Jumbo the elephant's pen at the circus

the only African elephant in NZ, travelling with the Loritz circus. Christchurch 2 Jan 2009. The circus truck in which she is chained (this is early morning before opening times) is to the left. The pen is surrounded only by low palings so I assume she is also chained when in the pen

What a nice and humane thing to do: keep an intelligent mammal chained for almost its entire life. I can't stand circuses with exotic animals, and they are regularly being banned from numerous Canadian cities.

I should point out that I don't KNOW if she is chained all day in the pen, it is an assumption based on the strength and size of the fence and the fact that she would be able to be easily accessed by any dim-witted members of the public surrounding the pen. The only alternative is that there is a handler in the pen with her permanently throughout the day (and that of course is also assuming that she is in the pen all day and not in the truck!). However she is definitely chained throughout the night inside the truck. In the other photo the position she is standing is as far as she can go on the length of her chain. A massive beautiful creature shackled in a tiny box for twelve hours a night.

In the off-tour part of the year (about four months) she apparently has a large enclosure and fancy trailer with sun-roof and shower

I know that I seem to be getting rather unpopular at his web site, because of my constant pushing for the animal welfare argument, but never mind - please allow me share my own circus nightmare story.

When I was a kid, a circus visited my small hometown. One of the wagons contained a hippo. The wagon was filled with water and big enough for the hippo to stand up or lie down in. Not bigger than that, though. The hippo could not turn - only lay down or stand up. In front of the wagon was a pityful little enclosure surrounded by the most minimal fence. As an innocent kid, I supposed that the hippo was actually let out in this "enclosure" at night, or something like that. 40 years later I fully understand that this would have been impossible - the fence was just a show-off. (The kind of fence you would use for a bunch of puppies in your garden...)

For some damned reason, this f*****g circus had bought a hippo, only to carry it around as an exhibition object. God knows when the poor animal was ever let out of that horrible "water wagon".

40 years later - I will never forget the eyes of that hippo... I looked at him/her - he/she looked at me. Innocent little me was hoping nighttime would come fast so the animal could be let out of the prison wagon...

Oh yeah.....................

I don't really oppose to circus's (*ducks* lol), but I think it's really sad when they have lone elephants and that, like Bobby Roberts circus in the UK.
Elephants are still chained up in many zoos though, Chester does it I think.

Well they were chained on an episode of zoo days whilst the keeper was training one of the babies to walk towards him, and I heard them being un-chained in the morning when I went a few weeks ago. At least that's what it sounded like.

ashley-h said:

Well they were chained on an episode of zoo days whilst the keeper was training one of the babies to walk towards him, and I heard them being un-chained in the morning when I went a few weeks ago. At least that's what it sounded like.

Click to expand...

ah of course, sorry had the bull in mind, I will delete my previous comment (but i'm fairly certain they don't chain them at night).

Hi There, An update on Jumbo, she now lives at Franklin Zoo south of Auckland in a enclosure built especially for her. She has things to do and mud wallows etc. And she will never have to wear her leg chains again !

And more

http://www.zoochat.com/17/jumbo-packs-her-trunk-117638/