ADVOCATES FOR ANIMALS' LATEST NEWS RELEASE - CALL FOR SCOTS TO GIVE UP ELEPHANT POLO - 1 December 2006

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>ADVOCATES FOR ANIMALS' LATEST NEWS

>RELEASE - CALL FOR SCOTS TO GIVE UP ELEPHANT

>POLO - 1 December 2006

>Fri, 1 Dec 2006 10:50:54 -0000

>

>

>NEWS RELEASE

>

>Friday 1 December 2006 – For Immediate Use

>

>

>

>CALL FOR SCOTS TO GIVE UP ELEPHANT POLO

>

>

>

>As the 25th World Elephant Polo Tournament ends

>on Saturday (2nd December), Advocates for

>Animals is calling for an end to Scottish

>involvement in the ‘sport’ known as elephant

>polo. The animal protection organisation is

>asking the Scottish team’s captain, the Duke of

>Argyll, and its sponsor Chivas Regal whisky to

>end their association with elephant polo. This

>game causes both animal welfare and conservation

>concerns, a view that has strong support among

>the Asian animal welfare and conservation

>community.

>

>

>

>Advocates for Animals opposes the use of

>performing wild animals for entertainment. The

>organisation believes that forcing elephants to

>‘play polo’ is totally unnatural and contrary to

>their nature. The elephants are trained using a

>bullhook or ankush, a sharp steel hook that is

>used to prod the animals into obeying

>instructions. These hooks can cause open wounds

>which can become infected and cause pain and

>discomfort.

>

>

>

>Advocates has written to the Duke of Argyll

>urging him to consider ending his support for

>elephant polo. Advocates is also asked the

>Managing Director of Pernod Ricard, owners of

>Chivas Regal whisky, to withdraw its sponsorship

>of the Scottish team. In a letter to the Duke of

>Argyll, Advocates’ Director, Ross Minett, said:

>“Please re-consider your involvement in elephant

>polo. It is hard to see any justification for

>using these magnificent animals in this manner.

>Cruel training is used to make elephants perform

>unnatural behaviours. Treating these wonderful

>animals with such a lack of respect only

>encourages further exploitation.

>

>“I am aware that some elephant polo matches

>raise funds for conservation projects. However

>the ends do not justify the means. There are

>other ways of raising such funds without

>exploiting animals. Our views are supported by a

>wide range of Asian animal welfare and

>conservation organisations.”

>

>

>

>Elephant Polo is also opposed by a large number

>of international and Asian animal welfare

>organisations including the World Society for

>the Protection of Animals, the Born Free

>Foundation, International Animal Rescue, the

>Captive Animals Protection Society, People for

>the Ethical Treatment of Animals, The Wildlife

>Protection Society of India, Asian Animal

>Protection Network, People for Animals India,

>Animals Asia Foundation, Blue Cross of India,

>ACT Asia for Animals, Compassionate Crusaders

>Trust and Animal Nepal. Jewellers Cartier

>recently came under pressure to withdraw its

>sponsorship from this ‘sport’.

>

>

>

>According to the Wildlife Protection Society of

>India (WPSI), while it is true that elephants

>have been domesticated in India for centuries,

>elephants do not breed well in captivity and

>every single generation of these 'domestic'

>animals has been augmented with captures from

>the wild. After the intense trauma that a young

>calf undergoes at being forcibly separated from

>its mother and herd, it is put through a brutal

>training process to make it submit to human

>commands. Although the practice of wild captures

>has recently been banned, it continues

>illegally. Belinda Wright, OBE, Executive

>Director of WPSI, added: “To use any wild animal

>- and in particular these intelligent, sensitive

>giants - for sport and entertainment is

>demeaning and inappropriate. Instead of

>promoting respect for wild elephants and

>sympathy for domestic ones, elephant polo merely

>promotes the idea that elephants are amusing and

>controllable. We live in an enlightened age,

>where we should abandon practices that are not

>morally justifiable. And as a multinational

>company, surely it is up to Chivas Regal to set

>an example of responsible corporate behavior?”

>

>

>

>Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick DBE, MBE, MBS, DVMS,

>1992 ENEP Global 500 Laureate, one of the

>world’s authorities on elephants, with which she

>has worked for 50 years, said: “I believe that

>it is cruel to force elephants to play polo. No

>one who knows elephants intimately will endorse

>using these highly sophisticated and intelligent

>animals for frivolous fundraising or

>entertainment purposes as an Elephant Polo

>Match, or endorse the way in which most Indian

>elephants are brutally and cruelly trained,

>breaking their spirit and making them too

>fearful to be disobedient for fear of reprisal.

>It is my professional opinion that the use of

>elephants for polo should be banned in this, the

>third millennium, when so much more is known

>about these animals.”

>

>

>

>John Wedderburn of the Asian Animal Protection

>Network adds: “Money should certainly be raised

>for elephants but not by exploitation of them.

>Some of the money raised can be used for

>assisting the wretched animals already living

>under human abuse but most of it should go to

>conserving the elephants' natural habitats. We

>would suggest to the Duke of Argyll and Chivas

>Regal Whisky that a much better use of their

>time and money would be in supporting genuine

>conservation efforts.”

>

>

>

>- ENDS -

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>

>Notes to Editors

>

>

>For interviews, further information or to

>arrange an interview with the Duchess of

>Hamilton, please contact Advocates’ Director,

>Ross Minett, on 0131 225 6030 (07946 517585).

>

>

>

>The Chivas Regal Scotland team is sponsored by

>Chivas Regal whisky and captained by the Duke of

>Argyll. Chivas Regal Scotland competes three

>times a year against teams from Hong Kong,

>India, Iceland, Thailand, England, Nepal,

>Germany, USA, Australia and Sri Lanka and has

>won the World Elephant Polo Tournament for the

>last two years. This year’s event ran from 26

>November to 2 December in Nepal. The tournament

>is organised by the World Elephant Polo

>Association, which was founded in 1982 and has

>spread from Nepal to Thailand and Sri Lanka.

>Elephant polo was first played in India around

>the turn of the century by Scottish aristocracy

>and was started up again in 1982 by James

>Manclark from Edinburgh.

>

>

>

>Further information on elephant polo and why it

>should be ended, including photos, can be found

>at

><http://www.stopelephantpolo.com>www.stopelephantpolo.com.

 

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