This response was posted on the History Channel in reference to a story/incident:
Anonymous said...
There has never been a documented researched record of Circus/Zoo/Captive animal incidences, and even the ones that "radicals" have attempted to document are way off, both proo and con. There is no record book to list exploits of trainer for comparison, such as Major League Baseball or the National Football League, etc. There is no "official list" of movie credits, or gold and platinum records. The "record/history" is "word of mouth", exactly like the movie Mad Max, where everybody would gather in the evening around a campfire to hear the "Tell" which was the story of what it used to be. We refer to it as "cutting up jackpots." It becomes the history/official record depending on how well you like the individual with the "jackpots." In the case of Mad Max, as it was the end of the world as they knew it, and there was no material left for recording historical accuracy, the young person selected to carry the "Tell" was very carefully chosen to carry the spoken history to the next generation, when the the current "Keeper of the Tell" passed away.
To understand my anger, and confusion in reference to the 20/20 video he felt he was qualified to critique, he does a "poor picked on us" in reference to an incidence in Hawaii which occurred in 1994 and was played over and over. As I am not the CHOIR, I pointed out there had been four instances prior to that with the same elephant. As late as 10 years later the same organization responsible for that incident, had a maintenance man in intensive care for 3 months after he was "promoted" to the elephant department. Like Mr. Payne, I noted some things in the 20/20 tape and I pointed out to others that there was an incident that was played over and over on the tape, that occurred in 1989 in Great Britain, and caused irreversible damage to the animal industry in that country. When it was suggest that it was unfair to keep running it over and over as it was so long ago, I suggested maybe, unless you consider the individuals responsible in 1989 just moved their operation to another country. I don't want anybody to feel sorry for for me, or feel that MY PROFESSION is being singled out unfairly. I suggest we were given every opportunity to comply, as was every other animal industry. The circus chose not to because, nobody had ever told us what to do. It had always done, what it wanted with no standard other then "it's the way it's always been done" I don't think it is too late, and I pray to the Gods above it is not. As the "old regime" steps back and the "new regime" steps in, I hope they have their facts straight and understand what happened. And until Mr. Payne gets his straight, he is not MY spokesman, and I have way too much pride, honor, and dignity to wrap myself in a poor me/pity party blanket. When you do something for someone Mr. Payne you don't do it for accolades, or a pat on the back. You do it because you believe in it as I believe in the the Art of Animal Training. All Animals, not just the one's I chose to favor.
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Why perpetuate an incident that is characterized by undocumented, inflammatory reporting of a tertiary nature and keynoted by a fake photo of the purported death scene? Search around the web a bit and you'll see some real trash writing on this incident.