Since her charity trip to Rwanda got postponed, hotel heiress Paris Hilton proved she is indeed a changed woman after her stint in jail earlier this year, and refocused her attention on another issue of major importance to the world: drunken elephants in India.

The socialite was praised by conservationists after she expressed her concerns for elephants that apparently get drunk on farmer's rice beer and rampage local villages.

"The elephants get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them," the 26-year-old starlet was quoted as saying by the World Entertainment News Network's Web site.

Just last month, six wild elephants broke into a farm in Meghalaya and were electrocuted after drinking the potent brew and then uprooting an electricity pole.

"There would have been more casualties if the villagers hadn't chased them away. And four elephants died in a similar way three years ago. It is just so sad," Hilton was quoted as saying.

Sangeeta Goswami, head of animal rights group People for Animals told The Associated Press: "I am indeed happy Hilton has taken note of recent incidents of wild elephants in north east India going berserk after drinking homemade rice beer and getting killed."

"As part of her global elephant campaign, Hilton should, in fact, think of visiting this region literally infested with elephants."

Another conservationist, who also believed Hilton, said elephant alcohol abuse was only a symptom of environmental degradation.

"Elephants appear on human settlements ... because they have no habitat left due to wanton destruction of forests," Soumyadeep Dutta, who heads Nature's Beckon, a leading regional conservation group, said.

"A celebrity like Hilton must focus her attention on this fact."

The heiress, who recently traveled to Tokyo where she and her younger sister Nicky each chose one finalist for the Miss Universe Japan contest, has been trying hard to ditch her party-girl image she had before serving 23 days behind bars for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.