Elephants on Mason's Fairfax Campus.
Imagine the shock when I pulled into the parking lot near the Patriot Center and saw these beautiful creatures getting a bath nearby.
Yes, the circus has arrived! The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to be exact, and the elephants are part of this Greatest Show on Earth, which runs from April 14-24 at the Patriot Center.
Corralled behind some fencing in Lot A, I counted at least seven pachyderms, including a couple babies, or calves. The circus’s website said they are all Asian elephants.
While I stood there, keepers were hosing down several of the animals, while the rest were using their elongated snouts to toss what looked like saw dust onto their backs (of course, it could have been food for all I know). One baby was rolling around on the ground having a grand old time.
To my surprise, I was the only onlooker. Is anyone else not seeing what I’m seeing, I thought to myself as a couple other people walked by, preferring to talk on their cell phones rather than gasp at the sight of elephants in a Mason parking lot.
Come on, people! There are elephants at Mason! No kidding, elephants!
For decades I thought the circus was a great family event that was until 2009 when I saw photo after photo showing a Ringling Bros. baby elephant training sessions at their Center for Elephant Conservation facility. No one knew that these baby animals were being trained using abusive and cruel training methods, when you use a bullhook (resembles a fireplace poker), ropes and an electric prod to shock a force these animals to learn circus tricks you realize what a horrible and inhumane life these animals have lead to entertain the audiences. A search on the Internet and you can see these photos, the more I researched this animal abuse for entertainment the worse it got.
If your family loves elephants and other circus animals, the circus is the last place you should go, you won’t see any happy animals there, they’ve only known a life time of abuse.
Comment by jainem — May 3, 2011 @ 8:18 pm