Opinion: Riding an elephant to your wedding -- not a good idea for man or beast

You don’t see this every day: an Asian elephant walking down a public street, carrying a couple atop its back, in a wedding procession onto the grounds of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa. Actually, if you’re in Huntington Beach, you should never see this. It violates a Huntington Beach ordinance that forbids “the performance of any wild and exotic animal for public entertainment, amusement or benefit on any public or private property…”

Nonetheless, that spectacle took place on Oct. 18. An animal welfare activist who was already in Huntington Beach that day keeping tabs on—wait for it—a bull ride on the beach (and, yeah, apparently that is legal) happened to see the elephant promenade and reported it to the police as well as to Animal Defenders International, an advocacy group that also does investigations into animal abuse. That group called hotel and city officials. The city said it never issued a permit. (Of course not—it’s illegal.) The hotel—according to what its general manager told Animal Defenders—thought someone connected to the elephant had a permit. Meanwhile, the city put out a statement Monday calling it a first-time offense and saying it was satisfied that the hotel was now aware of the policy. “We will work with all of our local hotels to remind them of our policy,” said the statement from Julie Toledo, community relations officer for the city.

A Hyatt spokesperson said the hotel would work with the city in the future to make sure “proper protocol” was followed.

I doubt that this is the hotel’s first offense. One local wedding planner’s website notes that it worked with a couple who employed an elephant for their wedding at the Hyatt in Huntington Beach several years ago. (The ordinance was passed in 2002.)

Different cities have different ordinances and different wording regarding wild animals and performances. Some ban the “display” of wild animals. The city of Los Angeles just passed a measure banning the use of bullhooks in the city. When it takes effect in 2017, it will effectively prohibit circuses and, most likely, elephants in wedding processions. Handlers cannot make elephants do tricks or manage them around crowds of people without bullhooks in hand.

All this might be a lot for a couple in the throes of planning their wedding to know. And the Hyatt Huntington is animal-friendly. They allow hotel guests to bring dogs. But having an elephant in a wedding is not animal-friendly. And the hotel should have known the law. The longtime elephant outfitter, Have Trunk Will Travel, which supplied the elephant for the recent Hyatt wedding, makes it clear on its website that it’s the responsibility of the clients to get permits. But Have Trunk Will Travel does this frequently—a portion of their website promotes their wedding elephant business. They should guide their clients through the maze of municipal codes.

But here’s the bigger point—no one should be riding elephants through the streets of any city for any occasion. Elephants, no matter how gentle some seem, are wild animals. They cannot be tamed by their handlers. They can only be controlled and dominated by their handlers who carry a bullhook or prod of some kind to remind them. They are taught to perform (and allowing someone to sit on top of you is a type of performance) by handlers who trained them with a bullhook or a prod.

At a time when county fairs are banning elephant rides and zoos—including the L.A. Zoo--are adopting new protocols that mandate no contact with elephants (so keepers don’t have to use bullhooks) no hotel or wedding planner or outfitter should be encouraging the use of elephants in weddings.

I realize that runs up against a tradition in Indian culture of having the groom ride into his ceremony on an elephant. And if you watch the videos of these weddings (Have Trunk Will Travel has posted a number of them on their website) the events look benign enough, with happy guests dancing through the streets alongside the elephant. It’s not that uncommon for Indian weddings here in Southern California to include an elephant in the festivities.

It’s still not wise--from an animal welfare or a safety perspective. Elephants are wild animals. They have never been domesticated, they have never been bred for anything other than genetic diversity. They have not been bred for behavioral traits.

“It’s easy to be misguided on that,” says Matt Rossell, campaigns director for Animal Defenders. “When you see elephants mixed in with people at circuses and they’re putting kids on their backs, parents hope that’s a tame animal. In reality, it’s not. There’s never a safe way to work an elephant in free contact where you can guarantee the safety of the people around the elephant.”

Hopefully this incident has raised the consciousness of everyone in hotel and wedding businesses. And if you must ride an animal into a wedding ceremony, try a horse.

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