Two Tails Ranch Two Tails Ranch Review
- Thread starter Sarus Crane
- Start date
To elaborate a bit, Myakka is owned by the Barredas. The Barredas have been renting out elephants to circuses for decades, all wild-born that they purchased directly. They make it seem like their three elephants were "saved" from the circus, but one of them (Lou) was their own animal they were renting out. Even though the three are supposedly retired, they've been shipping them to Wilstem in Indiana every summer to fit in even more encounters. Not riding is the bare minimum a place can do. They do everything else, including letting guests have free contact in the exhibit with the elephants.
nancy parrish
Member
What are you calling propaganda? The abuse of elephants there is NOT propaganda!
nancy parrish
Member
Did you work there? I have been there and did not see hooks used.
nancy parrish
Member
I just forwarded this thread to them asking them to explain. If what you see is true, I am very disappointed and will be pulling my doantions!
nancy parrish
Member
*say not see
You can easily verify all of this by looking at their websites and sources like the elephant database and news articles that they've given interviews for.
Edit: Here's sources for every statement I made.
-OpenCorporate listing for Myakka: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_fl/N19000010840
-Additionally, plenty of articles include bits like this, “… said Jorge Barreda, the elephants' owner.”
Elephant retreat offers unique experience, educates public
-“Jorge and Lou Ann owned a business that rented elephants to, he says, “all kinds of events — birthday parties, weddings, documentaries, theme parks, state fairs, circuses, zoos.”
Get up close with elephants in one ranch’s conservation mission | Your Observer
-“Lou Ann Barreda of Jacob Barreda Elephants in Sarasota shows off African elephants during the 31st annual Egypt Shrine Temple Circus on Sunday at the Bay Area Outlet Mall in Largo”
Easter under the big top
-“Her parents and their three African elephants are currently touring with UniverSoul Circus, while Barreda performs in Circus Sarasota show alongside her aunt, aerialist Dolly Jacobs.”
Performance posterity | Your Observer
-“Barreda said brokers and dealers handled the paperwork to bring them over and then he bought them from the animal dealer.”
Elephant retreat offers unique experience, educates public
-Patty info in database, wild born: Patty at Myakka Elephant Ranch in United States - Elephant Encyclopedia and Database
-Carol info in database, wild born: Carol at Myakka Elephant Ranch in United States - Elephant Encyclopedia and Database
-Lou info in database, wild born: Lou at Myakka Elephant Ranch in United States - Elephant Encyclopedia and Database
-“Our two loving Asians were purchased in order to retired them from the entertainment industry.”
https://www.myakkaelephantranch.org/faq
-Lou info from database, previously owned by Jorge Barreda: Lou at Myakka Elephant Ranch in United States - Elephant Encyclopedia and Database
-“… Barreda said. But for nearly three months of this summer, they’ve been taking a vacation at Wilstem Ranch near French Lick.”
Elephant ranch
-Wilstem website: https://www.wilstem.com/elephant-encounters
Note the photo for “Elephant safari” of a guest in a field with an elephant.
-Here’s an Instagram photo from 5 days ago of two people in a field next to them: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv7qSjALYMf/?img_index=1
-3 weeks ago, people washing the elephants, including a woman going under an elephant to wash its feet: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvFT40qgNYq/
-There’s additional photos from articles linked above, taken both at Myakka and Wilstem.
Last edited:
The way I see it with ankus/ankusha ['bull-hook']...
It can be used as a weapon, but was not really designed so to be. The most skilled mahouts, from what I have seen, never use ankusha in a violent manner; they merely use it to reinforce verbal commands, which constitute much if not most of the elephant's training. [Though saying that, the elephant may well have been trauma-beaten first when it was young...]
But not all are so patient. And so in American circus with hasty trainers it can become rather nasty. And so perhaps this is why in some places when elephants were on display walking-canes were used instead as a facade. Though I would not be surprised if ankusha were used to train the elephant in the first place.
But saying all that ... the ankus was developed at a time when less was known about animal training than today - in those times to train an elephant you had to be rather close to the animal. And so I suppose in the last remaining places today where machinery is lacking, and elephants still haul timber up rugged terrain, ankusha still have something of a place. But in the Western World where we can afford to have protected contact, with minimal interference into elephants' lives ... that will always be the ideal with responsible elephant management.
It can be used as a weapon, but was not really designed so to be. The most skilled mahouts, from what I have seen, never use ankusha in a violent manner; they merely use it to reinforce verbal commands, which constitute much if not most of the elephant's training. [Though saying that, the elephant may well have been trauma-beaten first when it was young...]
But not all are so patient. And so in American circus with hasty trainers it can become rather nasty. And so perhaps this is why in some places when elephants were on display walking-canes were used instead as a facade. Though I would not be surprised if ankusha were used to train the elephant in the first place.
But saying all that ... the ankus was developed at a time when less was known about animal training than today - in those times to train an elephant you had to be rather close to the animal. And so I suppose in the last remaining places today where machinery is lacking, and elephants still haul timber up rugged terrain, ankusha still have something of a place. But in the Western World where we can afford to have protected contact, with minimal interference into elephants' lives ... that will always be the ideal with responsible elephant management.