“Elephants of Eden” Is Really “Elephants in Hell”

26 May 2014

– At the Elephants of Eden park in South Africa, baby elephants are routinely stretched between ropes and chains, shocked with electric cattle prods, and beaten with bull hooks.

Elephants of Eden, an elephant park in South Africa, portrays itself as a sanctuary where elephants can grow and thrive. But new footage captured by the SPCA shows baby elephants being subjected to awful abuse by the park’s keepers.

According to video footage obtained by the SPCA, keepers frequently chain baby elephants to the ground by one foot and hook a rope around the other, stretching the little animal between them until it’s in agony. Other babies are routinely electrocuted with cattle prods or beaten with bullhooks. This is all to instill a sense of fear in the elephants so they will obey humans out of terror for their lives.

The SPCA describes these injuries as “crippling”, saying that many of the baby elephants have swollen legs or gaping wounds. One photo shows a piece of an elephant’s sensitive trunk nearly completely severed, only hanging by a few inches of flesh.