UPDATE # 41: Anthony E. Lovell, an Endangered-Wildlife Poet, has written a heartbreaking, thought-provoking, tear-jerking poem 'Empty Shell' for all captive elephants including Shankar! It talks about what we see in a zoo is not an elephant, but an empty shell. It hopes to encourage the readers to 'not buy a ticket' to entertainment venues like zoos.

EMPTY SHELL

I want my money back

I came to see an Elephant

I paid to see a conservation ambassador

Inspire me to help conserve the species

Especially her kind

I saw an empty shell

She looks like an Elephant

But what is there to see, not Happy

She is a poor teacher of Elephant lessons

She is no solitary animal, but kept confined

Like all captives, neurones scrambled, brain denied

Stereotypy is not a dance - no, a pathetic trance

A sign she can’t be happy in mind

She’s not right in the head

She is an empty shell 

(Read the full poem here)

Website - https://www.theonemillionpoetry.com/