Name the commonly encountered welfare issues in performing elephants. Discuss them in detail.

 Welfare issues in performing elephants

Performing animals are the animals which are used for mostly entertainment. The animals used for performing are generally divided into five broad categories:

·         Fighting (bullfights)

·         Circuses (horses, birds, dogs & elephants)

·         Races (bullock cart race, tonga race, dog races etc.)

·         Tourism (elephants, horses & camel’s enjoyment drives)

·         Sports (cock competition fight, jallikattu, Kambala etc.).

The welfare concerns are those issues that are affecting the welfare of an animal destructively i.e. the conditions because of which the animal’s welfare is compromised. The use of animals in entertainment generates serious welfare problems which are painful and cause stress. Welfare issues could be due to the resources or also could be rightly seen as output i.e. the impact of input resources on the animals.

To be the more specific majority of the welfare issues in the elephants used in circuses and rides are due to keeping them in captivity most of the time without any enrichment. Following are the usually faced welfare concerns in such performing elephants:

1.      Tethering

2.      Foot Ailments

3.      Hitting with Ankus

4.      Forced to Stand Unnaturally

5.      Cruelty in Joy Rides

6.      Inadequate Veterinary Care

Details of welfare concerns are: -

1.      Tethering

In imprisonment, elephants are kept continuously bound, incapable to take a step in any direction and many of these smart animals are ambitious silly as a result, stating their huge frustration through repetitive swaying, shocking and head-bobbing behaviours, which are common in imprisonment but not dominant in the wild.

2.      Foot Ailments

They usually suffer from possibly poisonous foot diseases, as well as untreated skin complications, eye infections, and cataracts. The chains injured their legs and cause hurting wounds and pressure lesions that normally become infected. Many elephants used for demonstration and in performances suffer from arthritis and foot rot due to lack of workout and are compulsory to stand on ‘hard concrete bases for long hours’ in their own urine and dung.

3.      Hitting with Ankus

Elephants used in performances are kept continuously bound except when obligatory to perform under the threat of being hooked, hit or prodded with weaponries such as ankus (bullhook), spears or tipped sticks. Even visually weakened elephants were found to be used. Many elephants displayed marks of severe frustration through continuous head-bobbing and convincing - situations not seen in fit animals in the environment.

The use of the bullhook to control elephants is inhumane.

·         It harms elephants physically, psychologically and emotionally.

·         It causes harassment to elephants.

·         Constitutes handling in a manner that causes emotional stress and trauma.

·         Use of bullhook on one elephant has negative consequences for other elephants.

4.      Forced to Stand Unnaturally

It is detected in events that elephants are enforced to perform all types of tricks like:

·         Climb and stable on a small round stage while a gymnast performs on the pachyderm’s back or while put off from the animal’s trunk.

·         Stable herself on one foot while suspended on a circular platform.

·         Stand on her rear legs (forelimbs suspended in the air) on a small dais while a gymnast be seated on the pachyderm’s back.

To complete these acts, elephants are actually harmed, shamelessly hit with woody sticks, and constantly poked and hit on ears, feet and stomach with sticks having sharp tip and ankus, often penetrating their feet. This shows that cruelty is imminent when elephants are forced to execute.

5.      Cruelty in Joy Rides

It is integral when elephants are involuntarily forced to afford joy rides. AWBI’s assessment of elephants used for travel journeys at Amer Fort in Jaipur showed that maximum of the elephants used was under banned ownership, and that hurt and unfit elephants, including those visually impaired, were forced for mandatory work. It was found that strong ankuses, which are banned by the “Rajasthan High Court” in 2010 and chains with points or sharp ends were used to confine the elephants. The animals were constantly tied or bound by more than one foot, their ears had been injured, most of them have severe foot disorders, and many were appealing in stereotypic behaviour, such as continuous influential, head-bobbing, etc. Such behaviour is the outcome of severe frustration and shows thoughtful mental distress and decline in health.

Likewise, the AWBI review report on elephants used for trips in Goa decided that the elephants under unlawful care are unhealthy for work, denied basic supervision care and are exposed to mental and physical suffering. These elephants were observed to be suffering from the hyperkeratinisation of the skin on the fore and hind legs where the metallic chain/ spiked chains come in contact while binding the elephants when they are not actuality used for trips.

The elephants used in the enjoyment trips typically have a solidified skin beneath the lumbar area which is quite delicate and hurting for the elephants. These elephants were also observed with stereotypic behaviour, foot disorders such as weakening of the footpad, cracks on the nails, solidifying of the cuticle nearby the nails etc. due to continuously binding on the solid concrete floor.

Elephants used for enjoyment trips suffer skin injury on back due to the heaviness of saddle and also, grow swellings on the shoulders or hip area due to regularly getting up and lying down on the hard concrete floor.

6.      Inadequate Veterinary Care

Absence of appropriate veterinary health care is also a common welfare problem. Most of the elephants used in enjoyment rides are not immunized properly and are deprived of the appropriate quality veterinary facilities when they are sickening.