Where the Rubber Meets the Road
During the gathering of delegates and observers at COP 11 in Gigiri, Kenya (April 2000) many attendees visited Kenya’s famous baby elephant sanctuary where they oohhed and ahhhed and snapped countless photos snuggling with the toddler pachyderms. Kenya and the sanctuary are poster children of the non-use NGO community who espouse a "holier than thou" attitude towards sustainable use nations. Now, it seems, that they and their orphaned elephant safe home are a bit embarrassed. Sanctuary founder and CEO, Daphne Sheldrick has exposed the Animal Rights hypocrisy in attempting to have electric prods banned globally. Why? The sanctuary uses them to correct unacceptable baby elephant behavior.
According to Sheldrick, the orphanage handlers administer "a tiny zing with a small electric prod powered by two torch (flashlight) batteries" when their cumbersome orphan charges display tendencies "to knock people down." The "tiny zing" is hardly the cruel "shock" described by NGOs working to have the tool outlawed. Still, when word of the disciplinary technique leaked to the press, NGO critics, including those funding the elephant shelter, were quick to condemn the use of the electric prods.
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