After Cartier, Chivas Regal whisky to face wrath of animal rightists

November 20, 2006

The Sunday Times November 19, 2006

Elephant polo in cruelty rowDean Nelson in Delhi

ELEPHANT polo is one of the few sports in which Scotland rules the

world, but the shine has been taken off its success with allegations of

cruelty.

The world championships are being targeted by animal rights campaigners who

want to ban the sport. Campaigners, led by People for the Ethical Treatment

of Animals, are to protest against the Elephant Polo World Cup in Nepal,

where the Scotland team will defend their world title.

They say the sport mistreats an endangered animal to amuse Hooray Henries

and to promote luxury brands. The World Cup is sponsored by Chivas Regal

whisky. A smaller tournament in Jaipur, organised by Mark Shand, brother of

Camilla Parker Bowles, is sponsored by Cartier.

The sport is believed to have originated among Rajasthan's maharajas and was

developed into a modern game by James Manclark, the Scots landowner and

former bobsleigh champion, and his friend Jim Edwards, owner of the Tiger

Tops safari estate in Nepal.

The game is loosely based on equestrian polo, with four elephants per team,

each with a " mahout " who rides the elephant and a player secured by a

harness with the polo stick. Instead of eight chukkas, elephant polo has two

of 10 minutes each to spare the animals.

The controversy surrounds the use of a bullhook to direct the elephants. It

is a sharp steel hook used to prod the elephant into obeying its mahout's

instruction — like spurs or a crop for a horse.

According to the campaigners, the hooks cause open wounds which become

infected and cause the elephant great pain and discomfort.

While both competitions say they will not use bullhooks during the games,

most elephants are trained by mahouts who do use them.

Jim Long, a spokesman for Chivas and one of its world cup team players, said

that the company was not aware of any abuse of elephants.

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