Sangita Iyer is an Indian-born Canadian author, broadcast journalist, writer, biologist and documentary filmmaker. She is known for her advocacy on wildlife conservation, especially for wild elephants, and for exposing the atrocities against Asian elephants by religious institutions. She is the founding executive director and president of th
Voice for Asian Elephants Society
which was created in 2016 with the aim of protecting wild and captive elephants of India. Iyer's debut documentary film, '' Gods in Shackles'', was based on the treatment of captive elephants in

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The film was nominated for portraying the torture stories of captive elephants in the name of festivals at the United Nations General Assembly, featured at the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

(IFFI) and has received over a dozen international film festival awards. The documentary was inspired by the encounters and witnesses gathered by Iyer. Here recently released book, ''Gods in Shackles - What Elephants Can Teach us About Empathy, Resilience and Freedom'' ranked the #1 Best Seller list on Amazon, since its release on February 8, 2022. She is also a ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' explorer, and has produced a 26-part short documentary series about Asian elephants, using the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

storytelling award.

Biography

Sangita Iyer was born in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She has worked in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, where she taught biology and ecology to

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

high school students in the early 1980s, and in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

as the primetime news anchor and nature and wildlife reporter for the ABC/CBS affiliate, the Bermuda Broadcasting Company. She currently lives in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, where she has served as a videographer and host for Rogers TV network.

Career

Iyer pursued her career in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

in 1999 as a health and environmental journalist. She completed her MA degree in

environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discipli ...

and communication in 2012. She produced reports related to nature and wildlife for Discovery Channel science-news programme ''

Daily Planet The ''Daily Planet'' is a fictional newspaper appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The newspaper was first mentioned in ''Action Comics'' #9 (November 13, 1939) – Underworld Politics ...

''. She co-founded the Bermuda Environmental Alliance in 2009 and she founded the Voice for Asian Elephants Society in 2016. In 2013, Iyer began to document the elephants in Kerala that are exploited by religious institutions, and created the documentary film '' Gods in Shackles'' (2016) which portrays the suffering faced by the temple elephants during cultural festivals. She decided to make the film after witnessing the torture faced by the elephants during a trip to India in December 2013. The documentary opened to positive reviews from critics and won international awards. Iyer is the first woman to have made a documentary about captive elephants in Kerala. Iyer received the 2016

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

award from the then Indian President

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

. In addition, Iyer has received numerous academic awards and scholarships.

Controversies

In November 2019, a petition was filed by Viswa Gaja Seva Samithi organisation in the

Kerala High Court The High Court of Kerala is the List of high courts in India, highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Hig ...

to prevent Iyer from conducting a

mahout A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retainin ...

(elephant care) training summit called "Gentle Giants Summit" at a government-owned elephant rehabilitation centre in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

. The plea claimed that she was a foreign national in contrast to the national policies and was also accused of misusing the official emblem of Kerala state government in the brochures for the three-day workshop. However, Iyer presented her

Overseas Citizenship of India Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) is a form of permanent residency available to people of Indian origin which allows them to live and work in India indefinitely. It allows the cardholders a lifetime entry to the country along with benefits suc ...

(OCI) card, affording her the privileges of Indian citizens, and the Kerala Forest Department had granted her the use of its emblem in their partnership on the summit.

References

External links

*
''Gods in Shackles - What Elephants Can Teach us About Empathy, Resilience and Freedom''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyer, Sangita Living people Canadian environmentalists 21st-century Canadian women journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian documentary film directors Canadian women biologists Indian activists Indian women activists Indian women journalists Indian documentary film directors Indian women biologists Indian emigrants to Canada 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers People from Kerala Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women film directors Canadian documentary film producers Canadian women film producers 21st-century Canadian biologists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Asian-Canadian filmmakers Canadian women documentary filmmakers Indian environmentalists 21st-century Indian journalists Indian women non-fiction writers Indian women film directors Indian women film producers 21st-century Indian women scientists 21st-century Indian biologists Elephants in India Elephant conservation Nari Shakti Puraskar winners People with Overseas Citizenship of India Canadian expatriates in India

Biography

Career

Controversies

See also

References

External links