54:02
scientific results that actually will inspire them to
54:06
support our cause, and all of the people
54:09
that have joined here today, like, anything you
54:11
can do to support would be really appreciated.
54:15
Wow, well, I want to say you are
54:17
just such an inspiration, and, you know, you
54:21
told us the problem, but you haven't been
54:24
stuck in the problem, you are providing solutions,
54:28
and that's what I really love, because if
54:31
you just document the problem, people get depressed,
54:33
and they feel overwhelmed, and they are like,
54:35
wow, but you are saying, hey, we can
54:36
stop elephants in India getting hit by trains,
54:40
we can create wildlife corridors with just a
54:43
few acres, buying a few acres here and
54:45
there, that connect elephants from one wild area
54:49
to another, we can get robotic elephants, which
54:53
was breaking news that we broke here on
54:55
Unchained TV, to replace these tortured temple elephants,
54:59
we can do campaigns to stop people from
55:03
getting on elephants for rides when they are
55:06
tourists, and you have just so much, and
55:10
then there's all the videos you are doing,
55:12
so I urge everybody, please support this organisation,
55:15
one of the top organisations anywhere in the
55:18
world, and India is, again, one of the
55:22
most populous nations, and so it's so important,
55:25
it will have such an impact, so donate
55:27
at vfaes.org, that stands for Voices for
55:32
Asian Elephant Society, you can go there, you
55:35
can learn all about it, let's be part
55:37
of the solution, and thank you so much,
55:40
Sangeeta, for being on, we are huge fans,
55:43
and everybody is saying, get her to come
55:46
back soon, more segments, please, she's a mover
55:49
and shaker.
55:51
Well, thank you, I mean, you are a
55:54
great inspiration as well, I mean, we do
55:56
this collectively, you know, you have been a
55:59
tremendous voice for all of these animals, and
56:02
thank you so much for all that you
56:04
do, for the opportunities you provide, and we'll
56:07
continue to work together, I can't do this
56:09
alone, but thank you for your kind words,
56:11
thanks so much.
56:11
We will see you next time, Sangeeta,