Paris Denies Trying to Help Alcoholic Elephants

Paris Hilton denies bid to help boozy elephants

By staff writers

November 14, 2007 11:21am
Article from: NEWS.com.au

PARIS Hilton has taken time out from saving the world to deny reports that she was helping raise the plight of binge-drinking elephants in India.

The 26-year-old American socialite, whose plan to do charity work in Rwanda has been postponed until next year, was reportedly concerned about elephants getting drunk on farmers' homemade rice beer before going on rampages.

"The elephants get drunk all the time," the World Entertainment News Network quoted Hilton, who was jailed this year in an alcohol-related driving case, as saying.

"It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them."

Lori Berk, a publicist for Hilton, said she never made any comments about helping drunken elephants.

Last month, six wild elephants that broke into a farm in the state of Meghalaya were electrocuted after drinking the potent brew and then uprooting a power pole.

"There would have been more casualties if the villagers hadn't chased them away. And four elephants died in a similar way three years ago. It is just so sad," Hilton was reported as saying in Tokyo last week, where she was judging a beauty contest.

People for Animals' Sangeeta Goswami took Hilton's interest seriously.

"I am indeed happy Hilton has taken note of recent incidents of wild elephants in northeast India going berserk after drinking homemade rice beer and getting killed."

"As part of her global elephant campaign, Hilton should, in fact, think of visiting this region literally infested with elephants," Mr Goswami said.

Another conservationist , who also believed Hilton, said elephant alcohol abuse was only a symptom of environmental degradation.

"Elephants appear on human settlements ... because they have no habitat left due to wanton destruction of forests," Soumyadeep Dutta, who heads Nature's Beckon, a leading regional conservation group, said.

"A celebrity like Hilton must focus her attention on this fact."