‘Irinjadappilly Raman’: PETA India gifts India’s first-ever robotic elephant to a Kerala temple

‘Irinjadappilly Raman’, India’s first-ever life-sized robotic elephant greets devotees at the Sree Krishna Temple in Kerala’s Thrissur district.

Following a pledge taken by the temple not to use live animals for rituals or festivities, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA India) gifted them with the robotic elephant.

The 11-foot tall e-elephant is made of metal, and rubber sheets and uses motors to move its head, ears and tail.

PETA India says this is an initiative to encourage more temples to adopt e-elephants.

Kerala has the highest number of captive elephants and there are frequent instances of the pachyderms running amok during temple festivities.