Let Anne go free: Writer who first revealed the elephant's suffering to the world begs for her release
Picking my way across the straw scattered thinly on the floor of the agricultural shed on Saturday, I found myself stepping around the piles of animal droppings dimly illuminated by the strip lighting high above.
This cold, dingy place, with no natural light, was the home - if you could call it that - of 58-year-old Anne, the last circus elephant in Britain.
When I approached her, she gazed down at me with deep brown eyes tinged both with curiosity and fear. I held my breath, for she could crush me in an instant should she want to.
And then I felt Anne's trunk curling gently around my neck before it snaked across my face and ruffled my hair.
She flicked through my reporter's notebook with the tip of her trunk and playfully tried to pluck the pen from my hand. I could hear the loud, hoarse breathing which makes her sound so very old and infirm.
I looked into her eyes once more and they were warm and gentle. But then her trainer, Bobby Roberts, silently approached me from behind.
Suddenly, Anne reeled away and returned to the chains "taken off for the day" with which she has been shackled to the ground virtually all of her life, and which allow her to move only a few paces in any direction.
Then she held them up with her trunk. It felt as if she was showing them to me and saying: "When you go, this is my life." At that point, Bobby Roberts told me to leave.
No wonder he didn't want me to see any more of her pitiful condition, for this was the godforsaken place where she was secretly filmed being attacked repeatedly by her keepers at the Bobby Roberts Super Circus.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370627/Let-Anne-free-The-writer-revealed-elephants-suffering-world-begs-release.html
Ik heb dit op mijn eigen Hyve staan, maar die staat op gesloten, dus dan maar ff hier geplaatst!
Ik volg ADI en RSAPCA op Twitter, dan ben je zo op de hoogte.
(gister: )
RSPCA Frontline (@RSPCA_Frontline) said:
Re: Anne the elephant. The RSPCA is deeply distressed at the footage provided by ADI at the weekend. We have been inundated with calls and emails from the public wanting to know what the RSPCA is doing. Please rest assured that we are doing all we can. Our primary concern is for the welfare of Anne and we are working hard behind the scenes with a number of organisations, all of whom want to ensure Anne's welfare. Please be patient - we are unable to answer everyone's individual concerns personally but when we are in a position to update everyone we will post it on our website. The government are currently considering whether to ban wild animals in circuses. If you agree they should be banned please lobby your MP to ask Defra to bring in a ban.
At 14:26 on 28/3/11