Elephant Painting is Abusive and Cruel - Help Stop It
Most abuse is done in secret and behind closed doors.
But there is a growing phenomenon in Thailand and other parts of the world where elephants are trained to paint using deliberate abuse and torture. Many people include celebrated international art galleries see this as a beautiful thing and even an aid to conservation. That it is not!!
Except for a few notable organizations in India and Thailand all elephants used in the tourist industry are trained using a system which involves negative reinforcement by tying the baby elephant down so its legs are fully strength then literally beating it until is spirit is broken or leaving it in a locked cage without food or water.
In Thailand this training method is called Phaa-Jan which literally means breaking the spirit. See National Geographic site for more details: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/photogalleries/1016_phajaan3.html.
Teaching it to paint is achieved by issuing voice commands whilst stabbing the trunk with a sharp nail. It the poor 3 year old do not take the instructions easily a metal hook is sometimes driven into its bleeding head, literally forcing it to learn.
If you are like me and our appalled by this unnecessary tourist activity please add your voice to this protest.
This protest will be sent to any international organization that sells elephant paintings that have no regard for elephant welfare.
If you would like to discuss thie issue then ji
Most abuse is done in secret and behind closed doors.
But there is a growing phenomenon in Thailand and other parts of the world where elephants are trained to paint using deliberate abuse and torture. Many people include celebrated international art galleries see this as a beautiful thing and even an aid to conservation. That it is not!!
Except for a few notable organizations in India and Thailand all elephants used in the tourist industry are trained using a system which involves negative reinforcement by tying the baby elephant down so its legs are fully strength then literally beating it until is spirit is broken or leaving it in a locked cage without food or water.
In Thailand this training method is called Phaa-Jan which literally means breaking the spirit. See National Geographic site for more details: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/photogalleries/1016_phajaan3.html.
Teaching it to paint is achieved by issuing voice commands whilst stabbing the trunk with a sharp nail. It the poor 3 year old do not take the instructions easily a metal hook is sometimes driven into its bleeding head, literally forcing it to learn.
If you are like me and our appalled by this unnecessary tourist activity please add your voice to this protest.
This protest will be sent to any international organization that sells elephant paintings that have no regard for elephant welfare.
If you would like to discuss thie issue then ji
This practice is so horrible I don't even know what to say, except it absolutely must stop. I tell everyone I can about it and encourage them not to visit Thailand. The people who learn about this for the first are shocked and sickened. THIS PHA JAAN MUST STOP NOW!
This is horrible. And even more so because abuse is being employed to produce "art."
This is rediculous! If the elephant does the painting on it's own OK. If the animals have to be trained using abuse then NOT ok. This is just another one of a long list of abusive money making schemes at the animals expense, shameful.
This is horrible. I have seen videos of them painting and honestly thought they were on wildlife habitat sites, not abusive zoos. I should have known better. What an awful training practice.
CRUELTY this should be stopped and people should stop going to these sort of animal shows, the people there are simple minded evil people, boycott any animal show please
This is disgusting and sadistic - humans are surely the cruellest creatures on earth.
what an evil lot of people who can cause such suffering to beautifull docile creatures, let us hope thses people get some sort of the same treatment one day, or at least have a miserable life and death
well i am very sorry to know this and will atleast try to see it out in my locality...
This coming from Thailand and India, I can perfectly understand why these people regard this as a form of art and entertaining. These people have plenty between the legs and nothing between the ears. These people should take art classes themselves, then there will not be an overpopulation of people!
This is terrible and cruel! No animal should have to endure this! It just shows you how ignorant and inhumane humans can be. Please end this cruel torture of innocent animals.
cmartin26@hotmail.co.uk
That is so upsetting and awful :( Breaks my heart.
I am appalled to hear that the elephants in Thailand are being subjected to cruelty in order to learn to 'paint' for tourists. I'm staggered as to how the Thai government can let this practice continue. It would be excellent to see government inspectors visiting the elephant training premises regularly, with no warning so as to see what is really going on. Please stop this cruelty and ensure that elephants are not forced to suffer for the sake of 'art', this is surely wrong in every possible way.
