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From Our Own Correspondent: India: Elephants and Economics

India: elephants and economics at the Sonepur Mela

29/11/2013

India: Elephants and Economics

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, India: Elephants and Economics

A festival, a market and a spectacle, the Sonepur Mela is one of Asia's biggest fairs

A religious festival, a livestock market, a grand spectacle all rolled into one: Horatio Clare marvels at the crowds and the animals at one of Asia's biggest farm fairs

It's a religious festival, a livestock market, a grand spectacle all rolled into one: Horatio Clare marvels at the crowds and the animals at one of Asia's biggest farm fairs, the Sonepur Mela in Bihar, north-eastern India. Mingling with around half a million other visitors, he finds stalls selling everything from spiritual enlightenment to fluffy toys; but the true heart of the Mela is its relationship to animals, and elephants in particular. 

But working elephants are a dying breed in today's India: as a highly expensive status symbol - costing over $9,000 a year to keep - each one is special. What future do they - and the people who admire them - really have?

Introduced by Pascale Harter. Producer: Polly Hope. 

Photo: A mahout with an elephant decorated for the Sonepur Mela of November 2011, Credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

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