Is this any way to treat a wild elephant?

[cboy4]

:wtf:


An elephant dressed as Santa Claus performs for students during
Christmas celebrations at Jirasart school in Ayutthaya province,
70 km (44 miles) north of Bangkok December 23, 2008.
REUTERS/Stringer (THAILAND)

[orestes]

1. Don't see how that's more demeaning for the Elephant

than dressing up dogs and cats in stupid little outfits is demeaning for them. Only real difference is the number of people who get to see the animal look foolish.

Also, what exactly makes this a "wild" elephant? Is it simply because it's an elephant, and all elephants are wild, or do you know something specifically about this particular pachyderms upbringing?

[cboy4]

2. All elephants are wild. Wild animals in captivity don't suddenly

lose their wild instincts.

That's why there are accidents, such as when elephants go ballistic.

And even if this is a rescued elephant, I would argue this is no way to treat one of the most magnificent creatures on earth.

It's why you see people protesting outside circuses.

And it's why it's doubtful you will find a single wildlife expert who condones this activity.

Do you think the elephant knows how to do that naturally, or do you think it might have been whipped a few times with a stick to learn that "trick"?

[orestes]

5. No animals truly lose all their wild instincts

Any animal can suddenly go ballistic. It's just not nearly as destructive when the animal going ballistic is a 45 pound poodle.

As for circus animals, I agree, I doubt most are living in good conditions, and quite a few are probably abused in some form or another. However, this isn't a carni elephant, and Elephants in Thailand have different cultural history going back thousands of years.

As for the elephant doing tricks, so what? If it was beaten and abused to get it to do that stuff, then yeah, that's messed up. But elephants can also be trained to do tricks with positive reinforcement, and I don't see anything wrong with that. At least, not any more wrong than training any other animal to do tricks, so long as the method isn't abusive.

[cboy4]

7. This is an interesting article....it might help you understand

just how unpredictably dangerous elephants are.

The wiki article is also informative.

Animal behaviour: Rogue elephants

Attacks by elephants on humans, both in Africa and India, have been increasing dramatically in the past five years. As villagers tell of 'revenge raids', scientists argue that loss of habitat and social structure is seriously destabilising these magnificent creatures. Justin Huggler reports from Delhi

That elephants are capable of ferocious violence is nothing new: they are not quite the cuddly animals the West seems so fond of portraying. They were the tanks of the ancient world, used to charge in battle by the Persians and the Indians, a practice that was quickly copied by Alexander the Great. When Alexander's army mutinied after his death, the generals put paid to the insurrection by throwing 300 offenders to the elephants, who crushed them. Hannibal, of course, crossed the Alps with his war elephants in tow.

But what is new is that the incidence of wild elephant attacks on humans has been increasing drastically in recent years. Just over a week ago, a British man on his honeymoon in Kenya was trampled to death by an elephant in the Masai Mara game reserve. In the Indian state of Jharkhand, 300 people were killed by elephants between 2000 and 2004. In Assam, 239 people have been killed by elephants since 2001.

Until recently, this was thought to be simply down to the fact that human and elephant habitats are increasingly colliding. As human settlement and agriculture spreads over more and more of the available land, the wild jungles where elephants thrive are shrinking, bringing them into more regular contact - and conflict - with man. But now scientists are suggesting it may be more complicated, and tragic, than that.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/animal-behaviour-rogue-elephants-419678.html

[Luminous Animal]

3. The difference is that cats and dogs are domesticated...

Elephants are tamed.

But I agree with you that outfits on pets is stupid but I'm not sure that cats and dogs are self-aware enough to feel demeaned.

[DainBramaged]

4. They eat bugs too why should that make today any different than yesterday?

[Jamastiene]

6. I bet it has a family somewhere that it misses.

:(