The Elephant Who Died to Be Free
Added 2023-04-20 18:48:03 +0000 UTCWell, here I am folks, Googling inspirational quotes about how love comes with risk.
Examples (imagine these on backdrops of sand, mountains, clasped hands, false attributions to Abraham Lincoln, etc)
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“To love is to risk. Therefore, to love is to be brave.”
“Love, in short, is the most dangerous emotion humans can experience.”
“Love without risk is an impossibility, like war without death.”
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What is it that I, Caitlin Doughty, love?
Making longer documentaries. Full stop. Documentaries like this one- “Why Did Tyke the Elephant Have to Die?” It’s the story of a runaway circus elephant, her tragic spectacle of a death, and the way public deaths– for all their horror– can change culture forever.
The documentaries l’ve made with my team have been among the most creatively fulfilling projects of my life. I love being able to use my experience talking about death to explore all the myriad ways mortality interweaves and impacts the way we view the world.
So where does the risk element come in? The risk comes from YouTube.
Their official policy says “difficult” historical footage (of death for example) is acceptable only if used in educational context. I don’t think there is anyone on YouTube- or anywhere really!– who puts death in an educational context with as much sensitivity and thought as my team. But the reality is, YouTube does not want anyone, even their longtime creators, to know how they review or adjudicate footage. It is demeaning and frustrating.
Nevertheless, here we are. Giving this another chance because I love this work, I want as many people as possible to be able to see this story. Tyke deserves it, other elephants in performance captivity deserve it, and my hardworking team deserves it.
Regardless of what happens, your unwavering support as a Patron is like a warm hug.
From my cranky, black (but hopeful), heart to yours,
Caitlin
Comments
Heartbreaking, what a horrible thing we have done as humans using wild animals for entertainment 😢 It's cruel, I wonder how that wasn't always known. It's so evil what happened to Tyke and the other animals. Such a complete betrayel of love. Such am innocent victim of greed. Of course the police had to shoot her, to protect people. It's not their fault. How horrible for them. Poor Tyke. What an amazing spirit she had. 😭😭😭😭
Meghan Taylor
2024-09-27 09:05:48 +0000 UTCI have something important to add seeing Blackfish brought up. Blackfish is an inaccurate “documentary”, using spliced and edited footage and biased informers to present an agenda. It is one of many of its genre found on Netflix, made by “animal rights activists”, or “ARAs”. The problem with animal rights activists is that they often fall into the issue of anthropomorphizing animals and believing emotion over facts, leading to things like “bee keeping is wrong and animal abuse” when bees benefit from having a farmer there to take excess and that the alternative is agave, which involves companies taking advantage of people in the small areas agave is found, often involving human rights violations and even human slaves and child workers. The term that tends to follow a more grounded and nuanced approach is animal welfare, but even that term has been co-opted into something it’s not. EG: rabbits— Rabbit Welfare Society and House Rabbit Society are both the top resources for rabbits, following an erroneous assumption that rabbits must be cared for in one way, and that any other method is abuse. Those following these beliefs often seek to vilify farmers, and anyone that deal with rabbits for meat and fur and genetics as they have been used for for thousands of years. Incidentally, most rabbits cared for in the HRS manner die of gastrointestinal issues due to poor diet. Rabbit Welfare Society has stated explicitly that they would rather a rabbit be dead then in the care of a human, and that their ultimate goal is getting rid of domestic rabbits entirely, because they view humans breeding rabbits as “selfish”.) Somewhat ironic, considering the content of Blackfish, that I also used to be a huge fan of. I do consider that in the past the term did not hold the weight of aggressive misinformation that it does now. When animal rights groups rallied against the use of circus animals, that was a positive action that benefited both animals and humans. Too often in recent years, however, such groups often go after the wrong people. Many individual (to clarify, this means single homesteaders not affiliated with companies and farming as an individual livelihood and passion) farmers have had their livestock raided and stolen in a single day by animal rights activists that believe that animals should not be used for farming or kept in captivity whatsoever, and similar sentiment can be found from the man that tried to release a Cloud Leopard (and succeeded in stealing several monkeys and killing a bird of prey) in the Dallas Zoo. After becoming interested in professional Marine Biology, however, I took a second look at Blackfish, and learned that many of the “experts” and testimonials are all cut from the same cloth, all with the believe that any form of captive animal is wrong and cruel, and that every place that holds them must be cruel to their animals. While SeaWorld is far from beyond criticism, there is a portrayal of these orcas in Blackfish as “naturally, animals that avoid humans” (wildly inaccurate— they are much like dolphins in that they are extremely curious and will often investigate) and “vengeful” (there is a quote from the director of the film that orcas have never attacked humans in the wild, which is false. Orcas are an aggressive species, combined with high intelligence, and they often “play” with living things in a rough manner. Orcas are not exempt from having unprovoked aggression to humans just because they are relatively intelligent.) Footage is edited to make it seem like trainers that never entered the water are swimming along with the orcas. The biggest problem with working with animals like Tilikum, is that they are wild, and unpredictable, and must be respected and treated as such. Things like riding a sea animal is generally distressing for the animal and should not be done, but certain training programs are beneficial and often used while doing health check ups and diagnostics, like rising up out of the water, opening mouths, “high fives”, et cetera. The exception is mainly that wild animals should not be nursery snatched, that wild, undomesticated animals must be treated carefully and with respect, and they should not be thrown into a life of pure, shallow entertainment with no benefits to the animal, such as the kind most circus animals receive. The closest equivalent that we have that is prevalent nowadays is animal actors in Hollywood (talking about undomesticated animals here— the situation is more nuanced for animals such as horses, dogs, cats, etc.), which are often treated better than circus animals, but still forced to do things that fundamentally go against their nature, and affect how they socialize with other animals, like monkeys smiling and having to walk on two legs. Zoos and Aquariums are extremely important for the continued understanding and conservation of our earth’s life, and while there are certainly problems to be had in all human run organizations, many of the animals that are housed there are born there or cannot be released into the wild (conservatories are often pointed to as better, but many conservatories are run by novices pretending to be experts, with no licensing and used as an excuse to hoard these animals for social media presence. Not every conservatory is like this, such as the ones that handle retired circus animals, but due to the fact that conservatories are not regulated the way zoos and aquariums are, they must be approached with a level of discretion). Many zoos and aquariums do have certain animals “perform” as ambassadors, such as penguin walks, sea lion performances, bird walks, and more. These are educational and often done with young and high energy animals selected to help educate people and generate interest in the cause of study and conservation. I’d highly recommend looking more into the controversy and inaccuracies of Blackfish on your own! What happened to Tyke was plain animal cruelty. She had no enrichment, no nutrition, no bonds with other elephants, nothing. It’s surprising she did as little damage as she did. There are plenty of documentations of wild elephants attacking people in gruesome ways. She must have been very scared. At least she doesn’t have to suffer anymore. I do want to add one more thing about a term that was used in this video and elsewhere in the comments. The term “self-aware” concerning animals is a dangerous one that is not encouraged to be used when talking about situations like this, due to the implication it gives to an already emotional audience. Orcas and elephants are not self-aware in that they have cognitive abilities similar to a human, but rather that they can process certain ideas and concepts and form reactions to them. The science of animal cognitive awareness is still very fresh, but an important thing to understand and remember about intelligent animals is that they still do not reach the human brain in levels of cognitive awareness and intelligence. That is not to say they aren’t impressive, but rather to stave off that idea that an animal in a zoo is the equivalent of a human in one. I’ve often seen people who do not understand this compare farming to. a very significant mass death event in World War Two. That is why it’s an important distinction to make, to avoid that level of insensitivity. Humans may be animals, but there is a distinction that is millions of evolution’s years old. Rest in the peace you didn’t have in life, Tyke.
Sharkie
2023-08-22 04:30:13 +0000 UTC
