Animal Abuse – Page 11 – PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE

Australian Dad Of Three Young Girls Tries To Explains Why He Is Teaching Them How To Hunt And Kill Deer And ‘Feral’ Pigs In The Bush

JUSTIN WANN, PICTURED WITH HIS DAUGHTER EMILY, 12, HAS EXPLAINED WHY HE TAKES HE HAS TAUGHT HIS THREE YOUNG CHILDREN HOW TO HUNT

The family almost entirely live off wild game, regularly eating what they shoot and kill to teach the children where their food comes from.

**WANN’S DAUGHTER SAMANTHA IS PICTURED POSING WITH A DEER THAT WAS SHOT AND KILLED DURING A FAMILY HUNTING TRIP**

A recent picture uploaded online shows Samantha posing next to a deer which she shot from 45m away, before carrying the animal home.

Emily, ‘not to be outdone by her sister’, shot her first deer just weeks later, while Sophie has also been pictured practicing to shoot with a pink single shot .22 rifle.

**SAMANTHA IS PICTURED HERE WITH THE FIRST DEER SHE SHOT AND KILLED HERSELF WHILE ON A HUNTING TRIP**

Samantha and Emily, who both first learnt to shoot with the same gun, now hunt with bolt action .243 hunting rifles.

Mr Wann learnt to hunt and shoot when he was taken on hunting trips as a child by his grandfather in western New South Wales.

**SAMANTHA AND EMILY ARE PICTURED WITH A WILD DOG THAT WAS KILLED DURING A FAMILY HUNTING TRIP**

‘I strongly believe in firearm education for kids, especially kids in rural areas where there is a high chance they will be exposed to guns at some stage,’ Mr Wann said.

**WANN’S WIFE SARA WITH THEIR DAUGHTER EMILY, WHO WAS 18-MONTHS-OLD AT THE TIME, POSING BEHIND A ‘FERAL’ PIG**

**SAMANTHA IS PICTURED WHEN SHE WAS YOUNGER HOLDING A DEAD RABBIT IN HER HANDS**

Editor’s Note: Misguided Parenting.

Many hunter’s believe it is their parental duty to teach children to use guns. It’s a difficult viewpoint for others to understand. Yet good parenting involves protecting children from harm. Allowing children to do what we do, regardless of age, safety and moral implications, is not protecting them.

Teaching his daughter to hunt has become a war veteran’s purpose in life. He has a dream that his daughter will be the “first four year old in the world to hunt and kill a hog.” It doesn’t seem to matter whether his young daughter wants to hunt.

“I have to be with her for her very first kill… Can’t take that away from me, you know. It’s going to be a huge accomplishment that her dad’s a triple amputee with one arm and he’s got her to where she can hunt herself,” he says in the documentary Kids and Guns. She has already been made to watch him kill a squirrel from his wheelchair, then hold the corpse for photographs and watch the skinning.

A corruption of childhood

Images of children carrying guns or holding slain animals represent a corruption of childhood. Children enjoy pleasing the adults in their life, but they don’t have to kill to earn our approval, unless we make it that way. They can help to prepare food, or feed animals, or grow vegetables. We can teach them how to create and nurture. When they reach adulthood, they can choose whether or not they want to use guns and kill animals, but before then, let’s not force them down a path.

Perhaps we should look more critically at why we teach children the things we do. Is it for their benefit, for society’s benefit, or our own? It’s one thing to dress our children in our favourite football team kit, although better they make their own choice, but it’s a different matter to place a gun in their hand.

Children are highly impressionable. Killing has no place in childhood if we want a more compassionate society. We first need to teach children to respect nature, otherwise what hope is there for preserving the natural world and for protecting humanity in the long run?

A society that promotes killing surely isn’t a healthy one.

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Norway Euthanizes Freya — The Walrus That Was Killed Because We Made Her Popular

Norwegian authorities have killed a Walrus that was drawing large numbers of human onlookers. They said it was necessary because PEOPLE had failed to heed warnings that their safety could be in danger.

Norwegian authorities killed a popular walrus due to safety concerns, they announced on Sunday.

Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries said Freya was euthanized early on Sunday “based on an overall assessment of the continued threat to human safety.”

The 600-kilogram (1,320-pound) marine mammal, affectionately known as Freya, had become a popular attraction over recent weeks.

The sightings were unusual because walruses normally live much further north, in Arctic waters.

What reason was given?

Officials had repeatedly warned that people should refrain from getting too close and posing for pictures with the animal.

“Through on-site observations the past week it was made clear that the public has disregarded the current recommendation to keep a clear distance to the walrus,” a statement from the Directorate of Fisheries said. “Therefore, the Directorate has concluded, the possibility for potential harm to people was high and animal welfare was not being maintained.”

Norway’s Fisheries Directorate Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a statement that all other possible solutions had been examined, including moving Freya elsewhere. “We concluded that we could not guarantee the well-being of the animal by any of the means available,” he said.

Bakke-Jensen said that ultimately, human safety had to take precedence.

“We have sympathies for the fact that the decision can cause reactions with the public, but I am firm that this was the right call. We have great regard for animal welfare, but human life and safety must take precedence.”

However, opponents of the decision said more should have been done to take the animal’s well-being into account.

A spokeswoman for animal rights group NOAH, Siri Martinsen, told Norway’s TV2 television channel that the measure had been rushed. She said fines should have been issued to disperse the onlookers.

Biologist Rune Aae told the NTB news agency it was “infinitely sad that they chose to euthanise such a beautiful animal simply because we did not behave well with it.”

The Blue Planet Society pressure group — which campaigns to protect the world’s oceans — branded the decision “utterly disgraceful.”

They actually did it. Freya the walrus has been killed by the Directorate of Fisheries in Norway.

Utterly disgraceful. https://t.co/N31reJ67i4
— Blue Planet Society (@Seasaver) August 14, 2022

THE BLUE PLANET SOCIETY’S RESPONSE FOLLOWING THE NEWS THAT FREYA HAS BEEN KILLED

An International Traveller

Freya — whose name refers to the Norse goddess of beauty and love — was first spotted in the waters of the Norwegian capital in mid-July.

She had already found fame climbing onto pleasure boats in Kragero, an idyllic southern coastal village.

Her exploits, which included chasing a duck and attacking a swan intrigued locals and made headlines in the press. Mostly though, she would simply bask on boats — walruses can sleep for up to 20 hours per day.

Despite repeated appeals from the authorities, interested onlookers continued to approach her, sometimes with children and sometimes in the water.

Before settling in the Oslo Fjord, Freya was spotted in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands — where she relaxed on a Dutch naval submarine — and Denmark.

Author’s Comment: Freya, please accept our apologies. we put you on a pedestal then let you down ~ OUR SHAME!!!

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DON’T FORGET YOUR TRUNKS! Baby Elephant Tries To Forget Her Fear Of Water As She Receives Hydrotherapy In Bid To Learn To Walk Again After Injuring Her Foot In A Trap

Staff at a Thai animal hospital take six-month-old orphan Clear Sky swimming to strengthen her leg muscles.

This baby Elephant is trying to forget her fear of water as she learns to walk again after losing part of her foot.

The nervous six-month-old grabbed a keeper for support as she was lowered into the pool at an animal hospital in Chonburi, Thailand.

**CLEAR SKY IS LEARNING TO WALK AGAIN IN A SWIMMING POOL AFTER SHE INJURED HER FOOT.**

The six-month-old is the first elephant to receive hydrotherapy at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden animal hospital in Thailand

Clear Sky caught her leg in an animal trap laid by villagers to protect their crops.

Staff at the animal hospital are trying to help her strengthen her withered leg muscles.

After surgery she is now having treatment to strengthen her leg muscles.

**STAFFERS USE A HARNESS TO HELP CLEAR SKY INTO THE WATER AND KEEP HER AFLOAT**

**THIS WAS HER SECOND TIME GETTING WATER THERAPY**

Baby Elephants usually love water, but Clear Sky was ‘a bit nervous and scared’, said a vet.

However she appeared to relax by the end of the hour-long session.

Vet Padet Siridumrong said: “She is still a bit nervous and scared of the water.

“Usually baby Elephants love the water.

“If she can do this regularly she will have fun.”

Villagers had found Clear Sky hungry and hobbling, after being separated from her mother in the wild.

Vets hope with more swimming, she won’t need an artificial leg.

The orphaned Elephant was in bad shape when she arrived at the hospital.

She was hobbling, in pain and in dire need of milk.

‘Kampon Tansacha, the director of the zoo that’s now her home, said: “We named her Clear Sky Up Ahead, because that is what she will need while she is with us.”

Elephants are a revered national symbol in Thailand, but their population in the wild has plummeted to an estimated 2,500 in the last century, a result of rabid development, habitat destruction and the ivory trade.

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An American Dentist And Big-Game Hunter Found Guilty Of The Murder Of His Wife On An African Safari.

Larry Rudolp confessed killing his wife on an African safari in Zambia and collecting millions in life insurance.

An American dentist and big-game hunter was found guilty of murder in the shooting death of his wife on an African safari.

Lawrence Rudolph, 67, killed his wife, Bianca Rudolph, with a shotgun and defrauded multiple insurance companies, a federal jury found Monday. Rudolph cashed in more than $4.8 million in life insurance payments after her death almost six years ago.

Rudolph has maintained his innocence and said he believes the gun fired accidentally.

“I did not kill my wife. I could not murder my wife. I would not murder my wife,” Rudolph told jurors when he took the stand in his own defence at a federal trial in Denver last week.

The Phoenix couple shared a passion for big-game hunting and had travelled to the southern African nation of Zambia in September 2016 so Bianca Rudolph could add a leopard to her collection of animal trophies. They carried two guns for the hunt: a Remington .375 rifle and a Browning 12-gauge shotgun.

Two weeks later, as Bianca Rudolph was packing for the couple’s return home, she suffered a fatal blast from the Browning shotgun in their hunting cabin at Kafue National Park. Rudolph told investigators he heard the shot at dawn while he was in the bathroom and believed the shotgun accidentally went off as she was putting it in its case, court documents said. He told investigators he found her bleeding on the floor.

But federal prosecutors at Rudolph’s trial in Denver, where the insurance companies are based, described it as a premeditated crime. Prosecutors argued Rudolph killed his wife of 30 years for insurance money and to be with his girlfriend, Lori Milliron.

Defence attorney David Markus had argued that Larry Rudolph had no financial motive to kill his wife. In court documents, he noted that Rudolph owns a dental practice near Pittsburgh valued at $10 million.

“We are obviously extremely disappointed. We believe in Larry and his children,” Markus and fellow defence attorneys Margot Moss and Lauren Doyle told CNN in a statement after Monday’s verdict. “There are lots of really strong appellate issues, which we will be pursuing after we have had a chance to regroup.”

The jury also found Milliron, Rudolph’s girlfriend, guilty of being an accessory after the fact to murder, obstruction of justice and two counts of perjury based on her testimony before a grand jury, according to the Department of Justice.

Milliron, who was tried alongside Rudolph, said the couple had been in an open relationship, according to court documents. Milliron and Rudolph lived together from 2017 until his arrest last year, her attorney, John Dill, told CNN.

“We are disappointed in the jury’s verdict, but that is our system,” Dill said. “Lori Milliron is innocent and we will continue to fight to exonerate her.”

An embassy official expressed suspicion after the shooting, the FBI said

In court documents, investigators alleged Rudolph raised suspicions when he sought to quickly cremate his wife’s body in Zambia.

Rudolph scheduled a cremation three days after her death, according to court documents. After he reported her death to the US Embassy in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, the consular chief “told the FBI he had a bad feeling about the situation, which he thought was moving too quickly,” FBI special agent Donald Peterson wrote in the criminal affidavit.

As a result, the consular chief and two other embassy officials went to the funeral home where the body was being held to take photographs and preserve any potential evidence. When Rudolph found out the embassy officials had taken photos of his wife’s body, he was “livid,” Peterson wrote.

Rudolph initially told the consular chief that his wife may have died by suicide, but an investigation by Zambian law enforcement ruled it an accidental discharge.

Investigators for the insurers reached a similar conclusion and paid on the policies.

But forensic evidence showed Bianca Rudolph’s wounds came from a shot fired from at least two feet away, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

“At that distance, there is reason to believe that Bianca Rudolph was not killed by an accidental discharge as stated,” the complaint said.

US Attorney Cole Finegan welcomed the jury’s ruling.

“Bianca Rudolph deserved justice,” Finegan said in a statement. “We can only hope this verdict brings Bianca’s family some amount of peace.”

A friend of Bianca Rudolph’s asked the FBI to investigate

But federal investigators maintained the shooting was premeditated so that Rudolph “could falsely claim the death was the result of an accident.”

Rudolph orchestrated his wife’s death as part of a scheme to defraud life insurance companies and to allow him to live openly with his girlfriend, the FBI alleged.

Larry Rudolph was charged with foreign murder in the 2016 death of his wife.

Bianca and Lawrence Rudolph moved from Pennsylvania to Arizona about four years before her death. Rudolph’s dental practice remained in Pennsylvania, and he commuted back and forth from his Phoenix home.

Federal authorities got involved after a friend of Bianca Rudolph asked the FBI to investigate the death because she suspected foul play. The friend said Larry Rudolph had been involved in extramarital affairs and had a girlfriend at the time of his wife’s death.

Milliron worked as a manager at Larry Rudolph’s dental practice near Pittsburgh and told a former employee that she’d been dating him for 15 to 20 years, according to court documents. Milliron moved in with Rudolph three months after Bianca Rudolph’s death, court documents said.

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GoD and DoG

When God had made the earth and sky,
The flowers and the trees,
He then made all the animals,
The fish, the birds and bees.

And when at last He’d finished,
Not one was quite the same,
God said, “I’ll walk this earth of mine,
And give each one a name.”

And so He travelled far and wide,
And everywhere He went,
A little creature followed Him,
Until its strength was spent.

When all were named upon the earth,
And in the sky and sea,
The little creature said, “Dear Lord,
There’s not one left for me.”

Kindly the Father said to him,
“I’ve left you to the end,
I’ve turned my own name back to front,
And call you DOG, my friend.

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“Empty Shell” (Brain Damage)

I want my money back I came to see an Elephant I paid to see a conservation ambassador Inspire me to help conserve the species Especially her kind

I saw an empty shell

She looks like an Elephant But what is there to see, not Happy She is a poor teacher of Elephant lessons She is no solitary animal, but kept confined Like all captives, neurones scrambled, brain denied Stereotypy is not a dance – no, a pathetic trance A sign she can’t be happy in mind She’s not right in the head.

She is an empty shell

They have broken personalities All the Elephants with names, captive They are poor Elephant facsimiles They have the stature, the thick skin and bones They are devoid of Elephant spirit, truncated They are subjected to Floydian ‘Brain Damage’ They are all caught on the dark side (“‘As a matter of fact, it’s all dark’*) Cut off from the herd

They are empty shells

We pay the price to see: see the price they pay We fall for the old ‘conservation /education’ story We fail to see the oppression and the damage done We should be able to see for ourselves We could accept they are Sentients like us We could see them better in a sanctuary We could do the right thing Will we?

Collect all the empty shells

Put them back where they can refill Regain their freedom and society Be Elephants again, herd mentality That would be something to see Is it just a Zoological fantasy?

I find myself unhappy for Happy, again

If I find myself outside her enclosure (But I wouldn’t pay to go in anyway) Watching her sway song, groundhog days One day closer to her end of days Inspired to write yet another Happy poem Adding to ‘Not Happy’ ‘Personable’ ‘Elephant Stomp’ After the first setback of her legal person court case What would I do if I were you?

Might just as well go to a museum Pay to see a stuffed Elephant This one already is

I want my money back I came to see an Elephant Largest land animal, majestic Social fellow-sentient being Exemplary, salutary

I got an empty shell

*From ‘Brain Damage’ on the Pink Floyd album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’

**From ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ by Neil Young

For all captive Elephants – Happy, Lucy, Shankar, The Fresno Elephants and so many more.

Written By Anthony Lovell.

What you can do to help wildlife:

Please Sign The Petition To Free Happy From Her Imprisonment At The Bronx Zoo HERE!

Happy the Elephant had her day in court. We humans are better for it.

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The South African National Parks (SANParks) Has Concluded Its Investigations Into Kruger Park Rangers And Others Filmed Abusing A Euthanised Leopard

Kruger National Park rangers and other employees were filmed abusing a euthanised Leopard. SANParks says their conduct was contrary to the ethos of the organisation whose primary goal is to act as the custodian of wildlife.

Rangers and employees at the Kruger National Park have had their statements taken after a video surfaced of them allegedly abusing a euthanised Leopard.

According to SANParks, custodian of the Kruger Park, four of the nine people seen slapping the dead animal are SANParks employees — three are rangers and one is employed as an environmental monitor. One person seen striking the Leopard was a visitor to the park.

So far, one employee has been suspended pending disciplinary action. “Line management is finalising their approach with respect to other employees who may have transgressed SANParks’ policies and code of conduct,” SANParks said. Regarding the visitor, SANParks said it “is taking legal advice on sanctions to be imposed on him”.

The incident happened on Sunday after an employee from Shalati Concession was attacked by a Leopard. According to SANParks, this was the second attack on an employee in the park in the same area since June 26.

The Leopard was shot 30 metres from where the attack happened. “In line with SANParks’ policies and standard operating procedures on the management of damage-causing animals, a decision was taken to euthanise the Leopard to safeguard human life.”

RANGER SLAPPING DEAD LEOPARD

On the abuse of the animal’s body, SANParks said it “strongly condemns the behaviour depicted in the images captured on video … Such actions are contrary to the ethos of the organisation whose primary goal is to conserve biodiversity and act as the custodian of our wildlife”.

“The actions of these individuals run counter to conservation management and the ethos of the organisation. During the next week a campaign will be embarked upon among all employees within the Kruger National Park to reinforce these values and ethics.

“The organisation commits to managing the outcomes in an open and transparent manner while respecting the requirements of legislation pertaining to this regrettable incident.

**THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL PARKS STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT**

“Management is aiming to have a final report completed by Wednesday, July 27, which will make recommendations to the SANParks board on how to ensure such incidences do not occur again.”

South African National Parks (SANParks) Investigation Findings

The South African National Parks (SANParks) says it has concluded its investigations into the abuse of a dead leopard – which was caught on film in a video which went viral; and has started implementing corrective measures… including banning the man who was seen striking the leopard’s face from entering the Kruger National Park again.

In a statement, SANParks explained that the Leopard had been found and euthanised close to employees’ living quarters (within 100m), and a crowd had subsequently gathered around the dead Leopard. A Management Incident Report found that there was insufficient crowd control.

The Report made recommendations to SANParks on ways to minimise such incidents occurring in the future, and to limit human wildlife conflict.

According to the report, the official procedures had been followed correctly in deciding to euthanise the Leopard.

The problems arose during the recovery of the carcass after the Ranger Corporal asked for assistance from bystanders to get the carcass from the bushes. It was at this point that the incident – which took place in the administrative area of Skukuza – was filmed.

SANParks said: “All identified SANParks employees were questioned and submitted statements. The individual who struck the Leopard is not a SANParks employee and has been barred from entering the Kruger National Park. Disciplinary action is ongoing for all SANParks officials as well as the individual who filmed the incident.”

The Management Report also recommended that the KNP Code of Conduct should be revisited and communicated to visitors and residents; and that procedures should be amended to improve the response to crowd control situations following an animal being euthanised near to humans.

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🌈 A Man And A Dog And Heaven

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.

He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, ‘Excuse me, where are we?’

‘This is Heaven, sir,’ the man answered.

Would you happen to have some water?’ the man asked.

Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up’.

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

‘Can my friend,’ gesturing toward his dog, ‘come in, too?’ the traveler asked.

‘I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t accept pets.’

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

‘Excuse me!’ he called to the man. ‘Do you have any water?’

‘Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in..’

‘How about my friend here?’ the traveller gestured to the dog.

There should be a bowl by the pump.’

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.

The traveller filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

‘What do you call this place?’ the traveler asked.

This is Heaven,’ he answered.

‘Well, that’s confusing,’ the traveler said. ‘The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.’

‘Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That’s hell.’

‘Doesn’t it make you mad for them to use your name like that?’

‘No, we’re just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind!!

Author Unknown

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An Abandoned Baby Fox Who Can’t Use Her Back Legs Gets A Special Wheelchair

One little fox has been gaining a lot of attention on social media, for one very unique reason. While she may have a disability, the folks at the Kentucky Wildlife Center are determined not to let that stop her.

When you walk through the doors at the centre, you may be greeted by the friendly house cat waiting for an ear scratch, or the curious bunny ready for her close up.

“That’s what we do here. We take care of every animal to the max,” said PK Blankenship.

For some, it’s a place to rest and rehabilitate before being released back into the wild. For others, it becomes their home.

“She’s come a long way, she really has. It used to be that there wasn’t any movement in those back legs at all,” Blankenship said.

Asia the three-month-old Red Fox became a “permanent resident” back in May. She was found by a Boone County couple who immediately called the center’s director, Sam Opp, when they saw Asia try to walk.

“They noticed she wasn’t using her back legs,” Opp said.

It’s a disability Opp believes Asia has had since birth, and something that would have left her defenceless, and eventually dead, in the wild.

“You would never know she can’t use those back legs. She thinks she’s a regular fox. She pounces like a regular fox. She jumps like a regular fox. She crawls over you like a regular fox,” Blankenship said.

But what you may not see on a regular fox is the shiny wheelchair.

“Sometimes it’s funny. We put her in it and she’s like a NASCAR race driver. She takes off,” Blankenship said.

While Asia may have the need for speed, learning to use the chair isn’t always a smooth ride.

“I’m not saying she won’t bump into something, it does frighten her. It’s just like as a child. She would tumble off her mom and shake it off,” Blankenship said.

Still a wild animal, there are days Asia isn’t in the mood for physical therapy.

“If she’s just having a bad day, she’ll get more free time, which is after every session anyways,” Opp said.

With the help of Opp, her handler Blankenship, and the wheelchair, she will most likely be able to walk using her back legs one day.

“She has shown improvement in using those back legs to actually stand on her own. She is a very determined fox kit. She’s not giving up and we’re not giving up on her either. We’re in it for the long haul,” Blankenship said.

https://youtu.be/fbPbhgfAA90

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The Tragic Story Of Tyke The Circus Elephant: The Most Horrific Circus Death Ever!

**20TH AUGUST 1994: THE DAY THAT TYKE THE ELEPHANT WAS SHOT 86 TIMES!**

Mention “Tyke the Elephant” to anyone who lived in Honolulu 27 years ago and chances are they’ll shake their head and talk about what a dark moment it was in their city’s history.

Tyke was a wild-born African Elephant captured from the wild in Mozambique when just a baby. She was sold into the circus industry in the U.S. and for twenty years abused and exploited. Tyke was tortured during this time, forced to wear a degrading clown costume and dance for the audience, and even forced to ride a giant tricycle.

In August 1994, Tyke spent several days locked in the hull of a tanker ship on a long ocean journey from California to Hawaii. When they finally let her out she was immediately forced into performing in from of an audience. Unable to take the abuse any longer, she finally snapped. Tyke entered the ring at the Blaisdell Arena, kicking around what looked to audience members like a dummy. “We thought it was part of the show,” one witness told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. They soon realized the supposed dummy was a severely injured groomer. Panicked, audience members fled for the exits. Tyke went on to fatally crush her trainer, who was trying to intervene, before fleeing the arena herself.

For nearly 30 minutes, Tyke ran through the streets of the Kakaako neighborhood’s business district at rush hour, nearly trampling circus promoter Steve Hirano when he tried to fence her in. It was a foot chase between her and the Honolulu police, who eventually shot her 86 times before she succumbed to nerve damage and brain haemorrhages. People watched aghast from their cars, apartments and the sidewalk.

Twenty seven years later, witnesses still remember it vividly, and the attitude in Honolulu toward animal-driven circuses is distrusting. No circus elephants have performed since Tyke, even though there is no prohibition against it.

In 2014, when the Moscow International Circus announced that it would perform in Honolulu with “wild animals”, activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals circulated a petition against it. A circus spokesman recently told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that animals would be excluded from the shows, and PETA applauded the decision in a press release:

While the Tyke incident challenged people around the world to think about our relationship to circus animals, many circuses such as the Kelly Miller Circus, UniverSoul Circus, Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars and Carson & Barnes still use exotic animals, including Elephants, in their shows today. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has only recently stopped using Elephants in their circus.

What can you do? PETA encourages you to avoid supporting any circus that includes animals and provides a list of animal-free circuses, as well as a list of things you can do if the circus comes to your town.

IF THIS VIDEO DOESN’T CONVINCE YOU THAT ANIMAL CIRCUSES ARE HELL!