If you take a look at the long history of the human race, all that we are and all that we strive for was one long fight for freedom.
People fought to keep their homes from marauding invaders. People fought to be free of their colonizers. The US fought a civil war to be freed from slavery. And women fought for the right to representation in the early 1900s.
All of these struggles had a common theme of breaking free from any constraints, physical or otherwise, from living one’s life to the fullest potential. And while there are still many forms of oppression in the world, the fact of the matter is that the world has become the safest it has been for humans to live in all of recorded history.
Sadly, the same can’t be said for other species. We’ve all seen what happens to dogs and cats who’ve been subjected to animal cruelty. But such cruelty is not limited to the small creatures but also the large and magnificent ones such as elephants.
One elephant who had only known suffering and cruelty for all its life was finally freed and how it reacted will just break your heart.
Raju had been a captive elephant for 50 years and in that time was re-sold 27 times to various owners. Each change didn’t improve his lot as he was kept chained up the whole time.
Fortunately, Wildlife SOS in North London discovered Raju’s condition and decided to act. The rescue organization assembled 10 wildlife experts and veterinarians and teamed up with 20 representatives from the forestry department and descended on the place where Raju was being kept. With them were six policemen.
Finally, for the first time in 5 decades, Raju was going to taste freedom. But it was how he reacted that has touched the hearts of his rescuers. They noticed that tears were rolling down Raju’s face as they were freeing him from his chains.
Even an animal who couldn’t understand human speech could feel the significance of what was happening and it’s both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Heartbreaking that such animals still suffer so but also uplifting because there are even more people who are willing to work towards freeing them.
Replaced!