Naomi Campbell accused of promoting animal cruelty over elephant polo match
Supermodel Naomi Campbell and her Russian billionaire boyfriend Vladimir Doronin have been accused of promoting animal cruelty over their plans to stage an elephant polo match for his 50th birthday celebrations in India.
PETA is calling on Campbell to abandon her plans and will launch an official complaint in an attempt to stop the match Photo: REUTERS/REX FEATURES
By Dean Nelson, New Delhi3:26PM GMT 02 Nov 2012
The couple will be flying into Jodhpur, Rajasthan's famous 'blue city', next week with 80 celebrity friends for a series of parties hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur, Gaj Singh, who counts Mick Jagger and Prince Charles among his personal friends.
The main party will be held at the Maharaja's £400 per night art deco Umaid Bhawan Palace hotel, where Liz Hurley married Indian businessman Arun Nayyar in 2006, setting the trend for celebrity weddings in India's romantic desert state. Russell Brand later married Katy Perry in similar style.
Organisers said they had been sworn to secrecy over the guest list but speculation has centred on the couple's closest friends, including Mick Jagger's daughter Jade, supermodels Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer and fashion designer Donatella Versace.
The guests will stay at both the Umaid Bhawan palace and the Raas Haveli, one of India's smartest boutique hotels inside the heavy giant gates of the Maharaja's 15th century Mehrangarh Fort.
The head of the Mewari royals will host a second party on the ramparts of 15th century fortress which towers 400 feet above the city. Their guests are expected to take part in adventure sports from zip-riding from the ramparts to taking part in an elephant polo tournament at the city's polo club grounds.
Vikram Singh Rathore, a leading figure in international polo, is bringing seven elephants by truck from Jaipur for the tournament, where guests will play in three-a-side teams and recover from their chukkas over a champagne high tea on the lawns.
However, India's animal rights campaigners believe the game is cruel to elephants and that transporting them on a slow journey which could take more than ten hours on bad roads is unethical. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a personal attack on Campbell, who has a history of provoking animal rights campaigners with her love of wearing fur.
Campbell, the group said, was "clueless" and her celebrity friends people with "more money than compassion." Its spokeswoman Benazir Suraya said elephant polo was cruel and depended upon the violent abuse of India's "national heritage animal" by their mahouts who train them by stabbing their hides with sharp steel bull hooks.
"Constantly kept in chains, elephants used for polo are driven insane and exhibit signs of immense frustration, including repetitive swaying, rocking and head-bobbing. The chains also result in painful wounds and pressure sores, which often become infected," said Ms Suraya.
PETA is calling on Campbell to abandon her plans and will launch an official complaint in an attempt to stop the match. "We will urge Naomi Campbell to immediately withdraw her plans to organise this cruel 'sport' and instead work with PETA to promote elephant protection in the country.
"PETA will also meet officials at Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) and the Wildlife Department to [urge them to] refrain from issuing any permission to allow this event," she added.
Elephant Polo was developed by British and Indian polo veterans and members of the well-heeled tobogganing Cresta Club in Switzerland. The game is played with extra length polo sticks wielded by the players while the mahouts 'drive' the elephants in teams of four, according to players' orders. Pairs of boys regularly run onto the pitch to remove the elephants' dung.
The game is played is Thailand, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where an elephant went on the rampage during a tournament in 2007.