A self-styled "animal telepath" claims to have spoken to a killer elephant and says she can reveal the hurt and pain behind the four human deaths at her feet.
Dunja Will, or the 'Outback whisperer' on Instagram, asked Rani the elephant why she killed four people. Rani's response was: "I don't snap out of nowhere."
Encounter at Sri Lankan sanctuary
The animal communicator spent five days at an animal sanctuary in Sri Lanka. She found Rani pressing her head against a wall and "could feel her despair right away."
The important context, Dunja says, is that elephants can internally regulate aspects of their reproductive cycle, and hardly ever become pregnant in captivity.
Dunja said: "The moment I saw her I walked straight over. The caretakers started shouting 'Not this one, she's dangerous'. But I knew she had something urgent to tell me.
"She told me she had two miscarriages. Elephants are deeply family oriented, losing them broke her heart.
Decades of grief
"Then she showed me where it sits. The emotional pain settled in the left part of her belly. Whenever someone gets too close to this part, is when she reacts.
"It happened more than 25 years ago. And she is still grieving. She has never been given time to process it. She gets put back to work, over and over. Rani is still in the same place doing the same work."
The elephant is used for the traditional "Perahera" parade. In Sri Lanka, some captive elephants are kept by private owners or Buddhist temples, and a portion of these are used in cultural events like the Kandy Esala Perahera. These events have faced a lot of scrutiny with some saying the practice is torture for the elephants who are dressed up and forced to take part in the events.
Call for understanding
Dunja continued: "I keep thinking about how many animals are called dangerous when they're really just in pain. Rani is a perfect example. Every animal has a reason to react the way it does. Everyone judged her without even asking. I can't change her situation on my own.
"But every person who sees this and understands it is a step towards things actually changing. That's why I'm showing it instead of keeping it to myself, the chains, the work, the conditions. None of that is okay...!
"And no, I couldn't set her free. I was there as an invited guest, not an owner. Nobody can walk into a place like this and take an elephant. What I could do was understand her and pass that on to the people who are with her every day.
"Every animal is telling us something, and there are so many out there waiting for someone to actually ask instead of assume."
