Handlers give circus Elephants the bullhook

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http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/dumbo-and-dumber/25591/

Handlers give circus Elephants the bullhook

By STEVE LOWERY

Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:00 pm

 

Don't make me hurt you. Photo by Jennie Warren

The elephants feed on the dried grass and cover themselves with dirt provided by

handlers, oblivious to the people watching from behind a chain link enclosure on

the Arrowhead Pond parking lot. It’s an hour before the Ringling Bros. and

Barnum & Bailey Circus’s opens for a run that continues through this weekend,

and the spectators look on quietly, awestruck, few seeming to notice the

handlers exchanging their shovels and brooms for short sticks with heavy metal

hooks at one end.

 

The handlers head back toward the elephants, the first to reach his animal

moving the stick quickly, subtly. The movement, all of a few inches, isn’t

exactly menacing; rather, it suggests an intention to menace, and almost

immediately the Asian female begins the process of lowering her girth down on

one rear leg, then another.

 

The scenario is played out again by the next handler--and the next--in front of

a crowd that doesn’t seem to notice the hooks, perhaps because they are

handled so deftly or perhaps because the sticks are usually black and easily

hidden when held against a handler’s black pants.

 

“How did he make it go down?†a boy asks a man who looks like maybe his

grandfather.

 

Grandpa explains that handlers and elephants enjoy a sort of psychic bond:

“They’re pals.â€

 

Which is what the Ringling people say whenever asked about the sticks called

bullhooks, though they never call them “bullhooks.†Allowing that they are

frightening-looking devices, they are, according to Ringling spokesman Andy

Lopez, simply a “guide,†an “accepted elephant management tool,†an

“extension of the trainer’s hand†necessary when a 5-foot-8 man needs to

“communicate†with a 10-foot elephant.

 

“Yeah,†said elephant activist Carol Buckley, “they’re communicating

‘I’m going to hurt you big time.’â€

 

When one handler seems less sure in his movements, has trouble communicating

that he wants his animal to get up, a second man strides purposely toward it,

glares and raises the bullhook slightly. The elephant gets up.

 

Just a few yards away, demonstrators from People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals (PETA) stand in one of the several Free Speech Zones provided around the

arena. They hand out literature, show pictures of chained elephants and even

offer an actual bullhook for inspection. Some people, grim-faced and serious,

check out the material, brightening to snap pictures of their children hugging

the woman in an elephant suit with bandages all over it. Then, most amble back

toward the elephants.

 

The use of bullhooks on elephants is pretty dramatic and, as propaganda tools

go, pretty powerful. PETA’s website features video of handlers, none of them

Ringling employees, hacking at legs; a handler in a smaller circus exhorts his

colleagues to “make ’em scream.†But activists say that chaining the

animals in arena parking lots or train boxcars is far more dangerous. The long

hours and the crushing weight produce arthritis that cripples them and, critics

say, explains why circus elephants usually survive to just 35--about half of

their life expectancy in the wild. Weeks before, PETA asked Anaheim Mayor Curt

Pringle and the city council to ban the chaining of elephants within the city.

 

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Itys sad but unfortunately still quite commonplace, the only solution is to close circuses, dont know if zoos use them, I suspect that some of them do? The Valley Vegan..........fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: http://www.ocweekly.com/news/news/dumbo-and-dumber/25591/Handlers give circus Elephants the bullhook By STEVE LOWERYThursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:00 pmDon't make me hurt you. Photo by Jennie Warren The elephants feed on the dried grass and cover themselves with dirt provided by handlers, oblivious to the people watching from behind a chain link enclosure on the Arrowhead Pond parking lot. It’s an hour before the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus’s opens for a run that continues through this weekend, and the spectators look on

quietly, awestruck, few seeming to notice the handlers exchanging their shovels and brooms for short sticks with heavy metal hooks at one end. The handlers head back toward the elephants, the first to reach his animal moving the stick quickly, subtly. The movement, all of a few inches, isn’t exactly menacing; rather, it suggests an intention to menace, and almost immediately the Asian female begins the process of lowering her girth down on one rear leg, then another.The scenario is played out again by the next handler--and the next--in front of a crowd that doesn’t seem to notice the hooks, perhaps because they are handled so deftly or perhaps because the sticks are usually black and easily hidden when held against a handler’s black pants.“How did he make it go down?†a boy asks a man who looks like maybe his grandfather.Grandpa explains that handlers and elephants enjoy a sort of psychic bond: “They’re pals.â€Which is

what the Ringling people say whenever asked about the sticks called bullhooks, though they never call them “bullhooks.†Allowing that they are frightening-looking devices, they are, according to Ringling spokesman Andy Lopez, simply a “guide,†an “accepted elephant management tool,†an “extension of the trainer’s hand†necessary when a 5-foot-8 man needs to “communicate†with a 10-foot elephant.“Yeah,†said elephant activist Carol Buckley, “they’re communicating ‘I’m going to hurt you big time.’â€When one handler seems less sure in his movements, has trouble communicating that he wants his animal to get up, a second man strides purposely toward it, glares and raises the bullhook slightly. The elephant gets up.Just a few yards away, demonstrators from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) stand in one of the several Free Speech Zones provided around the arena. They hand out literature, show pictures

of chained elephants and even offer an actual bullhook for inspection. Some people, grim-faced and serious, check out the material, brightening to snap pictures of their children hugging the woman in an elephant suit with bandages all over it. Then, most amble back toward the elephants.The use of bullhooks on elephants is pretty dramatic and, as propaganda tools go, pretty powerful. PETA’s website features video of handlers, none of them Ringling employees, hacking at legs; a handler in a smaller circus exhorts his colleagues to “make ’em scream.†But activists say that chaining the animals in arena parking lots or train boxcars is far more dangerous. The long hours and the crushing weight produce arthritis that cripples them and, critics say, explains why circus elephants usually survive to just 35--about half of their life expectancy in the wild. Weeks before, PETA asked Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and the city council to ban the chaining of elephants

within the city. "NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President."To send an email to -