† Shanti is a dead Female ♀ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 1975-06-29 at Berlin Zoo, in Germany, . Official death reason described as sepsis and fracture in pelvis after fights.
Shanti was born wild 1947.
Gift from Pandit Nehru.
In 1949, Pandit Nehru sent an elephant named Indira as a 'messenger of good- will' from New Delhi to Tokyo. The letter accompanying it ran : 'Dear Children, 'I am very glad to be sending you one of our elephants, as you wished. It is a good elephant, very well brought up, and, so I am told, endowed with all the good virtues. Please do not treat it as a present from me, but as one from the children of India to the children of Japan. 'Children resemble each other in many ways everywhere in the world. It is only when you begin to grow up that you get different opinions. Unhappily, when that happens, you often come into conflict. 'We must put an end to these clashes between grown-ups. It is my hope that, when they are older, the children of India and Japan will not serve only their own countries, but also the cause of peace and co-operation in the whole of Asia and the world. So you must see in this elephant called Indira a messenger of the love and good- will of the children of India. 'Elephants are noble animals, and are much beloved in India. They set India a very good example. They are brave, patient, strong and yet gentle. I hope that we shall all come to be like that.' This, word for word, was the message of the Indian Prime Minister. Three years later, the elephant Shanti reached the Berlin Zoo on a similar mission. But that young Madame Elephant was spared the exertions of her predecessor, Abulabas. The firm of Carl Hagenbeck bought her a ship's passage, and also made sure that she got on the right train at Hamburg.
(The name Shanti is already submitted into the link, just click on the link for relevant results)
