For 50 Years He Lived in Spiked Chains. The Night Rescuers Came for Him, They Saw Tears Rolling Down His Face

His name is Raju, and for most of his life he did not know a single day without chains.

His rescuers believe he was taken from the wild as a calf. He was sold from owner to owner, often every year or two, and made to beg on the streets of northern India. He was beaten, underfed, and kept in shackles lined with spikes.

In July 2014, the charity Wildlife SOS came to Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, with a court order and a team of experts to take him away.

His owner tried to stop them. He tied Raju with even more chains and fastened the spikes tightly around his legs.

That was when the team saw something they would never forget. Streams of tears were rolling down the elephant’s face.

Through the night, they gave him painkillers and treats and slowly loosened the chains. Raju stopped resisting and walked gently with them to the truck. The rescue was completed just after midnight on July 4, America’s Independence Day.

At the charity’s elephant center in Mathura, the spiked shackles were finally removed. The other rescued elephants came over to meet the newcomer.

Wildlife SOS co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan said he had never seen an elephant so badly mistreated. Scientists still debate what an elephant’s tears mean. But to the people there that night, it looked like relief.

This official video marks Raju’s first year of freedom: wounds healing, weight returning, and long, happy hours in his own pool, where he loves to splash.

This July, Wildlife SOS celebrated his 12th “rescueversary” with a feast. After half a century in chains, Raju has now lived more than a decade without a single one.