Keep The Ban On Elephant Rides In Kentucky

Oct 30, 2010

SOURCE: In Defense of Animals:.

THIS PETITION HAS ENDED BUT THE FIGHT TO END ANIMALS IN CIRCUSES STILL GOES ON.

Keep The Ban On Elephant Rides In Kentucky

Five years ago elephant rides were banned from circuses and fairs in Kentucky, but now the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is considering bringing them back.

Elephants in traveling shows spend their lives chained and intensively confined in tiny spaces. They are dominated through physical punishment with the bullhook, a steel-tipped weapon similar to a fireplace poker that is used to prod, strike and intimidate elephants into complete obedience.

To put traumatized, stressed elephants in dangerously close proximity to the public is simply asking for trouble. Since 1990, at least 13 human deaths and 122 injuries in this country have been attributed to elephants. Many of these incidents involved elephant rides.

• In 2009, 15 children were injured when one elephant pushed another into a platform holding people waiting for rides at a Shrine Circus in Indianapolis. The elephants had a history of fighting yet continued to give rides after the incident. One elephant had previously injured a woman.
• In 2007, an elephant worker suffered broken ribs and a dislocated jaw when a “startled” elephant ran over him at the Arizona Renaissance Festival. This elephant is still giving rides.
• In 2006, an elephant named Minnie was giving rides with the Commerford Petting Zoo and seriously injured two handlers, one of whom reportedly struck her in the face. She was involved in at least three previous incidents and is still giving rides.