A lonely elephant who spent much of his life in isolation has died at a zoo in India.
Shankar, the only African elephant at New Delhi’s zoo, refused to eat on Wednesday and collapsed hours later, officials said.
His cause of death is not yet known, but the zoo’s director said an investigation has been opened.
The 29-year-old elephant had spent at least 13 years in solitary confinement.
Shankar was one of two African elephants brought to India in 1998 as a diplomatic gift from Zimbabwe to former Indian president Shankar Dayal Sharma.
But after his companion died in 2001, Shankar had endured a lonely existence.
An unnamed former zoo official told the BBC that Shankar was temporarily kept alongside Asian elephants, but said that they were ‘aggressive towards eachother’, resulting in Shankar being isolated.
The former official said Shankar used to be a playful elephant but claimed that his ‘behaviour changed after the other African elephant died’.
A lonely elephant called Shankar who spent much of his life in isolation has died at a zoo in India
African elephant Shankar at Delhi Zoo on January 4, 2021 in New Delhi, India
‘Shankar never accepted any other elephant’s company, neither did they accept Shankar’s. He was left friendless’.
In 2012, the elephant was moved to a new enclosure that resulted in him being left in solitary confinement.
This was despite a federal ban on keeping elephants alone for more than six months at a time.
He remained in isolation until his death on Wednesday – but activists had spent years campaigning he be removed from the enclosure and rehabilitated in a wildlife sanctuary.
In 2021, they sought to relocate Shankar to a sanctuary with other African elephants, but the petition was dismissed by Delhi’s high court.
Activists have also condemned the conditions in which Shankar was kept, pointing out that his enclosure was inadequate.
Animal lovers have reacted to Shankar’s death, with several blaming the zoo and local authorities for his sudden passing, claiming that he was kept in inadequate conditions.
One X user wrote: ‘At just 29, Shankar should have been in his prime, not dying suddenly in a zoo shed. An inquiry is ordered but we all know the kind of bulls**t report that will come. He died in captivity, in that enclosure. And in his death, the Court, the Zoo, the Ministry each stand guilty. Your joint collaboration killed Shankar.’
Another said: ‘ Your attention is needed on this disturbing death of [Shankar] the elephant who was deliberately kept in solitary confinement for TWO DECADES.’
In 2019, the world’s ‘saddest elephant’ died after she was found collapsed in her enclosure in a Spanish zoo. The animal, named Flavia, had spent 43 years in isolation
The average life expectancy of an elephant is around 70 years.
Elephants are highly social beings who live in tight-knit family units in the wild.
African elephants live in herds with and average of more than 11 members, but ‘mega herds’ of several hundred and up to 1,000 individuals have been observed in the wild.
A 2009 study found that interaction with other elephants provides ‘the single most significant form of enrichment’ to the lives of animals living in captivity.
Solitary elephants have even been reported as resorting to ‘self-harm’, such as biting themselves, or displaying behaviour indicating mental health issues, such as rhythmic swaying in their pens.
Shankar’s death comes after an elephant in a Spanish zoo named as ‘the world’s saddest elephant’ died after having spent four decades in solitary confinement.
Flavia the elephant had spent 43 years living alone in her enclosure at Cordoba Zoo when she died in March 2019.
Animal rights groups had made several attempts to try and have Flavia moved so she could be homed with other elephants, but were unable to succeed in time.
The elephant’s health had been deteriorating for several months, and she was said to suffer from depression.
She collapsed in her enclosure, and after she was unable to get to her feet, she was euthanised.
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