This footage shows thugs beating elephants with sticks and stabbing them with bullhooks and other blades to make them submissive for entertainment at a sick festival.
After the footage was released, numerous sponsors – including Renault, Carlsberg, Mega Bank and Everest Insurance – have reportedly pulled out of the Nepalese elephant festival.
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
Video Credit: AsiaWire/PETA Asia
The video, narrated in English, was released by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and was reportedly filmed at the annual Chitwan Elephant Festival in the district of Chitwan in Province No. 3 located in south-eastern Nepal.
Keith Guo, press officer of PETA Asia for China, told Asia Wire (AWR):”Since 2018, China has overtaken long-time record holder India as the top country for tourists visiting Nepal.
“People believe Nepal is the ‘closest’ place to the heaven, but the investigation reveals a hell for animals.”
In the video, animal handlers are seen hitting the elephants and jabbing blades into their skin as they ride on their backs.
Many of them reportedly use bullhooks, or elephant goads, to stab the animals.
The handlers stab them on their heads and behind their ears to make them submissive and participate in rides and games of polo or football.
Eyewitnesses claimed that they saw elephants with deep wounds and signs of infection while one little girl reportedly covered her mouth in shock when she saw an elephant calf being hit with a stick.
Some onlookers also filmed the abuse as it happened in full view of the public.
PETA Senior Vice President of International Campaigns Jason Baker said: “Deeply sensitive and intelligent elephants are being used as punching bags at this despicably cruel event.
“PETA is calling for an end to the festival and urging companies to cut ties with this spectacle of suffering immediately.”
There are virtually no laws against the abuse of animals in Nepal, so none of the violence captured in the footage is punishable from a legal standpoint.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Buli Liang, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
