Welcome to Elephant News China. This site is intended to be a public service to those wishing to keep up to date with events and issues affecting elephants in China.
Showing posts with label Young elephants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Young elephants. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 May 2018
Why you shouldn’t ride elephants or take selfies with tigers this summer
Every year thousands of tourists visit attractions at centres across the globe where they are encouraged to interact with wild animals.
Whether its hitching a ride on the back of an elephant or taking selfies with tigers, many holidaymakers are oblivious to the suffering these animals have gone through.
Young elephants, separated prematurely from their mothers, are beaten with sharpened metal hooks to control them through fear, while tiger cubs are chained to concrete blocks in small metal cages where they are poked and prodded with sticks to make them pose.
‘You’re looking at an animal that is being put through this process relentlessly every day,’ animal welfare campaigner Chiara Vitali told Metro.co.uk.
‘[The animal] is being made into a prop or a vehicle or a performer and there’s no choice and no respite. That’s life 24/7 – no rest, no breaks, no water and no food for hours.’
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http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/28/shouldnt-ride-elephants-take-selfies-tigers-summer-7503692/
Sunday, 29 April 2018
Enviro Monday: Shipments of wild baby elephants captured in Zimbabwe are destined for China
Wild baby elephants captured in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe have reportedly been exported to two safari parks in China.
The 31 elephants were captured in August 2017 and footage of the operation was secretly released to the media. The shipment was confirmed by the Zimbabwean Conservation Task Force (ZCTF).
A government official is reported to have said that the elephants aged between three and six years old were traumatized and some were weak with open sores on their bodies.
The Guardian published the disturbing footage of the elephants being captured showing one of the calves being kicked in the head.
International trade in live elephants is legal, but is being debated at the highest level. At a Cites meeting in Geneva representatives from the African Elephant Coalition raised serious concerns on the trade.
Peter Stroud, a former curator of the Melbourne Zoo who was involved in sourcing elephants from Thailand, calls moving wild-caught animals to zoos “unconscionable”.
“Young elephants will never develop naturally as socially and ecologically functioning beings in zoos. They will face a very long and very slow process of a mental and physiological breakdown resulting inevitably in chronic physical and mental abnormality, disease and premature death.”
To read the full article, click on the story title.
The 31 elephants were captured in August 2017 and footage of the operation was secretly released to the media. The shipment was confirmed by the Zimbabwean Conservation Task Force (ZCTF).
A government official is reported to have said that the elephants aged between three and six years old were traumatized and some were weak with open sores on their bodies.
The Guardian published the disturbing footage of the elephants being captured showing one of the calves being kicked in the head.
International trade in live elephants is legal, but is being debated at the highest level. At a Cites meeting in Geneva representatives from the African Elephant Coalition raised serious concerns on the trade.
Peter Stroud, a former curator of the Melbourne Zoo who was involved in sourcing elephants from Thailand, calls moving wild-caught animals to zoos “unconscionable”.
“Young elephants will never develop naturally as socially and ecologically functioning beings in zoos. They will face a very long and very slow process of a mental and physiological breakdown resulting inevitably in chronic physical and mental abnormality, disease and premature death.”
To read the full article, click on the story title.
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