Read
about Kristals trip to Africa.
INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE ELEPHANTS
OF KRUGER NATIONAL PARK IN SOUTH AFRICA
Withdraw
Your Tourist Travel Plans To South Africa. Go To Kenya Instead!
URGENT:
The Officials of KNP Are Planning A Massacre of 5-7,000 Elephants
(claiming overpopulation)
I spent a
month in S. Africa (May, 2005) working as a volunteer for the
conservationists at the Makalali game reserve which is doing pioneer
work on elephant contraception. Under the direction of Audrey Delsink
(whose work is funded by the Humane Society of the United States), the
elys of Makalali have been given contraceptives and it DOES work. But
Kruger Park officials refuse to use it on the elys in their park. I
also spent 11 hours a day for six days driving around Kruger Park
trying to find the elephants who are doing the so called damage that
they claim. I found a few bull elys but no female herds. So where are
the over populated elephants?
The S.
Africans just want to kill elys for their meat, skin and ivory which
they are stock piling, just waiting for the moment when the ban on
ivory is overturned which they try to do at every CITES (Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species) meeting. Kruger Park is 6
million acres. That is as large as some countries! They have 12,000
elys. That is 500 acres/ elephant. I do not think they are having a
problem with over population!
Also, it
is known by those who have studied the behavior of elephants over a
long period of time, that elys will monitor their birth rate according
to the conditions of their environment. Such a person is Cynthia Moss
who has monitored the same herds of elys for almost 40 years in Kenya
(where I also visited for a month) and she says: "Elephants will
not eat themselves out of house and home".
Dr. Iain
Douglas-Hamilton, the world's foremost expert on elephants, said this
to me: "Any species that over populates to the detriment of other
species needs to be curtailed. But I would no more advocate the
culling of elephants than I would humans because of who elephants are:
sentient, feeling animals..."
S. Africa
is still in the stone age and although apartheid was overcome for
humans, oppression continues for its animals, especially elephants.
Canned hunting is legal and encouraged there. For $50,000.00 you can
legally shoot an elephant!
The South African obscene intention to slaughter this glorious and
highly evolved animal is outrageous and barbaric and must be stopped.
Withdraw
your tourist dollar from South Africa and visit a more enlightened
country like Kenya where it is illegal to kill an elephant.
HELP
SAVE THE ELEPHANTS
OF
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK:
Write a respectful letter to:
Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk
Private Bag X447
Pretoria, 0001
South Africa
(postage is .84 cents)
BULL ELEPHANT IN KRUGER NATIONAL PARK
FAMILY HERD IN KENYA
Love in Action for the Protection and Preservation of Elephants
Kristal's deepest passion is for elephants. Her commitment is to
protect them from abuse in the entertainment industry, to stop
poaching along with the sell of ivory and to preserve them in the
wild.
When the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus was in town,
Kristal went on a water only Hunger Strike to bring awareness to the
abuse of elephants in the circus industry. Ringling Bros. had 19
performances and Kristal was present, in a cage and in chains, at all
of them. See picture and the letter below, written by renown wildlife
preservationist, Anthony Marr:
NEWS
RELEASE
Sept. 22, 2004
Denver to Host the World's First Hunger Strike Devoted to Elephants
Dear Editor:
My name is Anthony Marr. Even though I'm a Canadian living in
Vancouver, I'm compelled to write you this media release because I am
deeply moved by something momentous soon to occur in Denver, even
before it has occurred, and by the amazing Denver woman who will make
it happen.
Her name is
Kristal Parks. She will undertake a water only hunger strike - in a
cage with chains - from the time the Ringling Bros. Circus comes into
town until the end of its last performance (12 days). The hunger
strike tells of food-deprivation as a training tool, and the cage says
volumes about the wild animals' confinement, elephants and tigers
alike. The chains are a testimony to the suffering of elephants who
are chained much of the time. If Ms. Parks wanted to draw further
parallels she would also have to be beaten with a bull hook every so
often and poked with an electric cattle prod but even Ms. Parks has
her limits! She will be present at each of the 19 performances.
Many people find it hard to believe that elephants are really tortured
by circus trainers, but why would anyone voluntarily go days without
food just to tell a lie? What Ms. Parks is saying is the truth. Circus
animals suffer greatly in order to entertain spectators. Ringling
Bros. & Barnum and Bailey circus is "THE SADDEST SHOW ON
EARTH”, as her banner will say.
It seems to me that
elephant abuse is so sickening that as long as it happens in her city,
Ms. Parks can not eat. In her own words, "Elephants cannot speak
for themselves. So we must be their voice in as clear and
uncompromising fashion as possible. Circuses today are the modern
gladiator sport: (hidden) blood and guts for our entertainment. If
children knew how the anmals were treated, they would not want to go
to the circus".
Anthony Marr
wildlife preservationist
Do you think circus animals are mistreated?
Vote in the Channel 7 (ABC) survey:
http://www.TheDenverChannel.com/news/3784504/detail.html
FAMOUS
ELEPHANT CONSERVATIONISTS SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE CIRCUS:
CIRCUS
POSITION STATEMENT
Amboseli
Elephant Research Project
P.O. Box 15135
Langata
Nairobi, Kenya
We, the
undersigned, form a group of elephant researchers working together to
study elephants and promote their conservation and welfare. Our
combined experience represents over 200 years of work with
free-ranging, wild African elephants. We are the acknowledged experts
in the field.
It is our
considered opinion that elephants should not be used in circuses.
Elephants in the wild roam over large areas and move considerable
distances each day. They are intelligent, highly social animals with a
complex system of communication. No captive situation can provide
elephants with the space they need for movement or with the kind of
social stimulation and complexity that they would experience in the
wild. To watch an elephant family in the wild is a glorious
experience. Led by the oldest female--the matriarch--the family is
bonded by kinship, affiliation, experience, great loyalty and
affection. Elephants in circuses are confined and chained for hours,
are bought and sold, separated from companions, and frequently moved
about. In short, they are treated as objects of entertainment for
humans.
We believe
that such intelligent, socially complex and long-lived animals should
be treated with respect and empathy. An elephant's place is in the
wild with its relatives and companions. The totally unnatural
existence for captive elephants in a circus is a travesty and to allow
this practice to continue is unjustified and unethical.
The
Amboseli Elephant Research Project
|
|
| |
Elephant
Experience |
| Cynthia
Moss, Director |
33
years |
| Sandy
J. Andelman |
5
years |
| Harvey
Croze |
33
years |
| Iain
Douglas-Hamilton |
36
years |
| Phyllis
C. Lee |
19
years |
| W.
Keith Lindsay |
25
years |
| Hamisi
Mutinda |
11
years |
| Joyce
H. Poole |
26
years |
| Soila
Sayialel |
14
years |
Kristal, as
Wildflower the Clown, Speaks Out Against Circus Cruelty
Ivory
Belongs On Elephants!!!
The
biggest threat to elephants is the ivory trade (followed by loss of
habitat). When poachers kill an elephant for ivory, they go after the
largest elephants: the bulls and the matriarchs. Because elephants
live in close knit affectionate family units led by a matriarch, when
she is killed, it puts her whole family in tragic confusion, trauma.
grief and danger. The killing of the matriarch can destroy the whole
family. They need her wisdom to guide them to water holes, feeding
areas and to teach them how to survive.
Poachers
and ivory traders don't kill the babies who are left orphaned. So what
happens to them? They die, end up alone in the wild with no elder to
teach them how to survive or they get sold to circuses, zoos or to
mahouts. Most elephant trainers (although not all) beat the babies to
teach them submission. The "crushing box" in Thailand is
widely used and accepted as a way of training by the mahouts.
From
Jennifer Hile in National Geographic Today, October 18, 2002:
It's a
sound not easily forgotten. Just before dawn in the remote highlands
of northern Thailand...a four year old elephant bellows as seven
village men stab nails into her ears and feet. She is tied up and
immobilized in a small, wooden cage...The cage is called a
"training crush". It's the centerpiece of a centuries old
ritual in Thailand designed to domesticate young elephants. In
addition to beatings, handlers use sleep-deprivation, hunger and
thirst to "break" the elephant's spirit and make them
submissive to their owners.
Elephants
are killed for the ivory to make the carvings as shown below, sold
openly in the United States:
Elephants have emotions 'just like humans'
Elephant
conservationists should be mindful of the fact that the animals
have their own personality, culture and emotions, in much the same
way human beings do, say two American academics.
(Click
here for the full story)
LOVE IN
ACTION FOR ELEPHANTS
I'M GOING
TO AFRICA!!!!!
As you
probably know, the ban on ivory has been lifted in many parts of
Africa and elephants are once again being slaughtered in huge numbers.
I can not remain safe and silent while this is happening. So I'm going
to Africa (Kenya and South Africa) to confront this holocaust head on.
I'll be meeting with some of the world's top elephant conservationists
and working directly in the wild with els.
I am going
by myself and it is dangerous. At times I feel terrified but love
beckons and, fortunately, my love for the els exceeds my fear... so
off I go on April 4th. I'll be gone for about 2 months.
This trip
is expensive and if you'd like to help financially, that'd be great.
No pressure, just an invitation.
April 2005 - Photos Kristal sent back from Africa:
Giraffe
giving me a kiss:
Baby
Elephant - Today I was at the Sheldrick elephant orphanage for the
second time interviewing one of the keepers who is said to have a
magical touch with the els. They had just rescued a baby. It was
still traumatized from loosing its mom and even charged me, but by
the time I left, an hour later, it was just smelling me with its
trunk. I fell in love with him!!:
REFERENCES
for KRISTAL:
From
Anthony Marr, wildlife preservationist and tiger expert:
It is my honor, pleasure and priviledge to be asked by Kristal Parks
to write this recommendation.
Kristal is
among the top three most honest, sincere, courageous, dignified,
responsible and dedicated people, of either gender, I have encountered
in my 60 years on this Earth.
She has
worked as a children's illusionist, yet in reality she is a miracle
worker, in the sense that she could create and bestow freedom by the
impossible act (to most) of sacrificing her own. A prime example was
the 12-day water only hunger-strike for circus elephants in Denver
last fall, when Ringlings came to town. This is especially awesome
considering that Kristal is slim as a willow and really had no weight
to lose. Along the way, amidst her pangs of hunger, some around her
suggested that she could "sneak some food". She refused
without hesitation. Her honesty was such that even though she was in
Denver and I was in Vancouver, I knew that she would never even
remotely consider any act of betrayal to her immaculate integrity. No
witness was required.
Deeds
speak louder than words, but her words, when spoken by her heart, as
they always are, could be thunderous without her raising her voice or
lowering her almost transcendent femininity. Many in our society
believe that power dwells in the muscle; Kristal could demolish that
belief without moving a single muscle of her own. To the casual eye
she looks soft as water, yet, it is water that carved the Grand Canyon
out of solid rock.
In regards
to safe guarding the future of elephants, I have never met anyone who
is so single-mindedly devoted to these majestic and endangered
creatures. Even though I specialize in tiger preservation, and have
devoted the greater part of the last decate to the species, I have to
admit that the intensity of my passion for the tiger pales beside
Kristal's for the elephant. So many times has she expressed to me her
great desire, almost need, to work with elephants.
Knowing
Kristal the way I do, her life would not be complete without being
close to, working with and caring for elephants. Once you have met
her, you will agree with me that she is a priceless asset to elephant
conservation.
Sincerely,
Anthony
Marr
604-222-1169
http://www.HOPE-CARE.org
Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org
From Alex Hershaft, founder of FARM and national chairperson for
Animal Rights 2005:
Kristal
Parks made a moving presentation at our Animal Rights 2004 National
Conference. She spoke of how attending the prior year's conference
changed her life and turned her from a peace activist into an animal
activist.
Kristal
has a special affinity for elephants. Earlier this year, she conducted
a 12-day hunger strike to publicize the abuse of these animals in
circuses. At this year's conference, she plans to address participants
on the plight of elephants in the wild.
Kristal
impresses me as a very dedicated and committed person, and I truly
respect that.
Alex
Hershaft
chair@AR2005.org
