I will never take Gabriel. At least if the circus uses live animals. I have been a contributor to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee for about 5 years now, and I think that the work they do is truly amazing. It is a huge parcel of land where retired and ailing show elephants can go to rest, play, and remember what it was like to live outside of captivity. Once the elephants make it there, they never have to perform for an audience again. They do allow volunteers, but only to work around the property or in the office - not to see the elephants. They have grown from having just a few Asian elephants to having a large Asian community, an African barn that's growing and a Quarantine barn for newcomers.
Show elephants are picked up in many different ways(straight from the wild, from private owners or from overcrowded zoos), and their lives are pretty terrible from then on. The young are usually separated from their mothers too early. They are made to stand for unbearable amounts of time, and rarely have chances to lay down to sleep, which is the position elephants are naturally inclined to. Because of this they develop severe problems in their feet and legs, and sometimes their entire bone structure. Sometimes they are beaten to rehearse and/or perform, and have multiple injuries along with psychological stress disorders. Also, their health is not looked after well, and they develop tuberculosis or other life threatening diseases. So to be able to finally get to a place where they are loved and cared for, allowed to roam around outside, splash around in mud puddles, and generally have a good time is a reward all of them have earned in their lifetimes.
The way I found about the Sanctuary was through a daughter of a good friend of our family. When Linda was young, she worked with a young elephant at Six Flags names Sissy (or maybe it was at Seven Seas - a precursor to Sea World that used to be located near Six Flags). Years later, Linda developed ovarian cancer, and was given only a short time to live. Somehow, she found out about the Elephant Sanctuary and discovered that Sissy was one of the retired elephants living there. She would watch the web cam day and night in her last months, and when she passed away, her request was for people to consider donating to the Sanctuary in lieu of sending flowers.
I now receive a quarterly newsletter, and love reading about what these dedicated people and volunteers are accomplishing. These majestic creatures do some wondrous things, whether it be playing, showing affection for each other and their caregivers, or gathering around one of their "sisters" when the end is near to sing her on her way. It's so hard to get through those articles when one of them dies, but worth it to learn how much elephants are actually like us.
I know it will be hard to explain all of this to Gabriel when the time comes and all of his friends are going to the circus, but I will let him pick an elephant to feed and turn him on to the web cam. And this post is to persuade anyone with kids to think about doing the same thing. If enough people catch on, maybe the day will come when no one wants to attend circuses using animals, and they are forced to stop the practice altogether.
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