Wild Net Africa News Archive
Ghiazza: tuskers not trained for circus tricks. (5 November, 1998) African Game Services owner Riccardo Ghiazza has undertaken to sack any Indonesian mahouts he catches maltreating young Tuli Block elephants during training. He said yesterday he was not training the elephants, about which an international furore has erupted, to do "circus tricks". "We only want to train them to the level where humans can approach them without fear of being hurt," he said. Mr Ghiazza, who has been charged with contravening the Animal Protection Act by the National Council of SPCAs, is intent on going ahead with training the young elephants which will be sold to either zoos or safari parks in Europe and China. "There is no deadline for training to be completed: It will take as long as needed to get the animals trained to the level I want." Mr Ghiazza told a media conference if he caught one of the Indonesian mahouts he has employed to train the elephants maltreating the animals "they will first get a warning and be fired if found doing it again". Former Kruger National Park vet and one-time head of the park's capture team, Dr Cobus Raath, said at the media conference at African Game Services near Hartbeespoort Dam, he had been asked by the NCSPCA to remove the elephants in the middle of last month. "I inspected other premises at Sable Ranch near Brits and decided it would be better for the elephants to remain at African Game Services. Accommodation and feeding arrangements were not satisfactory for a group of 30", he said. Dr Raath freely admitted he was not an animal behaviorist or trainer. He added that this 10 years' experience working with elephants in Kruger, during which time he had been involved with culling and relocation of "at least 1 500 elephants", had given him a good insight into their minds.
"In my opinion, it's far better for these elephants to be here (at African Game Services) than somewhere else. "Since the 'revelations' about the condition of the animals and their treatment, matters have improved markedly. There are no new lesions on any of them and old lesions and abscesses are healing." The NCSPCA wants the elephants removed from Mr Ghiazza's premises and relocated elsewhere. This, Dr Raath said, would be stressful for the animals and "it's far better for them to stay here where there is supervision and veterinary care".
|
