Animal Rights Wake-Up.
What a time to be alive, we have Pokemon Go on one hand and Terrorist attacks on the other, quite controversial. We have crazy conspiracies and facts that are beyond unbelievable; like why would someone ever vote for Trump, have we really forgotten what Hitler did? Some argue that we are in the middle of world war 3, others say it is about to start, we aren't quite in the most peaceful stage of human evolution. We have food wars between vegans and everyone else, we have gender wars against those who can accept and those who are too stubborn to believe in general rights to individual choice and we have racial wars. As a race we have come so far yet we have not grasped the concept that apart we will fall but together we unstoppable, are we really so addicted to destruction that we can't simply let it go that one person thinks differently to you?
But there is a light in the darkness, six thousand years of human civilisation and finally we have started to step away from animal cruelty, we might not be able to accept each other's rights but we are starting to understand that the voiceless still deserve the same rights for their lives as we do, i honestly believe this is one of the greatest movements the world has achieved in a long time.
Yesterday I had the most breath taking experience, I got to visit an Elephant Sanctuary for a photo shoot. In a world with so many zoos and circuses the Sanctuaries have fallen through the cracks, we have created a world where it is no longer safe in many places for wild animals to live in their natural habitats yet in these Sanctuaries, granted they are not always massive, these animals have been given a home where they are cared for and visited by people who share the same regard for their lives as they hold for themselves. Even though it saddens me that they can't roam wild, a home where their lives are regarded as sacred is better than leaving them in a world that is barred up and cruel.
I arrived at the Sanctuary in the morning before the place opened and we were handed over to a caretaker, the elephants were just coming out of where they stayed for the evenings, they formed a line and started marching towards the open grounds, there were caretakers all around them but the elephants seemed at peace with the company of people.
We waited for them to go into the field before we went to join them and start setting up. At one point I was standing on a old pile of sand waiting for my turn to go on camera, as the elephants got to be in the limelight first, but being wild animals (even though tamed) food was the only way to get them to stand still and sometimes they would wonder off to do something else, they came right up to me and started looking around at the bags and clothing that was laying on the floor. They would take their trunks and curl it around in the air at us and make funny little sounds; sometimes sounding like little bubbles, so full of curiosity! I wasn't quite sure if i could touch them, but I put my hand out for one and she let her hold her trunk a bit before wondering off to find more food.
I was honestly quite nervous about going to stand on ground level with these magnificent creatures, but once I was there the fear evaporated. Elephants are such gentle giants, they are calm and gracious, when they move it is more as if they are gliding across the surface, I was completely unafraid standing in front of an elephant; I just stared into her eyes in awe, her trunk was out asking for food and for a moment we stood in acceptance of each other's presence. How could anyone bring themselves to hurt such a beautiful creature ?
Time will only release more and more animals from their chains but we have begun on the yellow brick road to a world that is less cruel, maybe one day we shall live in a world that regards all creatures as equal and that this cruel world we live in will only be visitable in story tales, I hope I will live to see such a time .
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