An animal minder has been secretly filmed in the U.K. repeatedly hitting a 57-year-old Asian elephant with a metal pitchfork and kicking the circus animal, prompting an investigation by police and an animal rights group.
Northamptonshire police and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals are looking into covert footage taken by Animal Defenders International, The Guardian reports.
"We are appalled and shocked by the scenes contained in the video and will be investigating what is shown," the society said on its website.
ADI said it filmed Annie the elephant being hit with the pitchfork and kicked in the face and body 48 times while leg chains kept her from fleeing from the beatings in the winter quarters of the Bobby Roberts Super Circus.
The group said it used a remote camera showing the inside of a barn. It said it filmed 516 hours, including periods at night when nothing can be seen, between Jan. 21 and Feb. 15.
ADI said the video, released over the weekend, shows Annie is suffering.
"It is clear from the speed and ferocity of the swings that the blows are intended to cause pain and intimidation, and you can tell from Anne's posture and behavior that she is feeling the pain, and tries to avoid it," the group said on its website. "She is clearly stressed and suffering. Unfortunately she cannot move away, as she is chained to the spot, which makes this situation all the more barbaric. "
The circus said in a statement to The Guardian that the case "appears to be isolated" and happened when circus owner Bobby Roberts was not there.
Roberts' wife, Moira, said the man responsible was a Romanian groom who has since left the circus, the paper said.
"We wish we had been given the opportunity to prosecute him and hand him over to the police," she told the paper, adding that the couple felt "shock and horror" when they saw the video.
ADI's chief executive, Jan Creamer, asked the circus to let the group care for Annie.
"We have a terrific network of sanctuary contacts throughout the world and are very experienced at animal rescue, re-homing and relocation, so we now appeal to Mr. Roberts to do the decent thing and hand Annie over to us,"he said on the group's website.
"Let us now give Annie the properretirement that she now so richly deserves, where she will have space to be free and act like an elephant, as nature intended," he said.
Northamptonshire police and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals are looking into covert footage taken by Animal Defenders International, The Guardian reports.
"We are appalled and shocked by the scenes contained in the video and will be investigating what is shown," the society said on its website.
ADI said it filmed Annie the elephant being hit with the pitchfork and kicked in the face and body 48 times while leg chains kept her from fleeing from the beatings in the winter quarters of the Bobby Roberts Super Circus.
The group said it used a remote camera showing the inside of a barn. It said it filmed 516 hours, including periods at night when nothing can be seen, between Jan. 21 and Feb. 15.
ADI said the video, released over the weekend, shows Annie is suffering.
"It is clear from the speed and ferocity of the swings that the blows are intended to cause pain and intimidation, and you can tell from Anne's posture and behavior that she is feeling the pain, and tries to avoid it," the group said on its website. "She is clearly stressed and suffering. Unfortunately she cannot move away, as she is chained to the spot, which makes this situation all the more barbaric. "
The circus said in a statement to The Guardian that the case "appears to be isolated" and happened when circus owner Bobby Roberts was not there.
Roberts' wife, Moira, said the man responsible was a Romanian groom who has since left the circus, the paper said.
"We wish we had been given the opportunity to prosecute him and hand him over to the police," she told the paper, adding that the couple felt "shock and horror" when they saw the video.
ADI's chief executive, Jan Creamer, asked the circus to let the group care for Annie.
"We have a terrific network of sanctuary contacts throughout the world and are very experienced at animal rescue, re-homing and relocation, so we now appeal to Mr. Roberts to do the decent thing and hand Annie over to us,"he said on the group's website.
"Let us now give Annie the proper
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