Tuesday January 3, 2012, 8:32 am
I thought this was interesting....

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 3:00 pm
It appears from the photos that the people there have about the same relationship with elephants as we have with horses. I hope the event will achieve its purpose of helping conservation efforts. It may help people to understand what social animals elephants are. They need all the help they can get.

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 3:52 pm
Cool!

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 4:27 pm
*** Absolutely don't like that...!!! They do not care at all about elephants' welfare, they exploit them !!! To make elephants do what they do for their owners they are first cruelly abused ( as happens to many horses too...!!! ), just as in the circus or other activities.Also in the video you can see no care for elephants neither love nor respectfor them.: elephanth running with tourists riding is repeatdly hit by a man, many of them have no more their tusks, they do not seem happy at all and they seem resigned ,they were not born to get a pedicure. and to be painted... NO CARE NO LOVE NO RESPECT !!! The article says that " the event is intended to attract positive attention to Nepal,encourage tourism and raise awareness of conservation efforts "...but slavery and mistreatment of the elephants are not mentioned .. !!!!.. all this suffering is included in the package "Nepal" for Nepal ... but not for elephants.! I did not appreciate even the tone of the article, too thoughtless and superficial ... I do not see much fun in contemplating a majestic giant reduced to be doing pedicures and makeup and everything else ... I find it just disgusting but...really interesting ...!!!... because you gave me the opportunity to say my point of view. Thank you Barb for posting this *cat

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 4:31 pm
Elephants are social so I do hope that message got across to everyone! Thanks BarbCat!

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 8:25 pm
Odd to me , But if the elephants are well loved & cared for ... Thanks for post.

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 9:54 pm
Don't Like this Barb!

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 11:11 pm
when in Rome, ... when in Nepal, do as Nepali do,
caterina, in no way they mean harm to elephants, they revere their hard working comrades & colleagues in the animal world. Nepalis have very very little, lousy mountainous terrain, limited growth of veges, small growing season & big bully china trying to take over more day by day.

Nepals king was recently overthrown, and poverty is beyond belief. Support Nepal, encourage their handicrafts, & free trade , dont make judgement w/o proper knowledge.

as Asian Indian descent, w/ nepali & tibetan friends, i do have better foundation & understanding of the Nepal people, their love & warm hearts, their festivals & Nepali plight.

we have nutty traditions in the US, dressing animals in sweaters, decorating/ grooming dogs for shows, even grooming kids for endless hours for child pageants!! They celebrate & honour their elephants w/ this pageant!! its no differerent than cat shows/ dog shows/ horse shows!! instead of jumping hoops, they are given some pampering and a couple of days off, from daily laber- carrying wood, helping build the homes, etc!! Honour the animals, respect the earth, all cultures, religions, ideas--- with the coming year!!

Tuesday January 3, 2012, 11:27 pm
noted with hope...
Thank you Barb!

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 12:51 am
Thank you for posting Barb!
Btw. I hope some day Nepal their awful Gadhimai festival and animal sacrificing.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 1:00 am
Thank you for posting Barb!
Btw. I hope some day Nepal will end their awful Gadhimai festival and animal sacrificing.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 1:23 am
Thanks Barb.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 4:48 am
WHOA!!!!!! I need sunglasses to look at those flaming orange toenails!

That said, I get sick over the way elephants are treated in both the industrialized world, with circuses; and the third world, where they are beasts of burden all their lives. What happens to elephants isn't fair or just or right in either world.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 5:54 am
people have too much time on their hands!!! thanks Barb, noted

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 9:47 am
Saw this on the news. I hope it is safe paint for the elephants because I don't really like it. Thanks for sharing Barb.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 11:09 am
*********** FOR SHAIIIJLA ************
Shaiijla, *cruelty and abuse have no country ! I don't wanto to do what I don't like to do and I don't watching something I don't like, staying silent...neither in Rome nor in any other place on the earth.! I think that poverty or wealthy do not giustify the abuse and the oppression of men ( human animal ) on animals ( not human animals ) , because we always must remember that we are animals too and also because-as you surely know - animals abuse and oppression happen every day in both poor and rich civil ( so called...!!!!!!!!!!!!...) countries. Gandhi said that " The greatness of a country and its moral progress can be judged by how it treats animals "...so... I agree with him ! I don't think it's a problem of "civilization" but rather a problem of "morality" and the menkind is not at all rich of morality, wheter we are rich or poor countries ! It changes often progress to civilization but I am convinced that they are two very different things...!!!!! The nutty traditions you are talking about are not only in US as well as pageants , cat / dog/horse shows...sorry...but I don't like anything about that...!!!!! Tell me Shaiijla...are you talking about Nepalis or about elephants ?...it seems to me tha you are talking about Nepalis..I can understand but...Nepalis are one thing and the elephants are another things, they are two different topics !!! I focused on the elephants, is something instinctive in me...!!!...I look into their eyes, look at the posture and the attitude and not feel or see them happy but - again - resigned...!!! By the way.. about .the man - for example - who repeatdly hit the elephant in the video... it doesn't seem to me he's giving the elephant some pamperings...and what about the elephants without tasks ? Do you know one of the reasons they are without tasks ?It's not an act of love, be sure about it ! You can informe yourself about it if you desire.! finally, Shaiijla I say to you that *** I absolutely Honour The animals and I do all my best To Respect the Earth,***. Regarding the respect for culture, religions and ideas I don't respect them unconditionally...!!!
The culture of the ancient Romans gave people thrown to the lions in the Colosseum, gladiators did battle with each other to the death of one of them and for the Romans was a fun... and so on!
In the name of religion have become the bloodiest massacres and the most ignoble sacrifices
The Mayans made ​​human sacrifices, many others were (and still do) sacrifice with nonhuman animals. The church was the Holy Inquisition ... and so on!
The ideas ... good ones in my opinion I respect them ... but for example I can not respect the idea of ​​Hitler to exterminate the Jews, the Gypsies and omosexuals or the idea of ​​building an atomic bomb called Enola Gay and destroy Hiroshima...and so on !
*** Respect is earning according to what you do and who you are , this is my philosophy of life, so I have a duty to myself to choose what respect and what not comply and also to choose what to counteract and what support ! *** I also believe in freedom of expressions and I think I do have the right to express - politely and without offending anyone -my opinion and my point of view - that I confirm fully to the last word -...like I did !!! The elephants do not come spontaneously from the forest to help the man and do not learn what the man want them to do with cuddles.
If you want you can search for information and video on how to be domesticated elephants ... and there is no trace of pampering! We Europeans have learned from countries where there are elephants in circuses to tame them ...!!!!!
So...try to consider to accept in your life freedom of expression...with the coming year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *cat

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 11:11 am
********************* FOR SHAIIJLA M. *************************

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 1:21 pm
This is sickening! Elephants are not dolls they are alive and they have feelings! They don't deserve to be treated this way! And supposedly they do all that crap for conservation, completely demented!

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 1:25 pm
I don't believe in using animals for entertainment. Won't go to Zoos, no Circus for me, Sea World won't get my bucks, hate to see animals dressed up in clothes, blah blah blah.
Shirley H.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 1:56 pm
Look at the video everybody, there's notthing cute in the way these wonderful animals are treated. They shoud be treated with the respect they deserve. Stop the exploitation !

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 6:56 pm
These magnificent creatures do not deserve to be used for human entertainment. if they can voice out their opinions on this, they would definitely not like this being done on them! They are not humans to enjoy all these paintings being imposed on them.

Wednesday January 4, 2012, 7:04 pm
Thanks

Thursday January 5, 2012, 4:53 am
Thanks for the article.

Thursday January 5, 2012, 6:45 am
Wow..Thx for the story!! I may never look at the color orange in quite the saame way!!

Saturday January 7, 2012, 12:39 pm
I think Elephants are just perfect the way they are naturally! Thanks Barb.

Saturday January 7, 2012, 10:07 pm
Not a fan of dressing up animals in costumes so painting an animal nails seem degrading to me.

Monday January 9, 2012, 11:25 pm
Can't say I like the dress up either, even if they are honoring the elephants. I think the ellies would really rather not! Thanks Barb!