  Elephant Race Held in Berlin-7/16/00-.c The Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) - Europe's first elephant races went off without a hitch Sunday despite protests by animal protection activists, including French film diva Brigitte Bardot. Competitors were rewarded with treats of fruits and vegetables.
Some 40,000 spectators showed up at Berlin's Hoppegarten for the event featuring six circus elephants from Africa and six from India, paired off in as many races.
The 14 to 35-year old elephants, urged on by the shouted commands of their jockeys, pounded down 325-yard long stretch to finish the course in about a minute.
The ``Maharaja Cup'' was initiated by Ravindra Gujjula, the Indian-born mayor of the small town of Altlandsberg, just east of Berlin. Gujjula came to then-East Berlin in 1973 as an exchange medical student and became a citizen in 1993, the year he was elected.
Gujjula said before the races he saw them as a chance to promote Indian culture in Germany and as way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of India.
At the races Sunday, Gujjula again defended them saying the ``the animals have fun.'' He also said that the number of spectators showed it was a success, but that he had no further race plans.
Animal rights activists had been campaigning against the event for the past month since news of it came out. But their petition drives and fax campaigns and even a complaint filed with local prosecutors failed to get it stopped.
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