The Effects Of Abuse On Elephants

Imagine not being able to lay down, turn around, or even move. Imagine hard wires digging into the skin that covers legs, stomachs, and backs. That is what elephants experience almost daily in circuses and zoos. In the wild, elephants can walk up to thirty miles a day. In circuses, elephants spend almost twenty-three hours every day chained up. Many elephants experience great hardships. One cannot imagine being taken away from their mother at a tender, young age. However, almost all infantile elephants are torn away from their mother around eight months old. Elephants have been a primary target for abuse, but today there is hope for this species.
Elephants are abused in many different ways. In circuses, trainers beat elephants with shard tools
Many elephant develop chronic illnesses. Almost all circus elephants suffer from obesity. After being chained up for almost twenty-three hours a day, elephants do not get much activity and cannot lose excess weight. Also, foot lameness and chronic arthritis is the number one reason for elephant euthanasia. It is caused by standing on concrete flooring for hours without stopping. In many zoos and circuses, elephants are forced to stand almost all day. Another problem is that elephants carry Tuberculosis. In confinement, elephants can easily spread the disease to other elephants. While it is unlikely that it could be transmitted to healthy adults, children have weaker immune systems. This makes children at higher risk for elephant-transmitted Tuberculosis, especially since more children attend circuses than adults. Circuses cause trauma for elephants. Young elephants are taken away from their mother at a tender age. This causes the mother elephants to go into a depression. Elephants are an emotional animal and they feel great sadness at the loss of a family member. After being forced away from family, they have to perform tricks and actions that make no sense to them. An elephant that can weigh up to seven tons does not naturally balance on balls, or stand with legs on other elephants. They are beaten until these actions are burned into their brain. Circuses are not a good place for elephants, they cause them harm and
In 2006, an estimated amount of 38,000 elephants were killed that year alone. Over 90% of elephant populations have depleted in the last fifty years. 30% of that has been in the past seven years. Due to this severe number of elephants being poached each year, elephants could be extinct in as little as twelve years. Elephants are killed for their ivory tusks. Ivory is one of the most demanded items on the black market. It is used for piano keys, jewelry, and artifacts for the wealthy. So many elephants are killed because one kilogram of ivory is worth 1,000 to 1,500 dollars alone. Each tusk on an elephant can weigh up to ten kilograms. Since ivory worth so much money, elephants are being killed at a rapid pace. In the future, there might be no elephants left if no one decides to help