The true side of elephant painting

A friend of mine goes out every year to spend her holiday from work volunteering at an elephant sanctuary, she has done this for years.


The true side of elephant painting http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animal...ruel-not-cute/

Re: The true side of elephant painting

I agree Cee Cee, just another animal held captive and exploited for money.

Re: The true side of elephant painting

I have visited the elephant sanctuary in Sri Lanka and was not impressed. We were assured by the guide that these animals are rescued and allowed to live their days free but that was not the case. They are all brought out twice a day to be washed by the handlers - just for the benefit of the tourists and there was a baby elephant that was always fed in an enclosure surrounded by screaming kids. You could see it was scared to death. They also had a huge bull elephant that had been blinded who was chained to a post all day apart from when he was taken for a walk to the amusement of the crowd. When chained to the post he would just rock backwards and forwards.

At one point when we were driving, we saw three elephants in the wild, one amongst the bushes eating and two crossing the road. These elephants were totally free and it was special to see it.

Re: The true side of elephant painting

I visited an elephant sanctuary in Malaysia whilst in a wildlife holiday. They claimed to rescue elephants who were displaced by logging where Palm Oil plantations were replacing forests.

I was appalled by the fact the animals were being used to "entertain" tourists, were shackled on all four legs, on concrete, just to be bathed and fed bananas. I wrote a strong letter of complaint to the tour organisers, I did not consider that part of a "wildlife" holiday.

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Very very cruel and sickening. Tourists are the main cause of the cruelty. These elephants have been chained for 50/ 60/70 yrs , many of them blind, with ulcers and sores. It is heart breaking to see them suffering and there are plenty of images available to put the true picture on the elephants suffering.
Wildlife SOS is the sanctuary that Paul O'Grady filmed at in his series of ,For the Love of Animals, in India.


Rescue in June of Gajraj. He's doing well now, but still recovering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6gZGUhSjwY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwg8YBQ4o3I

This one will break your heart. Raju, who cried when he was rescued.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf7uIFBPM7A

Re: The true side of elephant painting

My son was on a business trip to Bangalore and his hosts, knowing he was a keen photographer, took him to a wildlife park which was allied to the Born Free Foundation. He was shocked to see a solitary elephant in a concrete pen, no water, nothing whatsoever and it was showing obvious signs of captivity stress. Further on, they came across a bear which was sitting on the road, the driver of the vehicle they were in blew the horn to make it move, when it didn't he used the truck to actually push it out of the way.

On his return to the UK my son got in touch with the Born Free F, and they were obviously not happy to be associated with such practices and vowed to take action. I just hope they did.

Re: The true side of elephant painting

Well done to your son CeeCee, many would not bother to .

This is how elephants are trained although not just elephants , bears, tigers, lions... the lot.

The sanctuaries that allow tourists to meander into, is not so good either. These animals have had a fear of humans and in most cases they should be left alone now, and allowed to be themselves, in peace.
They can't go back into the wild as they would not survive, but they can have a life in bonding families, and it would be far better if tourists stayed away. That would then not give any reason for the continued practice of stealing babies from their mothers (that they have to kill first) , and it would eventually bring this horrid crime to an end.

Re: The true side of elephant painting

Wouldn't you just love to terminate those two bullies!

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Longdogs, because I am so concerned about these poor animals all over the world and the trade that is happening still, I see so much of this heartache. Sometimes I have to hold back as it does get to much. However, we also have to share the horror so the more people know what happens , hopefully something positive will come out of it.

It's the undercover videos that truly break ones heart.

There are so many animal charities working around the clock and doing a fantastic job to secure release of these beautiful animals, but it's a hard job, not quite so simple and involves courts, passports, vet clearance, identification to get them out of a country. If they can't find ID, then the whole process of rescue is even more difficult and sometimes impossible.

Re: The true side of elephant painting

/Note: The OP didn't realise what actually goes on behind these elephant paintings and asked for the thread to be deleted - however as a discussion has taken place I have moved the fork into this dedicated thread/