Mailbag - Aug. 21, 2001

Elephants work for their own conservation

That was a picture of my elephant, Kitty, that ran along with the Aug.

14 Mailbag item, “Animal ordinance would be sane choice.” It most

definitely would have been a sad choice to let animal rights activists

dictate whether or not a community can have access to animals for

education and entertainment.

Kitty is well-loved, well-trained and well cared for. She lives on a

ranch in Perris where she and our other elephants participate in research

projects, conservation efforts and a breeding program to help save

elephants and keep them healthy.

The income produced from the shows, rides, parades and fairs our

elephants participate in fund these conservation activities. We do not

accept donations and are not subsidized by the government. We earn this

money to spend on elephants and elephant projects because we love

elephants.

Kitty and the other elephants are ambassadors for their species. They

give the public a chance to get close to something as exotic as an Asian

elephant right in their own community. This interaction helps people

learn and learn to care. For a special interest group to try to step in

and take this away is not right.

KARI JOHNSON

Perris

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Kari Johnson and her husband, Gary, own the Have

Trunk Will Travel elephant compound in Perris.

Fair should reexamine its animal uses

The saddest thing about Becky Bailey-Findley’s letter defending bull

riding as “quality family fun and entertainment in a safe environment”

(Mailbag, “Animal mistreatment charge is a lot of bull,” Thursday) is

that I’m certain she actually believes what she says.

Rodeo is a popular and profitable sport with enough articulate

defenders and reassuring propaganda that even well-meaning animal lovers

can be led to overlook what’s so obviously inhumane about it.

Bailey-Findley said that a rodeo bull bucks “because it wants to,” and

pointed out that it would flee rather than buck if it were in pain.

That’s a rather questionable use of the word “want” -- surely I too would

“want” to buck if I were shoved through a chute with a flailing member of

another species strapped to my back against my will. And as any rodeo

veteran knows, when the bull’s innate “wanting” to buck isn’t enough,

flank straps and occasionally electric prods are used as motivation. Be

assured that bulls don’t just buck recreationally; they do so out of

discomfort and panic that is often induced on purpose to provide a more

dramatic spectacle for the crowd.

Bull riding, like virtually all rodeo events, is an event designed

with human thrill-seeking -- not animal well-being -- in mind. As the

Humane Society of the United States puts it in its official position

against rodeo as sport: “Indifference to the welfare of these animals is

built into the system of rodeo judging: a contestant’s score is based on

how long he/she can ride an unwilling animal or how quickly he/she can

overpower an animal (the force of whose resistance actually adds to the

contestant’s score).”

If the Orange County Fair really wants to be recognized for its

“humane treatment of animals,” it needs to take a hard look not only at

its bull-riding events, but also at its elephant-riding booth and many of

its farmyard exhibits. As it stands, the fair is, in most cases, doing

only the minimum to ensure its animals’ safety while reinforcing the

notion that animals are merely items to be exploited for human

entertainment.

ELIZA RUBENSTEIN

Costa Mesa