Elephant riders tossed

[Guest guest]

>How many mahouts and players do the elephants have to toss up to make

>one understand that they do not like being made to play polo.

 

 

If elephants carrying riders in any sort of activity always

threw them, or often threw them, one could make an argument that

this showed displeasure with the activity.

 

When it happens very rarely, it signifies nothing more than

that accidents happen. Horses also throw their riders, but usually

when spooked by a third party or event, not as result of anything

the rider did.

 

Dogs bite, cats scratch, donkeys kick, and cattle

sometimes gore a person--but these are all quite infrequent events

compared with the many thousands of times a day each of these animals

complies with human wishes.

 

Accidents involving dogs occur at a much greater frequency

than accidents involving all other mammals combined: 4.8 million

medically treated dog bites per year in the U.S. alone.

 

Does this mean dogs do not usually enjoy doing things with humans?

 

Leave your dog home the next time you go for a walk, and you

will know the answer.

 

We know now that domesticated elephants enjoy many of the

other recreational activities enjoyed by humans. Making paintings is

now a very well-known example. To suppose that they do not enjoy

sports seems to me to be a gross presumption on the part of people

who probably themselves do not enjoy sports.

 

A similar argument applies to dog sled racing. Those who

have never enjoyed running for long distances in bitter northern

winters, which I did for a decade in Quebec as a sponsored

marathoner and ultramarathoner, may never understand the appeal of

it to either human or beast.

 

Those who have never run long distances through snow and ice

with huskies, as I have, may never understand that the fundamental

problem is not getting them to run, but rather getting them to stop.

 

When they do stop, an intelligent person knows it is time to

stop racing, and most sledders know this--but most dog teams can far

out-run the physical stamina of their humans, who are on foot

themselves for most of the uphill travel, and anywhere else that the

going is difficult.

 

This year one Iditarod contestant did not respect his team's

decision to stop, after running an especially difficult stretch over

glare ice, and beat the dogs. He was barred from next year's race,

which means he will probably lose his sponsorship and his career as a

professional racer.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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