Experiencing the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre

By Rhea Narielwalla

I arrived at the rescue centre expecting to find two broken traumatised elephants, untrusting of human beings. However, the reality couldn’t have been further from this, Anisha and Gauri still wear the scars of their past, but they have managed to retain a kindness in their eyes and a trust that not all humans are like those they have experienced. They navigate their new surrounding and find healing in each other and their new friends — a friendly cow, her exuberant calf and a cat that hasn’t quite decided what to make of these creatures yet.

Gauri didn’t seem to want to interact with us at first, so we walked over to where Anisha stood. She watched as we listened to tales of her past and present, she did a little tentative sniffing around our feet and stared at us with curiosity….then when the

guavas made an appearance, she decided it was alright to touch us gently with her trunk. Of course, she did this in anticipation of being fed a guava, but still, this little gesture conveyed an astounding resilience. Anisha, though put through the ringer when forced into logging, still had hope that she could develop happy relationships with new humans.

When I placed my hand on her trunk and stared into her eyes, it was as though she told me her whole story and trusted me to understand her.

While Gauri (understandably so) wasn’t as ready to open up to strangers, it was evident that she too is trying to remember what it means to be happy. She is still processing her trauma of being sold to a temple and “tamed” with the ankush, but she is also trying to move past it, forge new friendships and enjoy life’s little pleasures — like joy of playing in the rain.

The unlikely friendship between elephant, cow and calf — hearing stories of their talkative sleepovers and consequent cranky mornings — made me think that these animals are so much more human than we realise. In reading environmental theory and philosophy, one often encounters debates about non-human sentience. But while watching the two elephants go for a stroll together, holding trunks and rumbling away their affection towards each other, all I could think was what more proof does one need, to affirm that non-human nature is sentient and deserving of moral consideration (maybe more so than some humans).

These were some of the prominent thoughts and experiences that came up during my visit to the rescue centre. The most tangible memory I will takeaway from this visit was the experience of touching Anisha’s trunk. I did not really know what an elephant trunk felt like, and I can’t exactly explain why my mind seems to have clung onto this particular event. Whether it was just the excitement of a new experience (one I never thought I would have) or whether it goes deeper than that, I am not sure yet, but I’m sure it’ll become clearer the more I work in this field.