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Elephant training cruelty revealed
December 2009
Dramatic images of the training of baby elephants for the circus have been released after a former trainer had a change of heart.
Photos of 18- to 24-month-old calves chained, forcibly separated from their mothers, pulled and prodded with sharp hooks and even the use of an electric prod show training at the Ringling Bros Circus in America.
Up to four handlers at a time tugged hard on ropes to make babies lie down, sit up, stand on two legs, salute, do headstands: the usual circus tricks which trainers say are taught through kindness.
 The ‘whistleblower’ is former elephant handler Sam Haddock, who worked in the circus industry from 1976 and at Ringling's Center for Elephant Conservation, a breeding and training center, in Florida, off and on between 1997 and 2005. His photos and 15-page statement, provided to PETA, reveal what circuses try so hard to keep hidden.
Before his wife, Millie, died in 2007, she asked him to promise to “do the right thing" in exposing the cruelty he not only witnessed, but took part in. Haddock’s statement admits his own part in the abuse of elephants: the use of an electric prod on an elephant in 1997 (saying he “fried him for about ten minutes”) and the beating of another elephant with a bullhook for 15 minutes the following year.
Ringlings continues to defend its treatment of animals. Head trainer Gary Jacobson, who features in many of the photos, claims: "These are classic pictures of professional elephant-training … This is the most humane way."
Sam Haddock’s statement discusses the separation of mother and calf: "When pulling 18-24-month-old babies, the mother is chained against the wall by all four legs. Usually there's 6 or 7 staff that go in to pull the baby rodeo style. ... Some mothers scream more than others while watching their babies being roped. ... The relationship with their mother ends."
Gary Jacobson’s view is strikingly different: "I separate them slowly now. … When you separate the calves, they thrash around a bit. They miss their mother for about three days, and that's it."
Sam Haddock died in November 2009, before the true extent of his revelations could be shown. It is thanks to the bravery of Sam and his wife that the world now knows how baby elephants are trained for the circus.
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