Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Elephant abuse case leads to more questions
Traditional forms of training result in ‘mental scars for highly emotional giants’
GAMBO is described as a “very happy and healthy elephant” who lives with his herd of eight other elephants at Knysna Elephant Park, outside Knysna on the Garden Route.
He is one of the elephants in a bitter drama which unleashed a storm of outrage on social media sites this week, when the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) released footage of young elephants being abused and beaten.
In a statement to the media, the NSPCA confirmed charges of animal cruelty had been laid against Elephants of Eden (EoE), the Knysna Elephant Park (KEP), their directors and management.
“The footage shows elephant calves and juvenile elephants being chained, roped, stretched, shocked with electric cattle prods and hit with bull hooks – all methods used to force these gentle giants to submit to the will of their trainers and handlers,” said Wendy Willson, NSPCA national inspector.
But the owner of KEP, Lisette Withers, immediately hit back in the press saying the footage was of an isolated incident in 2008, of which they were unaware until after the fact.
According to her, the incident took place at Elephants of Eden, which has since been sold and closed.
Withers said the incident followed the killing by an elephant of that park’s head handler after he climbed into the elephant camp. She said manager Sias van Rooyen left the premises and the other handlers decided to “teach the elephants a lesson after the spirit of the dead handler had told them to do so”.
Withers said when Van Rooyen returned, he took photos of two injured elephants. They were moved to her park, where they underwent treatment and rehabilitation.
Gambo was one of the injured elephants. The second elephant is now at Indalu Safaris, near Mossel Bay.
Withers claims the release of the damning photos is part of a plot by Gerhard van Rooyen, owner of Indalu Safaris, to undermine her park.
Withers said Van Rooyen bought six elephants from her, three of which had not yet been paid for. In addition, his handlers were involved in the abuse of the elephants during training in the footage that was released.
While her park’s handlers involved in the incident were dismissed after proper labour procedures were followed, she said Van Rooyen’s handlers were all still employed by him.
In a further twist, the elephants that had yet to be paid for, were now the subject of a court application to see them returned to Withers’s park.
She also claimed that one of her former “disgruntled” staffers, Greg Vogt, was assisting Van Rooyen. Vogt was currently running a volunteer programme at Indalu.
While Van Rooyen did not respond to requests for comment, Vogt denied running a volunteer programme at Indalu. He also denied reporting any issues to the NSPCA, and said he did not have any of the photographs which were sent to the NSPCA.
Withers said her lawyers had been instructed to investigate a civil action against the NSPCA and Van Rooyen.
But on Thursday the NSPCA dismissed Withers’s claim that the footage was an isolated “revenge attack” by handlers.
“The age of the footage is irrelevant. The fact of the matter remains that the abuse did take place, it happened while the animals were in her possession, it was repeated, there were a number of animals involved and she is still in possession of elephants. The footage depicts a number of different elephants being subjected to abusive training techniques over an extended time period,” the NSPCA’s Willson said.
While restraining animals and putting handlers on their backs were traditional methods of training, Withers said they trained their elephants through positive reinforcement.
“Why are people under the impression elephants must be trained by ropes, chains, beatings and breaking their spirit? We train our elephants every day with food rewards and positive reinforcement. We do it by building bonds and not breaking spirits.”
Well- known KwaZulu- Natal elephant conservationist David Bozas, who worked with the renowned “elephant whisperer” Lawrence Anthony, said traditional elephant training methods were “brutal”.
“Elephants are highly emotionally intelligent animals, and the scars can last. There comes a point where rehabilitation won’t work as an elephant has been mentally destroyed. Do we really need to be brutalising them with training methods such as with whips and sitting on their backs just so that humans can have an elephant ride experience?” he said.