Archive · 10 Aug 2026
Actors Urge Film Industry to Stop Using Live Elephants
Some famous actors in India have made a promise to help elephants.
John Abraham, Dia Mirza, Pooja Bhatt and Sunny Leone signed a special pledge.
The pledge says they will not use real elephants in movies or advertisements.
It was started by an animal protection group called PETA India.
The promise comes just before World Elephant Day on August 12.
A total of 25 producers signed the pledge together.
They want movies to use fake elephants, computer graphics or special effects instead.
Fake mechanical elephants can move their ears, tails and trunks.
PETA says real elephants are often taken from their families and treated badly.
The actors are asking their friends in the film industry to make the same promise.
25 film, TV, web and advertising producers signed PETA India's Elephant Freedom Pledge ahead of World Elephant Day on August 12.
John Abraham, Dia Mirza, Pooja Bhatt and Sunny Leone urged industry colleagues to stop using live elephants in productions.
Signatories committed to using humane alternatives such as mechanical elephants, CGI and VFX instead of real elephants.
Dia Mirza nominated Dharma Productions and Sunny Leone nominated Karan Kundrra to take the pledge.
Telangana became the first Indian state to welcome a mechanical elephant, housed at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad.
- Who
- Actors and producers John Abraham, Dia Mirza, Pooja Bhatt, Sunny Leone and 25 other producers who signed PETA India's Elephant Freedom Pledge.
- What
- A campaign urging the entertainment industry to stop using live elephants and use humane alternatives such as mechanical elephants, CGI and VFX.
- When
- Ahead of World Elephant Day on August 12.
- Where
- India, with the mechanical elephant housed at Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, Telangana.
- Why
- To prevent the exploitation of elephants, which PETA India says are often separated from families, kept chained and trained through violence.
- Pledge
- Elephant Freedom Pledge
- Organization
- PETA India
- Signatories
- 25 film, TV, web and advertising producers
- Celebrity Signatories
- John Abraham, Dia Mirza, Pooja Bhatt, Sunny Leone
- World Elephant Day
- August 12
- Alternatives
- Mechanical elephants, CGI, VFX
- Mechanical Elephants in Use
- More than 40 temples in India, plus a circus, advertisement, safari, wedding and political rally
- First State with Mechanical Elephant
- Telangana, housed at Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad