What spectacular brick work went into the old Elephant House at Copenhagen. Note the elephant has a large lump on her left leg
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Elephant House--Copenhagen Zoo
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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6 comments:
What are your thoughts about the lump that you have drawn our attention to?
Steve,
I don't have any idea. I was hoping someone could tell me.
Wade
Some years ago we had an elephant act on our show in which one of the elephants had a large [larger than this] lump on her shoulder.
Vets from the university did biopsies on the lump and declared it to be a benign tumour or cyst.
It was not a hook "boil" nor was it as a result of chafing or rubbing during transport - it just appeared and grew to a certain size and then stayed there. It did not bother her in the slightest nor did it ever hinder her movement. She just carried on as if it wasn't there.
It brought us a lot of negative comment because the public's perception was that it was a cancer, or it must have been painful or we weren't treating it etc, etc, blah, blah, blah!
The old lady who owned the elephants would not allow it to be removed as that would have involved anaesthetic and the associated risk to the animal.
The elephant carried that lump to her eventual death of old age.
Steve,
You may be right on the size. I have found the pressure lumps to be smaller then what this elephant has. Because of the wrong impression a lot of things give people, it is important not to use animals in public that may cause an eyebrow to be raised. A lot of folks won't ask, just assume, and the ones that do ask, don't believe what they are being told.
Wade
Wade - I refuse to bow down to the public's "perception" of things.
In the case of this elephant I had a perfectly clear conscience that the lump had been investigated, was causing the animal no pain and was not life threatening. I respect the owner's decision not to risk anaesthesia for what would have been a purely cosmetic surgical procedure.
If people refused to believe my explanation when questioned about the lump then that is their problem not mine.
I would not hide her away just because her appearance might cause an "eyebrow to be raised". That sort of thinking would also require me to hide an elephant hook or a whip.
There will always be people who will "assume" the worst. They will die ignorant.
Despite the "wrong impression" that she may have given some people, the circus did fantastic business while we had her. As you have said to me in the past, people are not dumb any more. Tell them the truth anout a situation and most of them will cop it sweet.
Steve,
I don't know if it is bowing down to public perception, or using good sense for an industry as a whole. They will imagine that if an elephant has TB, it's lungs are destroyed and it has no "wind" and should not be made to do anything physical. That can be argued, as there are no "visible" signs of it, excepting in the latter stages. If it was something visual, they would have much more ammunition in which to cast aspersions on the whole industry of elephant training. Ned's appearance only added fuel to the fire of abusing animals in the circus. Shit happens with an animal sometimes, whether sickness or injury, just like with anything, even with the best prevention methods. I have to keep looking at the horse industry, which is regulated, and is as aware of the public perception as all of us are. If a horse has an injury and/or sickness it "will reflect on the whole breed industry. They are no longer allowed to show or train with the methods used in the past, given that public perception which harmed the whole industry. It is not about individuals and what they want or think, it is about what a unified organization says is allowable. If one person was allowed to show a horse that had, a visible rub mark, from something as harmless as a blanket rub, the public may make it out to be something that is done to train the animal. We as individuals needed to be concerned for the industry, and not what was best for us as individuals. But there is no "unregulated" industry in that world with animals that has not harmed it's self greatly. AZA was formed to make the distinction between a "zoo" and "Jungle Bob's Bear Pit," because of that public perception.
Wade
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