Outrage Over Beating of an Elephant

No words can describe the horror and revulsion my family and I felt at the chaining and beating of Dunda the elephant at the Wild Animal Park of San Diego (Part I, May 25, 26 and June 2).

It was heart-rending to read the story of the coldness and cruelty of her abrupt move from the only surroundings she knew (and from the only people with whom she was familiar), and shocking to see that the reaction of her handlers at the Wild Animal Park to her natural and to-be-expected fearfulness was administering a prolonged and vicious beating.

Equally disgusting are the attempts of the spokesman for the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Tom Hanscom, to deflect attention from the barbarity of this situation by brushing it off as a “a bit of turf war between facilities.” He ought to seek another profession, as should Douglas Myers, executive director of the San Diego Zoological Society, if indeed he was quoted correctly as having said “to date I feel that everything was handled properly.” As for Alan Roocroft, supervisor in charge of the elephants, who reportedly ordered six people to beat the chained and terrified animal for two days, is he a suitable individual to have around helpless animals?

We laud the unnamed individuals who reported the incident to the keepers at the San Diego Zoo and the zoo’s elephant keepers for their courage and humaneness.

PILAR SAGORSKY

North Hollywood