By IANS,
New Delhi : ‘Lalu, save Bholu’ is the slogan of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to save elephants that are killed in accidents with trains in the country. Bholu the elephant is the official mascot of the Indian Railways.
PETA members, in their effort to draw attention to the issue, enacted a scene in front of Rail Bhavan here with a railway engine killing a dummy elephant.
“We are trying to create awareness among people that hundreds of elephants are killed every year in accidents with trains. This is posing a serious danger to our wild life,” Sachin Bangera, campaign coordinator of PETA told IANS.
PETA said that though the railways minister had formed a committee to look into the matter to save wild elephants, no progress has been made so far.
“We had urged Laluji to take action, in response we were told that a committee has been formed. But, there has been no progress, as two elephants have already died in rail accidents last month,”
“It’s time for the government to take proactive steps to protect Bholu’s real life friends in the wild,” said Sachin.
According to a survey conducted by Wildlife Trust of India, in the past two decades, the number of elephants has dropped by over 50 percent.
Besides poaching, train accidents are said be the prime reason for their decline.