The 70-year-old music icon, who visited India in 1966, has requested the minister to use his power immediately to rescue the little elephant, named Sunder, from Jyotiba Temple in Kolhapur and move him to a sanctuary.
"I have seen photographs of young Sunder, the elephant kept alone in a shed at Jyotiba Temple and put in chains with spikes.
"Years of his life have been ruined by keeping him and abusing him in this way and enough is enough. I most respectfully call on you to get Sunder out," he said.
McCartney's plea follows PETA's discovery that Sunder was being abused by his mahout (handler), who has gone on the run from the police since the group became involved.
Sunder sustained a severe injury to his right eye from being jabbed in it with an ankus (a sharp, hooked metal poker-like weapon) by the mahout.
The baby elephant is also confined to chains with sharp spikes and is kept alone inside a dark shed, in which he cannot take even a single step forward or backward.
