Saving Our Elephants

In a unique initiative Women and Child Development minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi and People For Animals have organised an exhibition on Elephant Art - a fundraiser for Wildlife SOS to support the Elephant Rescue Centre and the care of the rescued elephants in India. 

Renowned artists in the country including SH Raza, Subodh Gupta, Binoy Varghese, Seema Kohli, Rini Dhumal, Thukral & Tagra, Jayasri Burman, Anjolie Ela Menon, Paresh Maity and several others, work will be on display. Also celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan have painted fibreglass elephant statues which will be on display and sale. The exhibition is curated by Sunaina Anand of Art Alive Gallery.

The first Elephant Conservation and Care centre in India has been started by an NGO Wildlife SOS that was established in 1998. All the funds raised from the Elephant Art event will be given to Wildlife SOS who run the “Elephant Conservation and Care Center” (ECCC) in Mathura which is near to the Agra Bear Rescue Facility.  Wildlife SOS provides treatment and care for 18 elephants. The ECCC is in the middle of natural vegetation with open fields around for their daily walks and trees to scratch themselves, making it close to the natural habitat of the elephants. Water pools have been provided to the elephants with free access for them to bath and play in the water. The ECCC is flanked by 215 acres of forest on one side and a river on the other side.

Historically the elephant is animal which is worshipped across the world. They are folk divinities in three major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In fact Gautama Buddha descended in the form of a white elephant. This fundraiser will be inaugurated on November 28 at 7 pm onwards and the exhibition will continue till 30th November 2015 at Le Meridian Hotel in the national Capital.