AIPL Joins Hands with Wildlife SOS and Adopts Phoolkali – a Former Bonded Alephant

By 121 News

Ludhiana, Sept.11, 2023:- Living up to its commitment of giving a better life to all God's creatures, AIPL has joined hands with Wildlife SOS and has adopted Phoolkali – a former bonded elephant. The adoption of Phoolkali entails ensuring healthy food, delicious treats, medical care and various playful enrichments.

Phoolkali's life has been a very traumatic one. She was rescued in 2012 when she was 55 years old. Blind in the right eye and weak in her legs, Phoolkali had no respite from her torturous routine of begging for alms, for the survival of her owner who never cared for her. Phoolkali was forced to navigate through narrow streets and littered roads at the thunderous shout of her owner or a stab of bull-hook to her forehead, leaving her physically and psychologically tortured and completely breaking her spirit as an elephant. Phoolkali's towering structure does not account for the insurmountable amount of pain that she has gone through in her life, living a monotonous routine of walking the city streets of Agra. In the middle of car honks and traffic, Phoolkali would walk exhaustingly by her owner who would abuse her as a begging elephant. When Phoolkali was rescued, she was weak and dehydrated and her spine was distinctively sticking out showing signs of malnutrition and improper care, she was scared and would display signs of stress by aggressively bobbing and swaying her head. Upon proper examination, not only was Phoolkali grossly underweight but was also blind in her right eye, due to untreated cataract, but this magnificent elephant held on to every bit of strength left in her and recovered miraculously. A healthy diet and lots of care has made this majestic elephant rediscover her true self.

With support from AIPL, Phoolkali has now fully recovered. Her favourite food is cabbage and jackfruit along with beetroot, pumpkin, juicy watermelon, sun melon and sugarcane as well as green fodder. She enjoys long walks to the Yamuna and loves a dip in the river. Today Phoolkali weighs 4500 kgs. Phoolkali's tremendous healing journey continues from a timid, weak and bruised elephant, unsure of her new surroundings, she now indulges in luxurious dustbaths, makes complete use of the various enrichments in her enclosure and spends her time in the loving company of other elephants.

Speaking about this unique initiative, Director AIPL Shamsheer Singh stated that our company is very happy to see Phoolkali fully recover and is also glad to note that she is in good mental state too. Our endeavour is always to have a humane approach towards all animals, an example of which is the facilities we have for stray dogs at our townships.