Why are so many people worked into frenzy over the elephants??

How do you train a baby elephant? 

“What is wrong with the people in Durham that they won’t stop talking about it?”

“What actually happens to the elephants that has made towns, cites and countries all over the world ban elephants and exotic animals from circuses?”

“I never saw anything bad happen to an elephant when I went to the circus.”

“If I see them abuse an elephant then I will make them leave the Fairgrounds!”

“I am sick of listening to these people and all this talk about elephants.”

“Elephants have been in the circus for centuries and we want an elephant to come to Durham to educate our children.”

“Why did Vermont ban all elephants from their state?”

Do you wonder why so many of us have gotten out of control?

Why are we so passionate?

Do you think we have suddenly gone insane? 

Normally calm, cool, kind, gentle people are ranting about elephants! 

Are you curious about what we are upset about?

“What has happened in our town?” 

“Why don’t they shut up about it?”

Some of us in town actually believed that Rachael Mann had something to say, and we learned something.  We also found out that the Executive Board of the Durham Fair Association (DFA) was targeted by a professional lobby group, Circus Fans of America, and the Board chose to believe the mistruths and misinformation that this group puts out week after week. They target places which are having elephant acts.  They have bullies from all over the country who attack local citizens who start to fight back.

I have personally been attacked over and over again. They called me an ugly old woman who won’t be missed.  Yes, I am an old woman.  I will not let some thugs stop me from speaking loudly for these noble animals. Many locals fold under that type of verbal abuse and pressure.  Our Board was just one of many who fell for their “dirty tricks.”  My husband wrote an article in Sunday’s Patch titled “Is Durham Taking a Trip to Abilene,” which suggests how “groupthink” could have contributed to the Association’s decision.

How do you train a baby elephant?  The DFA say that they researched all of these practices and feel comfortable about the manner in which elephants are “trained.”

(This is the accepted method of training past on generation to generation for elephants in this country. It has been photographed and filmed over and over again.)

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You need a baby elephant, a bull hook (a sharp pointy metal instrument like a fireplace poker but sharper) five people, one with the bull hook and four to rope down the baby elephant and pull their legs apart. (You may have fewer people if the ropes are really tight and the legs are pulled far enough apart) The 5th person sticks the bull hook into the baby’s rectum, ear canal, eyelid, between her toes and any

other soft spot that causes the baby to scream in terror.

How many times do you do this?  As long as it takes to “break” or “train” the elephant.

The bull hook now will reinforce what happened to the baby elephant. You make sure the older elephants watch so they are reminded of the pain.

Do you have to continue doing this?  Of course you can’t pull apart the legs of an adult, but you can use the bull hook; and you do this for the next 50-60 years.  Sore and open wounds a few inches deep are treated regularly by vets due to beatings with the bull hooks. Do you have to do this in public?  NO!

Older captive elephants are mentally disturbed, swaying and  moving in abnormal ways  There are manuals out there describing all the abnormal elephant behaviors due to this cruel treatment. They are beaten also on their feet and backs. Holes and wounds from these beatings are common. They are also poked in their rectums, eyelids, mouth any sensitive spot that can’t be seen by the public with these bull hooks. These beatings happen thousands of times in their lifetimes. Holes on their backs and feet can be covered with costumes.

This is not even the whole story.  There is so much more; and it is horrifying, sickening that a town that has so much humanity toward animals and a 4H club would accept this and, as some said, ”just don’t look at the elephants if you don’t approve.”

There is a great article on the front page of the August 16 Town Times by Mark Dionne about how horrible it is for the elephants to travel the 1000 miles from Florida But you have to read it; or, if you have the stomach, watch videos on YouTube, HBO “Apology to Elephants” and numerous groups like Bob Barker’s “In Defense of Animals” and Born Free USA .  All over this country and around the world people are sickened by this abuse.

Someone even said elephants have been in circuses for centuries.  Well in the 30’s they exhibited deformed people in what was called a “freak show”.  They did that for centuries.  Why don’t we do that too? This elephant show is a freak show.  Our town could make a difference and not just “go along to get along.”

The outrage from the local people who have been attacked abusively and rudely by the Circus Fans of America on the Durham Patch is because people in our community who know us as kind and good human beings have not listened to anything we have said, but expect us to volunteer for the fair. They expect us to ignore what they are bringing into our town.  They listen to the bullies from Circus Fans of America and treat us like we are the villains.  And that fueled more outrage, because we who live in this town were now being accused of not supporting the Fair.  We who have volunteered over the years are now the “wrong-headed ones,” and are being set up to be the ones to blame if the Fair fails again. We are supposed to keep quiet and just let this go, accept the decision and shut up.

Do you really want to go along with the DFA  which says that they find nothing wrong with the “training “ methods for elephants in this country? This is a moral and ethical problem.  A lesson placed at our front door by our local Durham Fair Association that we cannot turn a blind eye to. This is the moral and ethical decision that has been put in front of people every day since the beginning of time.  If we do not stand up for our moral convictions, how do we look ourselves in the mirror.  This is a lesson for our children.  What lesson are you going to teach them?  This could be the most powerful thing you could teach them: how to stand up to abuse and not perpetuate it. This is how change happens and it is not easy.