In July 1967 a beautiful bull elephant named Balakrishnan was shipped from Bombay, India to Halifax as an advertising gimmick for the Anil Hardboard Plant (Anil Canada Ltd.), which was an Indian-financed factory in East River, Lunenburg County. East River is on Highway no. 3 between Hubbards and Chester. 

The Anil Hardboard Plant was the first major Indian industrial investment in North America. The Company bought land from Zenas Solomon Meisner who owned 300 acres at one time in East River. Dave Flemming said that his grandfather, Zenas agreed to sell part of his land, knowing that the plant would offer the people in the community job opportunities. 

The Plant opened on Canada Day and Balakrishnan the elephant was to be part of the ceremony, but due to the Six Day War which interrupted shipping on the Suez Canal, the elephant and his handler Sankunni who was a mahout or elephant keeper, were delayed and missed the event. 

Sankunni worked with the elephant for five years prior to coming to Canada. Balakrishnan was a working elephant in India and generally an elephant and his keeper stay together until death separates them. Prior to being shipped from India, the elephant and his keeper walked 110 miles in five days across the hot Indian countryside just to get to the ship that would take them to Nova Scotia. Sankunni left his family behind in India and came to Nova Scotia, having no knowledge of the English language. 

The elephant was shackled to a short chain wrapped around a great spruce tree, at the edge of the woods in front of the Anil Plant and there his once active life as a working elephant in India came to an abrupt end. His existence now became one of idleness with rarely any exercise. No thought or consideration was given to him other than the novelty and publicity that he brought to the Plant, or as to how he would survive our Nova Scotia winter.  Balakrishnan became the main attraction in the area and people came to visit and feed him bananas.

In the late autumn, I remember seeing this magnificent elephant standing in front of the plant, plainly seen from the road. I was driving to Chester and wondered at the time,” What is this big creature doing here in our Nova Scotia climate?” The only time I saw elephants here in this province was during the summer, when the Circus came to town.

As summer turned to fall, the citizens of East River noticed that this highly intelligent mammal seemed sad and restless and by the end of October, they could see that the elephant was suffering due to his living conditions. Balakrishnan and his mahout, Sankunni were not used to the cold Canadian winter. Sankunni developed arthritis in his arm and was concerned about handling the elephant, who was still in chained captivity.

Since the elephant arrived in July 1967, a member of the Society of Prevention for Cruelty made regular visits and when the summer season turned to late fall, they found the elephant freezing in the cold Nova Scotia weather and they threatened to seize him. The Anil Company had Balakrishnan housed in a temporary, tumbled down shelter near the factories entrance.  The walls of his home were made from ‘start board’, with gaping holes in it and the roof was open to the sky; he might as well been left outside for all the good that shelter protected him.  The company under due threat moved him to a specially built shed at the rear of the factory, where people could no longer see him. His living space, although now in a more stable shed, was dark and windowless and as soon as the elephant entered the hut workmen began nailing boards over the opening where he came in. A small doorway was made for the mahout and any visitors allowing them to enter. The shed was not insulated and freezing cold, so a makeshift gas-fired heater was put in but it often failed. There were no bathing facilities for the elephant, in spite of a promise to install a tank with running water. Often the floor of his shed flooded with 3 to 4 inches of water.  

The Anil Company made efforts on several occasions to move the elephant to a milder climate, either to a zoo near Toronto, or with a film company but there were no takers.  An attempt was made to send the elephant back to India in January but they waited too long. The captain of the ship, “City of Poona”, was sailing from Saint John, but he refused to risk taking the elephant on board his ship in winter weather. 

The elephant’s diet consisted of dry hay and horse feed. His food was piled outdoors and became damp and musty in rainy weather. Elephants in their natural habitual eat mostly green vegetation, but it was said that he only received that treat once, when a farmer gave him a truck load of green grass. Water was only given to him in very small quantities and given his size, he needed much more.

Balakrishnan developed several wounds on his legs due to the chains and these cuts soon became infected. The elephant became ill, was feverish, had the chills and no longer had an appetite. A veterinarian surgeon from Bridgewater visited him and tried to save him by drilling a hole in his thick hide to give him an injection of antibiotics, but his blood infection was too severe for the antibiotics to help much.  He had not been able to lie down to rest for some time and the vet said it was due to joint pain.

Balakrishnan, the Anil Plants great attraction, died in his lonely shed in the early morning hours in February 1968, still in his shackles and was cremated soon after. He was 25 years of age, an average lifespan for an elephant is 65 years or more. One employee of the company said the feeling of the majority at the Anil Plant was that this magnificent beast died of ill treatment, cold and hunger. The Plant has been sold several times over the years, but still remains in operation today. It is now called Maibec CanExel.