The suspension of the Delhi Zoo’s membership by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) has put spotlight on the neglected issue of the poor management of zoos in India. The suspension comes due to concerns over the ill-treatment of an African elephant (Shankar).
While there is no doubt that zoos in India and the animals who live in them need to be treated better, there is one aspect of this incident that deserves further examination: The practice of animal diplomacy. Animal diplomacy involves giving or lending animals as a sign of friendship or goodwill between countries.
Shankar did not end up in the Delhi Zoo by accident. In fact, he was received by India from Zimbabwe as a “gift” in 1996 along with his mate Vimbai. Vimbai was only five years old when she died in 2001. Shankar has been living in solitary confinement for over two decades since then, shackled most of the time.
Animals as “gifts”
Animal diplomacy is an age-old practice originating in China and has long been encouraged as a tool for extending a country’s soft power to other parts of the world. However, the proposed benefits of this tactic in improving diplomatic ties between nation states are more anecdotal than based on any empirical evidence.
Despite this, there are plans to extend animal diplomacy beyond its traditional scope of “spreading peace and goodwill”. Recently, Malaysia proposed a plan to gift critically endangered orangutans to countries that buy its palm oil. The irony of this plan is not lost on many since orangutans ended up becoming critically endangered primarily due to habitat loss and degradation for palm oil cultivation.
Further, discussions surrounding animal diplomacy often glorify the practice without taking into consideration the welfare of the animals involved in these transactions. Therefore, it becomes important to examine the animal welfare concerns that this practice gives rise to, the role of countries that “gift” animals, and the responsibilities of receiving countries.
Welfare concerns in animal diplomacy
When a wild animal like an elephant is “gifted” to another country, it involves being forcefully separated from their herds, familiar habitats and native surroundings. The journey to their new “home” is perilous as it involves transportation over long distances. Settling in requires them to get used to unfamiliar weather, captive conditions, and new caretakers in the receiving countries. These challenges cause immense physical and mental trauma to these animals, who often display aggressive behaviours, resulting in further mistreatment, cruelty, or neglect.
Another peculiar challenge arises in the case of diplomatic animals due to language barriers. Often, the language that these animals are trained in is different from the language used by their handlers in the receiving country. This leads to the animal not following commands and being mistreated for being disobedient. This became evident in the case of the elephant Sak Surin (also known as Muthu Raja), who was gifted by Thailand to Sri Lanka in 2001.
In Sri Lanka, Muthu Raja stayed in a Buddhist temple and was forced to participate in religious parades despite suffering from a limp for several years. He was not given proper care or medication to recover from his injuries. His caretakers complained that he was extremely difficult to handle because he was trained in a foreign language and had difficulty understanding their commands.
Muthu Raja’s condition became so severe that the government of Thailand requested his return to the country for further treatment and rehabilitation. After much delay, he was airlifted to Thailand in 2023. However, Muthu Raja’s story is not the story of all diplomatic animals who are mistreated in their receiving countries.
The role of sending countries
In most cases, the sending country’s desire to maintain a cordial relationship with the receiving country leads to it refraining from interfering with how the animals are treated in the receiving country. This was apparent in the case of the elephant Kaavan in Pakistan, known as the loneliest elephant in the world.
Kaavan was gifted by Sri Lanka to Pakistan in 1985. He lived in a small enclosure in Islamabad Zoo with his companion, Saheli, who died of sepsis in 2012. Afterwards, it was alleged that Kaavan was frequently restrained and poked with nailed bullhooks by his handlers, causing him to gradually fall into psychosis and obesity, with infected injuries and permanent scars.
A global campaign started in 2015 urging Pakistan to free Kaavan. In 2020, in response to a petition filed in the Islamabad High Court requesting his relocation, Kaavan was relocated to a sanctuary in Cambodia. Throughout this period, Sri Lanka, as the sending country, did not take any action to rescue him.
The way forward
Currently, once “gifted”, diplomatic animals are subject to the legal regime of the receiving state as it applies to captive animals. However, as evident in Shankar’s case, the domestic laws of receiving countries can often be insufficient to protect diplomatic animals from abuse.
Therefore, what is needed is an international convention to protect diplomatic animals that mandates a set of internationally accepted minimum conditions which must be fulfilled by both countries to safeguard the welfare of diplomatic animals. It would also need to contain dispute resolution mechanisms. Since a multilateral instrument might be difficult to achieve, sending and receiving countries could at least enter into bilateral agreements that specify the welfare conditions that these animals must be kept in.
Both, an international convention and bilateral agreements, are only stop gap arrangements though. There is a need to recognise that animal diplomacy is a relic of the past. It has failed to evolve with our changing understanding of animal sentience. Thus, a long-term solution would be to phase out this archaic practice that causes immense animal suffering with little to no benefit to human beings and the nations they constitute.
As a country that takes pride in its deep commitment to ahimsa, India can lead the way by abolishing this practice and refusing to participate in the giving and receiving of animals as gifts.
Apoorva and Vaishnavi Vasanth work at ALPN Research Foundation. Seethawaka is an animal law expert from Sri Lanka
