by Touching Moments People Were Knitting Giant Sweaters For Rescued Elephants To Protect Them From Cold
Suzy and Laxmi are two elephants among the 23 who were rescued from the streets of Mumbai, India, after suffering years of ᴀʙᴜsᴇ from cruel ʜᴀɴᴅʟᴇʀs – and they needed to be kept warm in order to be nursed them back to full health.
Winters get chilly in Northern India, so volunteers at the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center decided to knit some really big sweaters for its rescued elephants. As the nighttime temperatures dipped to freezing levels , the center’s staff issued a call to local women to help provide a little extra warmth to the giant pachyderms. The villagers responded enthusiastically, coming together to knit and crochet the brightly colored sweaters. The elephants quickly took to their new attire and, seem pretty intrigued by the knitting process itself. In addition to looking cheerful and festive, the sweaters help protect the vulnerable animals from the cold and stave off their ᴀʀᴛʜʀɪᴛɪᴄ sʏᴍᴘᴛᴏᴍs.
Elephant conservation and care center Wildlife SOSis home to a number of rescue elephants, and while they won’t have to face the elements alone and unattended to, that doesn’t mean they are susceptible to the occasional chill. Local villagers have already made three of the 23 elephants their own sweaters, each with a unique pattern and color palette
It takes around four weeks to make one sweater, and it does not come as a surprise knowing that elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet. Still, the animal rescue volunteers make sure that the knits are not only warm and cozy for these big animals; they are also colorful and even fashionable.
“It is important to keep our elephants protected from the bitter cold during this extreme winter, as they are weak and vulnerable having sᴜFFᴇʀᴇᴅ so much animal ᴀʙᴜsᴇ making them susceptible to ailments such as pneumonia,” cofounder Kartick Satyanarayan said in a release. “The cold also aggravates their arthritis, which is a common issue that our rescued elephants have to d.e.a.l with.”
