Blind Elephant Gets 1st Taste Of Freedom After Enduring 46 Years Of Abuse

blind elephant gets first taste of freedom after enduring 46 years of abuse [Music] karma was one of the four thousand elephants that live in captivity in India many of them suffer in the living conditions and a percentage of them died prematurely because of exhaustion and infections it's been found that the life expectancy of elephants in captivity has dropped from 70 to 75 years to below 40 common causes of death are Falls from trucks that transfer them from place to place infections related to their diet and exposure to heat and Sun according to Suparna Ganguly president of the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center their keepers and managers are largely ignorant and this leads elephants to their death due to unnatural conditions most of these deaths are due to torture abuse overwork or faulty management practices she says the fact that these elephants are kept in sheds full of concrete causes their feet to develop abscesses and thinning pads sometimes leading to severe infection also there are problems with their diet well in the wild they eat more than 100 different routes in captivity they're obliged to eat glucose rich dried sugarcane fodder for their whole life which causes intestine infections and can even lead to death [Music] where are these animals used they're used in processions and temple rituals they're used to carry tourists around the streets or even in political parties campaigns this exhausts them more and more until they have a serious accident usually during their transfer to what they call rejuvenation camps and die in pain shortly after all the above sounds terrible right now imagine a blind elephant having to go through all this relying on its keepers guidance all the time can you even guess how difficult it must be for a blind elephant to walk the busy streets with tourists riding it karma had to spend the first 46 years of his life in captivity she's blind and she was used as a prop to beg for money or carry heavy loads on the busy Indian streets all this until she was finally set free this january wildlife SOS finally set karma free and took her to the elephant care and conservation center in northern india there she'll certainly enjoy the rest of her life or at least her caretakers will try to help her live a happy life in the clip that follows we can see karma stepping off the ambulance that took her to the elephant hospital where she would be comprehensively examined by bats and taking care by the staff a few weeks later her feet started to heal by walking on a proper train and the hospital staff managed to make her feel more relaxed and happy the sanctuary also started a fundraiser earlier this year hoping to raise enough money for the needs of karma and they managed to raise a few hundred dollars now Karma's confidently walking towards healing both physically and psychologically and we're sure all the people around her are doing their best to help [Music] [Music] [Music]