SEPT 6 — Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is outraged over disturbing visuals shown on Astro Awani’s video over the  alleged mistreatment and abuse of elephants  taking place at a resort in Malacca.

The sound of the beating inflicted on the elephant was highly audible that it shocked SAM into disbelieve.  Such appalling scene is  a reminiscence of the dark ages where captive wildlife were cruelly treated in circuses and zoos.  That this merciless beating should take place at this modern time and age is highly unacceptable. 

This is not the first time that incidents of this sort has taken place.  In 2010 an alleged  abuse of a tiger during a show was highlighted by a local newspaper  reader in the ‘Letters’  section It  appeared that the tiger had been drugged as it was  too tired to even  hold up its head.

Then again in 2011 eight orang-utans  were  discovered at an undisclosed location hunched inside cages with little hair left, malnourished and suffering from severe depression.  The orang-utans were never confiscated despite calls for their removal to Sepilok Orangutan sanctuary in Sabah for treatment.

In 2005 the discovery of illegal orang-utans in their possession led to their confiscation but no one was ever prosecuted.  As always it is not unusual for A’ Famosa’s  management  to deny any wrongdoing or justify their action. 

In the elephant abuse case immediate  action should  be taken against the abuser  because the investigation should be based  on witness statements and photographic  evidence.   No one is above the law  and action must be taken to the  full extent of the law on the resort owner.

A’ Famosa must stop misleading the public  that they are into elephant conservation because there is no compelling evidence to date that they are into promoting attitude changes, education or interest in conservation in their visitors, despite claims to the contrary.

No captive animal should ever be beaten to establish dominance or fear.  It is both physical  and psychological abuse.  All those who support this cruel activity contribute to unnecessary suffering of animals that have already suffered enormously from the brutal training techniques  they endure which no sane person can call humane.

Elephants tethered  in chains around their legs for 14 hours, being beaten  and never being able to walk more than a few feet in any direction will have an impact on their health and mental attitude. 

It is time to question why the authorities have ever allowed the suffering of these animals in the name of entertainment to continue for so long?  Why is this particular resort   still  given permit  to operate? 

SAM calls for action from the Wildlife authorities.  Action must be rapid and comprehensive as soon as the issue came to light.  The action should follow with an internal investigation in line with the zoo policies and legal welfare requirements. 

SAM also urged  the Ministry of NRE and the Wildlife department to:

  • ban all elephant performances and ban the  use of bullhook  on all captive  elephants;
  • to allocate more space and land for each and every individual elephants kept by the resort with provisions for environmental enrichment;  
  • and ban future application for permits for theme parks and resorts as they are only into exploiting animals for gain without  any consideration or trained staff to care for the welfare of captive wildlife.

S M Mohd Idris

President

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM)

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.