"But the grass is so warm!"
May 31, 2013 7:58 AM Subscribe
From www.istheelephantsad.com, a warning that the mother is chained too far away to help the baby.
posted by ChuraChura at 8:10 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 8:10 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
That was kind of adorable, until I got to the bit where Mom tried to come over and help and couldn't because she was chained to a big rock by her ankle.
After that the whole thing seemed pretty awful.
posted by mhoye at 8:10 AM on May 31, 2013 [28 favorites]
After that the whole thing seemed pretty awful.
posted by mhoye at 8:10 AM on May 31, 2013 [28 favorites]
Awwwww. This is how my puppy looks when he's getting up in the morning. "ennnh...eennnnhh...aw, fuck it."
posted by phunniemee at 8:11 AM on May 31, 2013
posted by phunniemee at 8:11 AM on May 31, 2013
I was going to say the same thing but substitute me for your puppy.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:15 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:15 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
Baby elephants are the best. How cute. I want one!
Every time I see one I turn into one of those people who wants a pet monkey, only my monkey would be an elephant. Much less risk, much more poop.
When I was 11, my biology teacher showed a two hour video of different animals giving birth in the wild, and oddly when it got to Elephants, he placed his hand over the screen so nobody in his class could see how it all went down. He stated it was far too graphic, and not appropriate for kids, unlike lizards, dogs, cats, cows, pigs, etc etc.
Weird though, cause that same year my Child Development class had all of us watch a live human child birth from a 1974 recording. Talk about graphic. They cut her from front to back, and she had a huge baby, like 10 lbs, and wow that 1970's bush action was pretty graphic for 11 yo's. To this day, the one animal I have never seen give live birth is an elephant (how bad could it be?)
posted by QueerAngel28 at 8:22 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
Every time I see one I turn into one of those people who wants a pet monkey, only my monkey would be an elephant. Much less risk, much more poop.
When I was 11, my biology teacher showed a two hour video of different animals giving birth in the wild, and oddly when it got to Elephants, he placed his hand over the screen so nobody in his class could see how it all went down. He stated it was far too graphic, and not appropriate for kids, unlike lizards, dogs, cats, cows, pigs, etc etc.
Weird though, cause that same year my Child Development class had all of us watch a live human child birth from a 1974 recording. Talk about graphic. They cut her from front to back, and she had a huge baby, like 10 lbs, and wow that 1970's bush action was pretty graphic for 11 yo's. To this day, the one animal I have never seen give live birth is an elephant (how bad could it be?)
posted by QueerAngel28 at 8:22 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
My late cat Mojo (a/k/a/ Best Cat Ever) once was stretched out in the sun on his right side, snoozing. He awoke, clambered to his feet -- well, paws -- took three steps, and flumped onto his left side and went back to sleep.
Obligatory yt .
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:10 AM on May 31 [+] [!]
Via this, I ended up watching a few related videos of large animals, and one only cemented my distaste for scattershot marketing: while watching a hippo with explosive diarrhea, the bottom quarter of the image was taken up with a promotion for Domino's Pizza. And now ever after, these things will be linked in my mind.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:23 AM on May 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
Obligatory yt .
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:10 AM on May 31 [+] [!]
Via this, I ended up watching a few related videos of large animals, and one only cemented my distaste for scattershot marketing: while watching a hippo with explosive diarrhea, the bottom quarter of the image was taken up with a promotion for Domino's Pizza. And now ever after, these things will be linked in my mind.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:23 AM on May 31, 2013 [3 favorites]
This morning I read of elephants being struck and killed by vehicles. I was hoping this might be anathema to that, but on previewing the business about the mother I guess maybe not.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:27 AM on May 31, 2013
posted by kinnakeet at 8:27 AM on May 31, 2013
This makes up for the sad elephant story I saw today.
It involved a train in India.
And pictures.
posted by Mezentian at 8:28 AM on May 31, 2013
It involved a train in India.
And pictures.
posted by Mezentian at 8:28 AM on May 31, 2013
And now ever after, these things will be linked in my mind.
I am SO glad I could be of assistance!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:39 AM on May 31, 2013
I am SO glad I could be of assistance!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:39 AM on May 31, 2013
Okay the first comment on that video is "go home elephant, you're trunk" and I giggled.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:13 AM on May 31, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by IndigoRain at 9:13 AM on May 31, 2013 [5 favorites]
Elephants are mind-blowingly complex, intelligent, and psychologically nuanced creatures, and baby elephants are easily my favorite of all baby animals (a: cute, b: smart, c: inscrutable). So when I see any elephant chained, tethered, or otherwise kept captive like this, part of me dies inside.
The things we do to animals just because they can't talk and/or humans can subdue them with shock prods or whips makes me ill. I want to jump inside the video, give the tiny one a quick belly rub, and then go bust his mom off of her painfully short chain so she can help her baby stand up with some gentle trunk nudging. Unbearably cute, but very sad.
Gonna go throw some money at the Elephant Sanctuary now.
posted by divined by radio at 9:14 AM on May 31, 2013 [8 favorites]
The things we do to animals just because they can't talk and/or humans can subdue them with shock prods or whips makes me ill. I want to jump inside the video, give the tiny one a quick belly rub, and then go bust his mom off of her painfully short chain so she can help her baby stand up with some gentle trunk nudging. Unbearably cute, but very sad.
Gonna go throw some money at the Elephant Sanctuary now.
posted by divined by radio at 9:14 AM on May 31, 2013 [8 favorites]
After closing, by law all zoo elephants have to be chained. For many zoos, this means one elephant per stall (so they can be safely chained close together, without any risk of fights breaking out). That means each elephant gets to see exactly one other elephant for about 14-16 hours of their day.
They don't spend all that time asleep, of course. They have a small amount of hay available, often, but there's only so much joy you can get from eating what is essentially the plain oatmeal of their diet for hours. Instead, the elephant I saw when I learned about this law had a "fistful" of hay in her trunk, and was idly beating the ground back and forth with it. I was pretty amazed she didn't have scabs from the unhappy hourse she spent in isolation like this.
Brilliant animals, confined to quasi-solitary cells with nothing to stimulate their brains for over half their lives.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:05 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
They don't spend all that time asleep, of course. They have a small amount of hay available, often, but there's only so much joy you can get from eating what is essentially the plain oatmeal of their diet for hours. Instead, the elephant I saw when I learned about this law had a "fistful" of hay in her trunk, and was idly beating the ground back and forth with it. I was pretty amazed she didn't have scabs from the unhappy hourse she spent in isolation like this.
Brilliant animals, confined to quasi-solitary cells with nothing to stimulate their brains for over half their lives.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:05 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
After closing, by law all zoo elephants have to be chained.
Apparently not in DC.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:17 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
Apparently not in DC.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:17 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]
The 10th Regiment of Foot: After closing, by law all zoo elephants have to be chained.THAT'S GREAT! Now I wonder if it was just state law (PA or OH, i forget), or if that stupid, stupid, bad law got overturned.
Apparently not in DC.
posted by IAmBroom at 11:16 AM on May 31, 2013
It certainly wasn't any kind of federal law, and I have my doubts about a state law. I know that circuses like to claim it's law that they have to chain their elephants, but it's not.
Elephants are sadly mistreated even in a lot of zoos; AZA's shameful behavior in regards to them, and in particular their vicious attempts to interfere with the retirement to actual sanctuaries, has made me extremely cynical of them in all respects.
posted by tavella at 11:58 AM on May 31, 2013
Elephants are sadly mistreated even in a lot of zoos; AZA's shameful behavior in regards to them, and in particular their vicious attempts to interfere with the retirement to actual sanctuaries, has made me extremely cynical of them in all respects.
posted by tavella at 11:58 AM on May 31, 2013
This looks like me in the morning, all discombobulated and coated with socially unacceptable amounts of body hair.
posted by cmyk at 6:34 PM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by cmyk at 6:34 PM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
This hurt my heart. WHY IS THAT ELEPHANT CHAINED? I just...can't even.
posted by blurker at 10:39 PM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by blurker at 10:39 PM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's my sincere hope that one day people will view going to the zoo with the same sort of revulsion that we now look at seventeenth century British folk paying to look at the mentally disturbed patients of Bedlam. It's a small hope, of course.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 2:39 PM on June 1, 2013
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 2:39 PM on June 1, 2013
« Older Britain's poorest city: The struggle to make ends... | Small batch artisanal d.i.y HFCS Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:10 AM on May 31, 2013