It’s absolutely the biggest thing in health spas, darling – and designed to care for mistreated elephants. One such beneficiary of the giant jet pool is Phoolkali, who looks at peace with the world as she is soothed by cooling water.
The 67-year-old, whose name means “flowerbud,” has spent decades begging on the streets for her prior owners, leaving her weak in her legs and blind in one eye. She is one of the hundreds of animals receiving care in the first elephant hospital in India, located in Agra, close to the Taj Mahal.
The complex features a big hydrotherapy pool to relieve aches and pains, and skilled veterinarians employ the most up-to-date mobile X-ray, ultrasound, and laser therapy technology to diagnose and treat wounds and fractures.
‘The elephants love the pool so much. You can actually see tears of joy in their eyes after years of cruelty,’ said Kartick Satyanarayan, chief executive of the Wildlife SOS charity, which runs the hospital with the help of donations from the UK.
The charity was established in 1995 when a group of people in New Delhi started running a rescue center out of a tiny garage as a way to preserve India’s rich natural heritage.
According to the charity’s website, their goal was simple – to aid wildlife in distress and expand India’s core value of the right to freedom and dignity to the realm of animals.
The charity has developed into an organization that actively protects India’s priceless wildlife, preserves habitats, researches biodiversity, and develops sustainable alternative livelihoods for populations that were formerly dependent on animals for subsistence or poaching. It is the largest wildlife rescue organisation in India and run 12 wildlife rescue centres all over the country.
