Thursday, July 10, 2014

tears of joy

An elephant who'd been shackled with spiked chains for his entire 50-year life cried tears of joy when he was finally freed from his horrific captivity.

Raju had water streaming down his face as a daring team of rescuers swooped in on Wednesday night to release him from his confinement in India.

Vets and wildlife experts from the British-based Wildlife SOS-UK were joined by 20 Forestry Commission officers and two cops in the dangerous nighttime operation.

The squad raided the farm in India's Uttar Pradesh region, where Raju — who'd been regularly beaten and abused by his owners, who used him to beg for money — was being kept.

And they claim that, as they liberated him from his manacles, he openly wept because he realized that his half-century ordeal was coming to an end.

"Raju was in chains 24 hours a day, an act of intolerable cruelty. The team were astounded to see tears roll down his face during the rescue," Wildlife SOS-UK's Pooja Binepal said.

"It was incredibly emotional. We knew in our hearts he realized he was being freed," Binepal added.

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