Lechmee is retired with another elephant!
For Lechmee, all that is to do with circuses is over! She enjoys the peace and companionship of another elephant in a place protected from the public. What a relief!
In Europe, in a place protected from the public, Lechmee now enjoys the peace away from the roads. The circus has given way to our pressure. It is a relief for all of us, who have been struggling for years to end the life of dressage and homelessness.
Some years ago we had searched for Lechmee and discovered that she was finally released from her life of forced labour. She no longer suffers long truck journeys or dressage for shows! The chains on her feet are behind her now. We spoke with the people in the centre who took care of her, they assured us that she would no longer be exhibited in the public eye and that her life would no longer be staged. Lechmee has already made her mark, helped by a younger elephant who welcomed her with great care, and she even begins to lie down to rest her legs, finally! What beautiful news!
After more than 40 years on the roads and circuit, the old elephant captured as a child in her free family in Asia had become blind. And her right front leg, sore with osteoarthritis, disabled her for many years walking and supporting the weight of her body.
This did not prevent the circus Medrano who exploited her to make her parade in the streets. Surrounded by Mina and Kamala, her companions as always, very protective with her as the elephants know how to be, she supported this sad fate, surviving these terrible conditions.
Mina helped her to eat by putting her directly in front of the hay, the only food available; and during the shows, as soon as she let go of Kamala’s tail, her trunk beat the air to find her way. Surrounded by darkness and suffering from a bad leg, it had to end.
According to the ministerial decree governing travelling circuses, her case was clear, as an old elephant in poor health, she had to be placed to rest. And since it was not so, it had to be denounced and sanctioned. This is why One Voice chose not only to denounce and raise awareness but also to take concrete action in court to obtain her seizure and her placement into sanctuary.
Unpublished action for elephants, we had filed an interlocutory release, a procedure usually reserved for humans and seized the general controller for the places of deprivation of liberty. But we had not been heard. We also lodged a complaint for acts of cruelty, enriched by a specific part for bad treatment after the parades. On this occasion we wrote to the Minister of Ecological Transition and Solidarity, and the prosecutor of Epinal to demand their seizure to all three. We had also provided the judiciary with an expert report on their health, advocating Lechmee’s retirement.
What is the point of a rule that is part of a law, if no one condemns those who break it? Despite what the circus trumpets on about, the decision to retire Lechmee is the result of an uninterrupted campaign on all fronts!
From now on, this period of her life is behind her and Lechmee is taking full advantage of the open air, the emerging affection from an elephant who knows her surroundings and accompanies it well. She moves freely, can lie down to rest or take mud baths if the need calls for it. it’s a new life for this matriarch. Yes finally.
Our fight for the animals exploited in the circuses continues, to obtain the liberation of all these suffering beings, and their placement into sanctuaries. Mina and Kamala are still locked up and exhibited on the circuit. Our complaint for them is more relevant than ever. For receiving countless acts of cruelty for Lechmee as well, because this release does not erase years of abuse!
You can continue to sign our petition, to release all three, which this too is based on abuse, we have images: electric shocks, blows, there paddock is far too small and without free access to water during a heat wave …a show that we will not stop as long as this masquerade continues.