Dieting Elephants?

In some parts of India, elephants are kept in temples for very religious reasons and to take part in ceremonies and festivals. However these elephants are getting over-pampered so they are getting fatter and fatter until they are obese. Now authorities in India are forced to manage the weight of these obese elephants.

 Over-pampered temple elephants are put on diets

Now all temple officials are changing the elephants diet on the advice of veterinary surgeons. One female temple elephant, 15 year-old Parvathi, is overweight by 500kg. Another elephant in the Kallazagar Temple weighs 700kg, which is more than the optimum for its age. The elephants eat up to 200 different varieties of food in the wild but in captivity,in the temple, their diets often lack of variety. Also experts say that elephants never eat rice, salt, millets in the wild.