Youth Incorporated Magazine

Mumbai – Children at Mumbai’s Jamnabai Narsee International School received a special visit from actor Dia Mirza, who speaks through Ellie, a stunningly realistic life-size animatronic elephant, as part of a unique People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India child empathy initiative. While blinking her eyes and flapping her ears just like a real elephant, Ellie will appear in schools across India to tell children the story of real elephants who are separated from their mothers as babies and describe the physical punishments they endure in the circus. Ellie’s “personal” story has a feel-good ending, as she is rescued and lives happily ever after at a sanctuary.  

Photos and video of Dia Mirza and Ellie are available here. 

“Elephants are deeply intelligent, social, and emotional beings who belong in nature, not in confinement, where they are chained and beaten,” says Mirza, who is known for her work as UN Secretary-General Advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals and UN Environment Program Goodwill Ambassador. “I am delighted to be working with PETA India and giving a voice to Ellie to teach youngsters that kindness to elephants means letting them live free.” 

She adds, “As a mother, it’s an extremely conscious choice for me to support and work with education initiatives that create such a beautiful and nuanced sense of connection with nature among children. Through Ellie, I hope we can further build the precious bond our young ones already have with the planet as earthlings.”  

Dia, who is also an ambassador for the Wildlife Trust of India, a board member of the Sanctuary Nature Foundation, and a global ambassador for IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), finds a seamless resonance with Ellie and the cause of safeguarding our elephants. 

Captive elephants used for circuses, rides, weddings, ceremonies, and other forms of entertainment are beaten into submission and chained when not in use. They often attack humans out of the frustration at their confinement. They are rarely given adequate food, water, or veterinary care, and the years spent chained and standing in one position on hard concrete surfaces commonly leads to painful and crippling foot ailments and bone and joint diseases like arthritis.  

PETA India also runs a free humane education programme, Compassionate Citizen, designed to help school students aged 8 to 12 years better understand and appreciate animals. It has been used by over 2 lakh schools, reaching approximately 90 million children across India.  

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.