'Quantico' Star Priyanka Chopra Teams With PETA to Voice Mechanical Elephant

The life-size robotic creation will go on a school tour across the United States and Europe.

PETA has come up with a new campaign to help educate kids about elephants and captivity: a life-size mechanical elephant named Ellie, voiced by Quantico star Priyanka Chopra.

The animal rights organization is taking Ellie on the road for a school tour that will take her all over the U.S., Europe and even Chopra's native India. Thanks to voiceover from the ABC star, Ellie “speaks” to students and shares her story, detailing a separation from her mother, physical punishment endured in the circus and, finally, a happy life at a sanctuary after being rescued.

Chopra describes elephants as “magnificent creatures who desperately need our help and protection." She adds: "Ellie and I are teaching kids that elephants belong in the wild with their families, and that they suffer greatly in captivity, in which they're kept chained, forced to learn tricks, and deprived of all the things that make them happy, like family and freedom."

PETA — whose motto reads, in part, "animals are not ours to abuse in any way" — and its supporters have been working on behalf of elephants for some time, documenting alleged abuse in circuses and other forms of captivity. More information can be found at PETA.org.