BELLE VUE MEMORIES
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THIS IS THE DAY AGE 10, WHEN I REALISED THE CAPACITY FOR 'CRUELTY' OF HUMAN BEINGS. IN THE ELEPHANT HOUSE AT BELLE VUE ZOO MANCHESTER THERE WERE THREE ELEPHANTS IN CAGES IN A ROW. THEY WERE STOOD FACING THE GAWPING PEOPLE. THEY HAD ONE FOOT 'CHAINED' TO THE FLOOR SO THEY COULD NOT MOVE. THE CAGES WERE SO SMALL THEY COULD NOT TURN AROUND, AND THEY HAD TO BE PULLED OUT BACKWARDS. I WATCHED AS THEY SWUNG THEIR HEADS FROM SIDE TO SIDE IN OBVIOUS DISTRESS. BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH, FOR HOURS ON END. A FEW YEARS LATER I ASKED A MAN AT THE ZOO WHY THEY KEPT THE ELIPHANTS AND OTHER LARGE ANIMALS IN THOSE CAGES INSTEAD OF LEAVING THEM IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT. HE TOLD ME IT WAS 'EDUCATIONAL ???