Elephant Deaths

* As a volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and an animal lover, I was more than a little distressed by the circus industry’s reaction to the deaths of two Circus Vargas elephants (Aug. 10).

Aside from the overall sadness of these events, two things in particular upset me. First is the insistence by circus industry “experts” that wild animal acts must be used if a circus is to be successful; Cirque du Soleil has proved this theory wrong.

Second is Rebecca Black’s assertion that, in small towns, the circus may be a child’s only exposure to an elephant. I find this particularly disheartening: The child who sees a circus elephant, trained to do tricks and otherwise a slave to people, is not going to see the essence of that elephant as a creature deserving of our respect (and may have been better off not seeing one at all). Elephants are intelligent, gentle and very long-lived creatures. I think it is a crime that they are treated in this manner.

ELIZABETH STELOW

Sierra Madre