Animal Rights Africa

LEGISLATION AND POLICY

Elephants in captivity

The South African government is in the process of developing “Minimum standards for the management of captive elephants” and Animal Rights Africa has been participating in the stakeholder meetings. Animal Rights Africa represents the views of many people, both locally and internationally, concerned about the use of elephants in captivity. The use of elephants in captive-based industries is no longer acceptable given the indisputable and massive amount of scientific and ethological knowledge there is in relation to elephants. Their use in these various industries is a throwback and legacy of outdated and unacceptable methods of entertainment that have their origins in historical forms of exploitation, imperialism and colonialism. These industries have no place in a democratic South Africa and must be phased out.

The establishment of captive facilities and the retaining of elephants in confinement for purposes other than helping them rehabilitate, violates all of the proposed standards. The commercial use and captivity of elephants disrupts their social groups because the activities and movement of individuals is restricted and controlled, and natural connection and interaction within free-ranging populations is prohibited.

The precautionary principle compels policy design to be based on what is known with the most certainty: in this case, captivity causes severe trauma and stress in elephants and therefore endangers human safety. To minimise the probability of human injury or death from an elephant, it is necessary to avoid two things: (1) humans in proximity with elephants and (2) subjecting elephants to conditions that will threaten or cause stress. Captivity and associated commercial activities (e.g. safari rides, interactive events) do both. Given that elephants and humans are neuro-psychologically comparable, forcing them to work, to be confined and manipulated with severe consequences to their health and wellbeing, is abusive as well as unethical and scientifically unsound.

Training methods not tailored to the individual needs of elephants is generally regarded as being unavoidably cruel. It is designed to break the elephant’s spirit in order to make it compliant, so that it is too fearful to be disobedient. Dominance and learned helplessness is generally achieved by force and because elephants are large, strong and intelligent, constant control is maintained by domination and fear. Based on scientific evidence and available information, as well as expert opinion, the captive elephant standards should, at the very least, include the following elements:

A prohibition on the use of elephants for (a) elephant-back riding (b) touching of and walking with elephants (c) circuses (d) zoos.
Prevention of the use of the following: chains, ropes or other forms of tethers to restrain them; ankuses, electric cattle prods, spiked sticks, ear hooks and water for punishment; withholding of food, water or social contact; free contact training methods and negative reinforcement training methods.

The best available and most current research shows that captivity constitutes the primary stressor undermining the mental and physical health of forcibly held humans and other animals. Given the copious research documenting that elephants and humans share comparable capacities for sentience, culture, sense of self, emotions, and vulnerabilities to suffer psychologically, the policy and practice of forced captivity, again for reasons other than rehabilitation, is unethical and unlawful.

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