BREAKING: New Video Footage Reveals Rampant Elephant Abuse at ‘Humane’ Chitwan Elephant Festival

Chitwan – Explosive new video footage taken by PETA at the ongoing Chitwan Elephant Festival shows mahouts repeatedly striking frightened elephants with bullhooks (weapons that resemble a fireplace poker with a sharp hook on one end) and sticks – abuse that flies in the face of the festival’s misleading claims that it was updated to be “elephant friendly.” (textless footage is available on Dropbox)

The abuse is being sponsored by the Nepal Tourism Board, Barahsinghe Beer and Machhapuchchhre Bank.

The damning new video comes after PETA released footage from the 2024, 2023 and 2022 festivals, in which mahouts were documented beating and jabbing wounded and scarred elephants on their heads, and behind their ears. In light of the systemic abuse, more than a dozen animal protection organisations around the world have called on Nepalese authorities to shut down the exploitative event.

“Elephants feel pain and fear just as we do, and they belong in the forests with their families, not at a cruel festival where they’re beaten, chained, and tormented for stupid spectacles,” says PETA Asia President Jason Baker. “The Chitwan Elephant Festival is the shame of Nepal, and PETA is calling on government officials to end this relentless abuse by shutting down this cruel event.”

PETA notes that elephants are highly social beings who thrive in matriarchal herds where they protect each other, care for their babies, and travel many miles a day. But those exploited for “games,” rides, shows, and other forms of entertainment are often chained, beaten, and threatened with violence to keep them afraid and submissive.

PETA Asia – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way” – points out that Every Animal Is Someone. For more information, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow PETA Asia on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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