Tourists still ignorant about elephant attractions
Re: “A domesticated elephant is a tortured elephant”, Have Your Say, yesterday.
Eric Bahrt’s letter yesterday referred to last week’s King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament, passed off as a “week of vacation” for the captive elephants. The “extravaganza” had unparalleled media coverage, yet behind-the-scenes video footage revealed show handlers and mahouts degrading the magnificent animals with cruel bull hooks, hitting them on their sensitive skin and ears. They are threatened with violence to “crush” or “break them in”, so they can be ridden and unnaturally manipulated. World Animal Protection found they live in squalor, are chained and left to stand on concrete. They report the vast majority are captured from the wild, taken a babies. Elephants have high levels of intelligence, live in strong family groups, and know when to move on to new habitats. Their gestation is 22 months, they are weaned at 3 years of age and the oldest female is the matriarch. CITES reports they are endangered due to human encroachment. To stop the support of this cruelty, tourist education is urgent. As Eric said, “The fact that people still say they are not aware that torture is the method of training elephants to be performers means these people are either ignorant, in denial or incredibly cruel.”
Diane Cornelius
South Australia
