Chennai, Feb 22 (IANS): Actress Rashmi Gautam has strongly urged people to say no to animal rides and to animal captivity and thereby stop cruelty being meted out to them.

Sharing a disturbing video clip on her Instagram timeline in which a young temple elephant, after being threatened with a stick, is seen obeying the orders of its mahout, the actress said, "This extremely sad video was shot by a friend of mine (in) Patteshwara temple, Coimbatore and was scolded and asked not to shoot for obvious reasons.

"The only way they control these giants is through torture. Is it wrong to treat them with respect? If you are making money out of them, the least you can do is take good care of them and treat them with respect and not push them beyond limits.

"I do come across positive stories too but majority of them do not have happy lives or happy endings. @petaindia @pfa.official pls tag any and every tourism which promote animal rides. I'm refraining from tagging any specific state because animal cruelty of this sort is happening everywhere.

"It's upto us to stop it. It's all about demand and supply. Say no to animal rides. Say no to captivity."