The bullhook is a tool used to punish and control elephants. It is also called an ankus, elephant goad, or elephant hook. The handle is made of wood, metal, plastic, or fiberglass, and there is a sharp steel hook at one end. Its shape resembles a boat hook or fireplace poker. Some bullhooks have long, "shepherd’s crook" cane-style handles, allowing the trainer a firmer grip so that greater force can be exerted while pulling and yanking the hook deeper into the elephant’s flesh.
Both ends inflict damage. The trainer uses the hook to apply varying degrees of pressure to sensitive spots on the elephant’s body (see diagram), causing the elephant to move away from the source of discomfort. Holding the hooked end, the handle is swung like a baseball bat and induces substantial pain when the elephant is struck on the wrist, ankle, and other areas where there is little tissue between skin and bone.
The Pachyderm’s Epidermis
The thickness of an elephant’s skin ranges from one inch across the back and hindquarters to paper-thin around the mouth and eyes, inside the ears, and at the anus. Their skin appears deceptively tough, but in reality it is so delicate that an elephant can feel the pain of an insect bite. A bullhook can easily inflict pain and injury on an elephant’s sensitive skin. Trainers often embed the hook in the soft tissue behind the ears, inside the ear or mouth, in and around the anus, and in tender spots under the chin and around the feet.
San Jose, Calif., humane inspectors found that seven Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephants "had injuries behind or on the back of their left ears. Some of the elephants had scars behind their left ears. Almost all of the injuries appeared to be fresh, with bright red blood present at the wound sites." These bloody wounds were likely caused by the bullhook. In fact, Ringling opposes a proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy that states, "An ankus may not be used in an abusive manner that causes wounds or other injuries." Former Ringling employee Glen Ewell said that beating elephants with bullhooks was a normal routine and that "Ringling even employs a guy to use some special powder to stop up the bleeding when an elephant is hooked too hard. They call it ‘spot work.’" The powder is Wonder Dust, or something similar, used to conceal the wound and stop the bleeding.
USDA inspectors noted and described bullhook wounds on Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus elephants: "Helen and Bessie both have several white circular inactive ankus scars. Bessie has white circular inactive ankus scars under her chin, on the neck, and dorsal areas. Helen also has the same type of scars behind her right eye and at the dorsal right ear. She also has two longitudinal scars on her tail. … Two of the six elephants had obvious hook mark wounds on their rear legs. Some hook marks were also observed under the jaw of one elephant. … [F]our of the six elephants were observed with what appears to be hook marks. These wounds were small in size, round, some were healing, while others were red in appearance. These wounds were present on rear legs, above tails, and on [the] back of front legs."
Within hours of being punctured by a bullhook, a welt or boil may erupt. The wound may grow larger if it becomes infected.
Show Time
While performing in the ring, an elephant responds to verbal commands from a trainer carrying a bullhook and moderate pressure from the bullhook because the elephant has been conditioned through violent training sessions that refusal to obey in the ring will result in severe punishment later. Moments before entering the ring, while out of view of the public, trainers may give the elephants a few painful whacks to remind them who's boss and ensure that the elephants perform the specified tricks on command.
Because a dispirited elephant submits to a dominant trainer toting a bullhook, circuses mislead the public with spurious claims that a bullhook is only used to guide or cue an elephant. The difficult tricks that elephants are forced to perform place a great deal of stress on their muscles and joints. They are physically strenuous and no elephant would perform these grotesquely exaggerated maneuvers on command, over and over, hundreds of times a year without the constant threat of punishment. In the wild, an adult elephant would lie down in slow, gradual movements no more than once or twice per day. A typical circus act requires that they lie down and rise very quickly several times in a single show. If it were possible for an elephant to simply be "guided" to perform rapid successions of headstands, hind-leg stands, lying down, tub-sitting, crawling, and twirling, the trainer would be carrying a soft, cotton wand, not a hard, pointed object.
Elephants exhibit typical pain avoidance responses to the bullhook by recoiling or emitting fear vocalizations.
Trainers’ Grim Details of Discipline
In addition to bullhooks, trainers use baseball bats, ax handles, pitchforks, and electric shock. Chains, ropes, and block-and-tackle are used as restraints.
Alan Roocroft, an elephant consultant to circuses and zoos, cowrote in his book Managing Elephants:
[W]hen corporal punishment is administered to an elephant, it
Circus animals are performers, and training them depends on a certain amount of rough treatment.Breaking Babies
What is true of training for performance is even more true of the basic discipline that must be established before an elephant can work or act. It isn’t kept in a cage, and, while it is chained much of the time, there are many occasions when it walks at liberty with only the respect it pays its handler to keep it in check. It is absolutely essential, therefore, that the animal must have this respect for its handler; and to get down to blunt facts, this quality begins with fear: fear of punishment and discomfort.
A good stout stick should be used, and it should have a sharp prod on the end of it to keep the elephant from turning its head.
[Teaching an elephant to lie down is] done by gradually tightening the chain, a few inches at a time, until the elephant is supporting its weight entirely on the front and hind legs that are free. It is very tiring for a bull to hold up its mass in this manner. When the handler sees it weakening, he gives the command, ‘Down! Come on down.’ The command is repeated until the elephant obeys. Just before it gives in, it will show signs of fear and defeat. Its eyes will bulge and its bowels become loose and watery as they are emptied several times. When the elephant finally surrenders and falls over on its side, it knows it is comparatively helpless and that it has lost a psychological battle.
In July 1998, 30 elephant calves between 2 and 7 years of age were captured from the Tuli Block in Botswana. Their front legs were tightly hobbled and the back legs chained in a stretched position so they were unable to lie down. They were deprived of adequate food and water and beaten repeatedly with rubber whips and bullhooks that caused abscesses and lesions. An investigator with the National Council for the Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals described a training session, "One elephant was tied up in the warehouse. ... When the elephant simply moved its trunk or shifted its weight, the mahouts [elephant handlers] would all hit it. Especially the mahout in front, who would whip its face with a rubber whip. I counted that during this training session of 20 minutes, the elephant was hit or stabbed with an ankus a total of 136 times."
Submission Is the Mission
The bullhook is a purposely cruel tool that is brandished against these gentle giants to coerce obedience. No circus could use elephants without it. Its appearance is so menacing that police charged a California activist with possessing a deadly weapon when she used a bullhook in an educational display at a circus demonstration to illustrate the barbaric treatment of performing animals .
The federally regulated Animal Welfare Act does not prohibit bullhook use, but some local communities do. Pompano Beach, Florida, recently banned the bullhook by amending its animal control ordinance to categorize it as a device that is "likely to cause physical injury, torment, or pain and suffering to animals."
What You Can Do
• When the circus comes to town, organize a demonstration to educate the public to the fact that demeaning stunts performed in the ring are the result of behind-the-scenes bullhook beatings and other abusive training methods. Let your local news outlet know how elephants are really trained. Check our factsheets for the circus’ USDA violations. For other ideas on what to do when the circus arrives, check out "Steps to Take When the Circus Comes to Town."
• Start a campaign to amend the animal control ordinance in your community to incorporate language that forbids the use of bullhooks and other manual, mechanical, and chemical devices intended to cause pain and suffering. Obtain a free "Circus Ordinance Pack" from PETA.
• If your local zoo still uses bullhooks on its elephants, then it is using an outdated elephant management system called "free contact." Urge zoo officials to implement "protected contact," which is recommended by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. In this system, there is a protective barrier between elephants and zookeepers, who do not have direct physical contact with the elephants. It is a more humane environment for the elephants and safer for zookeepers.
On the Denver Zoo? How do they stack up against other like facilities? We try to make it up there every few years to enjoy the animals and flora, they have elephants that seem to LOVE the handlers. Some years ago there was an accident in which one elephant knocked another off balance, and the second elephant fell into a deep wide ditch partially filled with water. Due to the size of it, and the depth/width of the ditch she couldn't get up alone. The handlers were there NOW to try and help her. She struggled to get up, but couldn't, the handlers calmed her with voice and hands on soothing actions. They had her calm enough that they were able to get a crane from a nearby construction site there, harness her, then set her back on her feet. She remained calm, it was the handlers that were losing it, yet together a disaster was prevented.
They now have sectioned the area where they live so as to prevent this from ever happening again. Both elephants still perform, apparently due to the love of interaction. The handlers use a stick with bright white stripes on it, usually the voice commands are enough for the elephants to perform. I was able once to watch a vet checking on them. The handler stood beside the animal and just tapped the foot she wanted lifted. She used voice command to have the elephant keep the foot up. The faces of the handler have changed every so often over the years, but the love they show to the elephants seems obvious, my question then is, are these giants being mis-treated?
I must say as well, the elephant that accidently knocked her into the ditch was positively beside herself when it happened. She refused to leave the area, and in fact looked like she was going to jump in to try and save her friend. She respected the presence of the handlers, but would not leave, not even when her friend walked under her own power to the back area. At least 2 more of them were behind a tall fence, we couldn't see them, but we sure heard them.
I know this happened, I was there with my family, (2 kids back then). I would guess that a thousand people were watching this, except for the cries of the elephants and the voices of the handlers you could have heard a pin drop. That crowd wasn't being gruesome, they were feeling the pain and discomfort of the event.
Clear this up for me, am I being cruel by paying to see them there? or are these giants as happy as they look? Are they being properly cared for?
Ok, where to start. First, if the handlers are in the enclosure with them, that is called free contact. The only way a handler can safely be in contact with an elephant and be relatively safe is if the elephant has been beaten so badly its spirit is broken and it is terrified to do anything wrong. Try this link:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=524&pst=241520&archival=
If you want more evidence - there is lots and I can provide it.
The stick with white stripes is called a bullhook - it is often decorated so the public doesn't notice the steel hook on the end of it. To learn about the bullhook, go here:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=524&pst=241520&archival=
You may want to wander around that site for a while - I promise you will find it interesting. The only reason the elephant follows the voice commands of the person holding the stick is because they are terrified of the hook, because they have felt its pain so often and so well.
Aside from all of that, these are hairless tropical animals. How cold are your winters? You don't have to answer that - just think about it.
Elephants weigh in the neighbourhood of 10,000 lbs - and yeah, its a big neighbourhood. Even the svelte models at 8,500 lbs are a lot of weight to be standing on a hard substrate or cement (which is what is usually indoors) 24/7. In the wild, they would be on soft grasses and sand, that they haven't stood on every day for years and packed solid.
Just like humans that sit in a chair and never move, elephants without room to move develop health problems, usually combined with a hard substrate the lack of mobility almost always causes painful arthritis and osteomylitis - which is basically an infection in the bone of the foot which causes their feet to rot out from under them. This is what most captive elephants die from. In the wild, they would walk in excess of 30 miles a day, in tropical temperatures, on natural, soft substrates. If you know of a zoo that can replicate that, and doesn't expect to be able to safely handle the animal, that is an ok place to have them if you approve of taking wild animals out of the wild.
Oh - I forgot - they form bonds for life. Calves stay with their mothers -males for 10 - 14 years, females for life. They help each other to take care of babies and often babysit. So a good zoo would also have to keep herds and keep them together, in warm weather year round, on a natural substrate where they could walk in excess of 30 miles a day and not on the same path or it would get packed down without humans trying to interact with them.
Did I miss anything?
The sticks had no hooks on them, of that I'm positive. I do understand that they came from circuses or private collectors, but I saw no hooks at all. One end was a plain rounded wood stick, not much fatter than a broom handle, the other end had a leather looking cover, it didn't bulge, so I really don't know why it was that way. But, I do know I'd have seen a metal of any sort.
I can remember when the earth was hard packed there, what you say makes perfect sense, I have noticed that with the sectioning of the area now that they till the earth.
I"m not defending them, I am trying hard to understand what I've observed with what I'm reading.
I ask again, is the Denver Zoo abusing these animals? If so, what can be done? Do they have to go??
No Deborah they do not use free contact - they use passive control which means they never insist the elephant do anything - they simply do whatever the elephant wants them to do. That is why it took months to be able to safely do Misy's meds - they had to gain her trust with lots of treats and affection
The elephants like the footbaths cause they get Dole fruit cups (a favorite) and grapes and watermelon while their feet are soaking. If they aren't in the mood, the keeper waits until they are.
Not like zoos or the circus that demands obedience.
TES is ready and prepared to use protected contact, which they used with Flora for a long time and may still - I don't actually know, with any ele that needs it.
Even a zoo that loves their animals and wants to do the best for them can't control their climate. Think about the conditions I mentioned above. Can the elephants walk on a soft substrate a significant distance - 30 miles - each day? Are they in a family group? Is it warm enough that they don't have to be locked up at night? If they do seek shelter, what is the floor of the barn? (Cement I bet). All the love in the world doesn't change the environment. Almost all zoo eles are on significant painkillers each and every day.
If the stick didn't have a hook - doesn't matter - the ele thought it did - that's why they carry it. I would bet, though, that it did. When around the public it is standard practice to hold the hook in the hand where the public can't see it. Too many people are shocked when they see it and object. Elephant handlers are well aware that the public would not approve of the truth, and they work diligently to hide it.
Do they have to go. I think so. I don't feel watching animals being abused and dying a slow, painful death over years of environmental abuse if not actual abuse is educational or entertaining. The elephant sanctuary in Tennessee has an excellent web site with a live ele cam where you can watch amazing things you would never see in a zoo, and keeps diaries that let you actually get to know each elephants personality. I've learned so much more there than I ever could from a zoo, and so has my 7 year old son. Its a family site.
http://www.tappedintoelephants.com/asp/index.php
This is a live web cam so at night of course you cant see anything but lately during the day I have noticed quite a lot of elephant activity. And the site explaines everything real well. I love it I think you will too bert
a archive on the TES Site and there is a film on Tarra washing her foot with a little grooming brush, it is about the size of a shoe brush,
Wolf isn't that Tarra doing that?
Misty killed her trainer, She has learned to trust that her people at TES won't hurt her. Now look at the killer elephant
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=4853&pst=156770
It sounds like the handlers there do have a good relationship with the eles, which doesn't mean the eles weren't beaten as babies so they could be worked with. If they had a good environment, warm weather, lots of room, good substrate - maybe we would have another sanctuary to get abused eles to. How big is their enclosure? Their barn?
Hazel now you know why we are here, why we try to fight for these beautiful creatures that have no hope, and no way to rescue themselves. This has been going on for at least a hundred years on this continent, and longer in Asia. I agree, its time for it to stop. I think we just gained a new advocate - welcome. I promise you will learn more that will shock and horrify you. But there is another side - go here - read the diaries - read the stories, watch the cam. Enjoy!
If you join us Hazel you will know lots of heartbreak, but the first time you join us in chat, all glued to the elecam, waiting for an ele we have fought for and won to arrive at the sanctuary, and watch her step off the truck to a life of as much freedom as she could ever know again, I promise it will all be worth it.
Even when its a surprise and its an ele we didn't know was coming its a thrill. Getting to watch them explore, learn to make friends, become part of the herd, and heal is so rewarding.
You will come to know each and every ele at the sanctuary individually, through your computer, and you will be amazed.
I just read the post about breaking baby elephants and my stomach is still sick from it. I assume all elephants hwo come to zoos or circuses got hrough something like this, though is it always to this extreme??
I also read through Bert's post and the replies and I wonder if it is possible that these elephants were treated well byt heir keepers and the hook was not used on them? Sure, if they went through torture as babies just taken from their mothers then they would indeed remember the pain and suffering caused by the bullhook. Maybe their keepers have been rehabilitating those elephants by showing them love and respect rather than cruelty and hate. It's possible.
I'm sure that some zookeepers do also, Solomon is a star in my eyes, although as much as he cared, he was not able to get them to quit chaining even. However he worked with an older, docile elephant and he was never trying to "ride" her or have her interact with the public.
Any zookeeper who "trains" or works with young elephants, especially if he is training them to give rides to tourists, is a totally different story. There are more videos. They are very real.
I also meant to add no it is not just the babies treated this way, these beatings are pretty regular occurences or the keepers are afraid of the elephant rebelling - if the elephant is managed using free contact. That is why many zoos have changed to managing their elephants in protected contact - which does not require beating or abusing them. So yes, zookeepers who work protected contact are genuinely caring for their charges. Unfortunately they still have environmental issues, but at least are not being beaten.
Please write Call Or Fax This man
Ringling Brothers Is Coming To Bozeman Montana
I am on a fixed income and Bozeman is about 100 miles from where I live. I am starting with a letter writing, phone call and Fax campain. Later if I can do a little financial juggling I will go to the Circus. I am asking for everyone who reads this to please write a letter, make a phone call, or send a fax to:
Rick Weaver (Publisher)
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
PO Box 1190
Bozeman, Montana. 59771
Phone# 406-587-4491 or FAX# 406-587-7995.
I truly believe that no matter where these circuses go if we can all cause them pressure we will eventually make a difference!
By Heather Mundt
A group of animal-rights activists Sunday called for the Denver Zoo to improve the treatment of its elephants, prompting zoo officials to respond that the group was making uneducated and uninformed accusations. The demand for better treatment comes a week after Hope the elephant escaped during a midday bath, closing the zoo and attracting national attention.
The group, Citizens for the Denver Zoo Elephants, outlined steps to address what they call "the sad plight" of the animals. "I'm just very concerned with the treatment of the elephants at the zoo," said Dr. Marc Bekoff, a University of Colorado-Boulder biology professor who helped organize the demonstration. He said the group, which included members of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense and independent protesters, formed within the past week because of "continued abuse of the elephants."
About 40 people picketed at the zoo's entrance, holding signs reading "Stop the circus at the zoo" and "Elephants never forget," and handed out fliers describing their demands. The demands of the zoo include severing ties with Have Trunk Will Travel, the organization that loaned it Hope and 2-year-old Amigo, and returning Amigo to his mother in California. Amigo is scheduled to leave Denver at the end of the summer.
The group also wants the zoo to return Dolly, who was sent away in March for breeding, to help longtime resident Mimi grieve. The zoo's oldest resident, Candy, was euthanized June 7 after falling while tussling with Mimi, and members decry Dolly's absence in a time of mourning. "The zoo is ignoring the biology of the elephant for purely monetary gains by ripping friends apart, by sending elephants off to breed and by ignoring the cries of the elephant to stay with friends," Bekoff said.
Denver Zoo spokeswoman Angela Baier said the group's allegations were "maddening." "It's insulting for uneducated and uninformed accusations to come against the zoo," Baier said. She said the protesters have never approached the zoo directly about the treatment of the elephants. "Our animals are very well cared for," she said. "We work with them every day. We know them and love them; they're like our children." Baier also defended the Have Trunk Will Travel program. "We researched them in depth before we associated with them. It's a husband and wife who have dedicated their lives to Asian elephants," Baier said of owners Kari and Gary Johnson. She said Amigo is doing well away from his mother and that Mimi is thriving as she receives extra attention from her trainers.
But Baier said the one point both sides can agree on is the need for a new elephant exhibit. "We have plans to build a new elephant exhibit that would actually allow us to have a male, which would allow breeding at the Denver Zoo," Baier said. It is part of a $125 million plan, and Baier said the zoo is in the process of raising money now. "We would encourage people to help build a new exhibit," she said
Hi Bert, Welcome to our elegroup! Found this on the web. The Have Truck Will Travel, is NOT a good sign. I will look up more info for you.
I am not saying the handlers abuse the eles, it would be helpful if we knew the handlers names(look up abuse reports , if any)
As for the stick "not" having metal on the end..this is possible. The "stick" to them will always be a bullhook..they associate it with pain..kinda like a child who has gotten a few beatings with a belt..all he has to do is see the belt in the hands of the punisher & he knows "I better beahve"
kinda off topic but totally related..lol.-Also I am wondering if this is the same DONNA at Hollywild Zoo?
DENVER (AP) — An elephant escaped from a bathing area at the Denver Zoo Sunday and toppled a baby's stroller before it was recaptured.
The 6,700-pound Asian elephant was frightened by a falling water drum as it and a smaller elephant were being washed. It took almost three hours to get the elephant, an 18-year-old pachyderm named Hope, back into a pen.
The baby received a bump on her head when the elephant knocked over the stroller, said fire department spokesman Randy Atkinson. The girl was treated at a hospital and released.
The animal's trainer received cuts and bruises, a man sprained his ankle and a woman suffered an asthma attack while running away from the elephant, Atkinson said.
Zoo workers were eventually able to sedate the elephant, zoo spokeswoman Angela Baier said. The other elephant, a much smaller animal named Amigo, never left the bathing area.
To escape, Hope stepped over a 3-foot railing around the bathing area and moved down a zoo pathway, officials said.
Hope and Amigo are trained elephants who arrived at the zoo about two weeks ago to perform daily shows during the summer. Visitors have also been able to watch the pair walk through the zoo each morning.
Baier said the zoo plans to keep Amigo and Hope through Labor Day. Officials planned to review whether to let them out of enclosed areas.
A 49-year-old elephant named Candy was euthanized at the zoo Thursday after a tussle with another elephant. Baier said the escape was not related to the death.
If I can give my own opinion on this..I really am against elephants "performing" in zoo's. If they are in a zoo for educational as any zoo & aza states..then this should be one of the first things outlawed. WHats educational about watching an elephant "stand on its head"..we dont even want to go into how they were trained.
this is what really disturbes me...
A 49-year-old elephant named Candy was euthanized at the zoo Thursday after a tussle with another elephant. Baier said the escape was not related to the death.
To euthanize an elephant because of a suffle??
Will try to find out more on Candy.
http://www.havetrunkwilltravel.com/About/MainFrame.htm
This is "Have Trunk Will Travel" note the pictures..there is the bullhook. We have done reasearch on this place in the past, they are members of elephant managers assoc-read Scott Riddle-he is the one giving courses on how to train the eles(very scary)
The elephants here are being terribly exploited, rented out for films, events & rides..it is all about the $$$$(note: I am giving a description of Have Trunk WIll Travel) Not the zoo.
I am just really disturbed that they are affiliated with them.
))) You are wonderful..I always feel loved around you guys
I don't know enough yet about just how all interactions started to begin with. I do know that during the "performing" the elephants respond to verbal (and sometimes without) and not physical actions. I also don't know if they always fear the handlers.
I'm not trying to be arguementive, so please don't take it that way. Until Deborah pointed me towards this type of problem I had thought that this type of problem had been taken care of a lllooonnnggg tiime ago. Apparently I was wrong,,
The walks taken by the elephants ARE an attempt to attract attention to them, no doubt about it. One time I got a real kick out of seeing one following a handler, and it had its trunk resting on the shoulder of him.
I also cannot comment on the articles as to taking a baby away to soon. I can only comment on what I've observed personally. If this makes me a bad person, then I can live with that.
I also cannot comment on the indoor living quarters for Denver, I have not seen them. In Cheyenne Mt. Zoo however the ground is dirt W/straw mixture. It is also tilled often. This I have seen as it's visible to the public. (In Cheyenne there is a seperate small area where there is cement, this area is used for medical purposes).
Again, I'm not trying to argue, I'm trying to learn. Be patient with me please. Sometimes it's hard to meld personal observations with other information.,,,,,and for the record, I don't look at the world through rose colored glasses I assure you. 
I'm still talking,,,My work hours use up most of my waking hours and I post in other groups as well. I've been doing more reading from the links than anything else for this group.
I'm learning I'm learning...
