Keeping Madhubala alive: The fight for Karachi’s captive elephants

At Karachi Zoo, Jude Allen sang, You Are My Sunshine, to an elephant he could not save.Noor Jehan, the 17-year-old African elephant, was suffering. Allen recalls massaging her legs, nursing her bedsores and spending her final days beside her.She died on April 22, 2023, surrounded by a few activists. Allen, 45, had held various corporate jobs while volunteering as an animal caregiver since an early age.But Noor Jehan changed something in him, he said. “The day this wild African elephant rested her painful forehead on mine, and I hugged her for the first time – it all made sense,” he tells Al Jazeera.“I quit my job without a plan B.”Now three years later, Allen has turned the grief of Noor Jehan’s loss into care for one of her sisters, Madhubala, who also faces major health challenges. He is part of a growing campaign of Pakistani and international activists and doctors trying to save Madhubala, a victim, her carers say, not just of medical conditions, but also of a system that is simply unable to give animals in captivity the attention and facilities they need.African elephants Madhubala, left, and Malika roam with a caretaker inside the premises of Safari Park in Karachi on October...