Taking a Step Down the Path to Extinction

The California State Assembly's Arts, Entertainment, Sports & Tourism Committee is scheduled to potentially outlaw elephant conservation efforts on July 14, 2015.  The bill before them, Senate Bill 716, would outlaw the use of a tool called an elephant guide.  Elephant guides are no different than leashes for dogs or reins for horses.    You can't walk an elephant in public without one. Animal rights activists call this simple tool, cruel.   They claim that these tools cause injuries, puncture wounds, abscesses and other types of trauma to an elephant.

"They are weapons with only one purpose:  to cause pain, suffering and fear in elephants."
 activist Nicole Pagquette, HSUS.

Funny enough, these activists from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have no injured elephants to show the public to prove their statements.  If these simple training tools cause puncture wounds, where are they?   The Ringling Bros Circus, in particular, is one of the most inspected shows around.   In 2012, during "one 11-week stay in California last summer, a total of more than 18 state, local and federal government agencies sent 44 different inspectors to look at Ringling’s pachyderms.  The 82 visits spanned more than 221 hours, or more than 3 hours for every day the circus was in the Golden State.”  At no time during those 221 hours of inspection did any inspector find an injured or "traumatized" elephant. 

Nicole Paquette went on to say that Ringling was stopping their elephant acts because of "the public's overwhelming opposition to the mistreatment of elephants for entertainment."   Again she lies.    Last year, HSUS lost a RICO Act lawsuit and paid Ringling $15.75 million to settle claims that activists had lied about how Ringling treats their elephants. You would think that activists from the HSUS would give up after being outed in court but here they are again lying to legislators and the public.

Earlier this year Richmond, Virginia banned elephants and other cities across America have listened to the same animal rights puppet masters.  These efforts are all part of the activists determination to remove all animals from our lives, one specie at a time.   Today its elephants, tomorrow its carriage horses, such as the long running campaign by New York City Mayor DeBlasio to ban carriage horses from Central Park, and tomorrow it will be your dog.   Ringling made a business decision to remove their elephant act because they have spent millions defending their reputation, wining, and the activists just continue to lie. 

Activists scream that elephants belong in the wild but in the wild they are dying in large numbers.   The vast majority of elephants in America today are domestically born.   They were born in captivity.  they are not 'wild' animals.   Animal rights activities want to remove them from our lives.  Today it's the circus, tomorrow they will disappear from our zoos and sanctuaries.   Activists are already attacking zoos nationwide and forcing the closure of many elephant exhibits.    Just up the road from Richmond, the Virginia Zoo recently announced that they are closing their elephant exhibit and getting rid of two elderly elephants under pressure from the animal rights infiltrated Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).    Just a few months ago, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington got rid of their elephants under continuous pressure from activists.  Once elephants are no longer in the public eye, people will forget about them.   In today's electronic world, people have notoriously short attention spans.   Once out of sight, will anyone care that they are quickly becoming extinct in the wild?  A world without elephants, what a sad world that is. 

Katharine Dokken is a Public Affairs Specialist at The Cavalry Group and the  author of a new book, The Art of Terror:  Inside the Animal Rights Movement, available on Amazon. 

Follow Katharine and The Cavalry Group on Twitter:   @KatharineDokken  @TheCavalryGroup