The center for elephant conservation is a sham. Those babies are born exclusively to be shown in circuses. That is not conservation. They are dragged from their mothers by age 2 to be trained, which is accomplished through cruelty and domination. Ringling’s CEO Ken Feld testified himself at the lawsuit against Ringling for violations of the Endangered Species Act that the elephants are struck with bullhooks regularly and repeatedly, and by every trainer. Experts testified that the elephants at the “conservation” center were covered with bullhook scars. They are chained in place upwards of 14 hours each day. Please go to http://www.awionline.org to read the actual court documents and learn the truth.

OMG that video for Ringling’s”Center for elephant conservation” is hilarious. It reminds me of the old “Duck and Cover” ads in classrooms during the 50’s. I find it ridiculous. As the protester in the elephant walk footage from last year says, “Don’t pretend you love animals, lady!”

For everyone who ostensibly “loves animals” but flocks to this type of “entertainment”: Do some research, check your priorities, and find something truly fun to do. If you love animals you would not give your time to such smut.

By letting people take a look at elephants, you might actually get people to care enough to conserve them. If you remove elephants from circuses and zoos, then nobody will care.

Eduard, what you’re saying only seems to make sense; let’s examine it further.

First, if the primary objection to this elephant walk is to its alleged cruelty, ( i.e. that they should not be forced to walk in cold temperatures through the Midtown Tunnel and NYC only to perform for human entertainment after a lifetime of abusive “training”) then what we need is to end the cruelty, plain and simple. Since Ringling Bros do an amazing job of trying to hide their wounds, present the animals as “content” and the whole event as “fun”, people without prior knowledge of the cruelty will, in the few-minutes’ observance of this walk, only feel titillated, with maybe a vague sense of weirdness.

But the true fallacy of what you suggest is made clear if we substitute something else, something we now relate to, for the elephants. What if they were women from someplace far away and exotic, brought here to perform for our entertainment, paraded through the city at night? (Sounds crazy, but “exotic women” were paraded through the wild west all the time). If people called an end to this type of march on the basis of cold weather, the substandard treatment of the women, and the fact that they did not choose this life of “performance” (as elephants raised in captivity do not choose it) then what you are saying does not hold up. Should we continue this “Walk” so that people can see them in their suffering and therefore care enough to do something about their plight? That’s silly.

I’m reminded of the “argument” given that if we didn’t raise cows for beef, veal and milk, they would go extinct. Again, if the problem is cruelty, then the cruelty must be stopped –not enacted so that others might witness it and do something. There are enough videos of past elephant walks, abusive training techniques, etc. out there…if people want to, they can see what’s going on without leaving their homes and freezing in the streets of NYC for a glimpse of … “fun”.

That said, I do agree with you that when people see something with their own eyes, it can make a lasting impression. But If I claim to love animals, and I hear there are groups protesting an event, company or industry on charges of cruelty, then I want to research it. If the charges are true, then I want it to end. In addition, many people care about the treatment and survival of the abused without having to witness the abuse themselves.