I was astonished to learn from the zoo public relations officer that no one had contacted them about the hottest elephant story to hit the wires in quite some time. Not a single news source inquired at elephant headquarters for a quote, a view, or even a comment, on the article that ran this month in Science magazine and then was picked up by the worldwide press that zoo elephants don't live as long as their counterparts in the wild do. Their lives are, according to the info, up to 2/3 shorter than their wild brethern.
So whilst I was outlining my project to her and trying to set up some interviews with those in the know, I said, off-handedly, "I guess you must be flooded with calls about the elephant research that was just published." That's when she dropped the bomb that Roger Williams Park Zoo was apparently off the radar for any local news sources. And she appeared steamed.
"Those studies were based on 50 year old data from European zoos with outdated practices. We don't follow them any more. And they ignored the poaching factor." I could sympathise. I had read several news accounts that were forwarded to me by friends who ran across the info. I followed the hearings in LA about the controversial Asian elephant breeding program there. It seemed as though zoos were getting an unecessarily raw deal if the data was that skewed.
So I went to a few websites, and am hunting down the original to see what they really said.
In the meantime, I've been setting up interviews with more folks and getting a skeleton crew together for the project. I believe I have a shooter who will work for what I can afford to pay at this point, and a volunteer PA. Sweet. If we can work well together this will be the most satifying thing I've done yet.
More as life develops...
12.22.2008
12.15.2008
A Passion for Pachyderms
The one thing that strikes me every time I talk to anyone about this project is their obvious passion about protecting elephants. The most unlikely suspects jump when I say- "Elephants in Rhode Island".
Take today for example. I ran across a reference to a former student (now professional cinematographer) from RISD who had done a student film project on Pawtucket's Fanny the Elephant. Frustrated by the lack of contact info on said movie-maker (Tsuyoshi Kimoto), I called his former English teacher who'd written the original article that led me to him. Michael Fink turned out to be a treasure trove. He pointed me to possible sources for the film and others who were involved in the whole Brouhaha in the early 1990s. Then he riffed on his own fascination with elephants in Rhode Island.
He had, it seems, grown up next to the stadium where the pachyderms were unloaded at circus time. They were (it seems) much less tightly guarded then than they are now, because they would lumber occasionally into his and his neighbors' yards. He got to pet them and shoot (photograph) them at will. And I'll get to see his pix someday soon. After talking elephant philosophy for a while, we agreed to meet soon and he'll reveal all on camera for me.
In the meantime, I plow through newspapers, books and films. And am inquiring into additional funding. I know I should be more aggressive and inventive here, but for some reason, I'm stuck on that end of it.
More as life and film progress.
Take today for example. I ran across a reference to a former student (now professional cinematographer) from RISD who had done a student film project on Pawtucket's Fanny the Elephant. Frustrated by the lack of contact info on said movie-maker (Tsuyoshi Kimoto), I called his former English teacher who'd written the original article that led me to him. Michael Fink turned out to be a treasure trove. He pointed me to possible sources for the film and others who were involved in the whole Brouhaha in the early 1990s. Then he riffed on his own fascination with elephants in Rhode Island.
He had, it seems, grown up next to the stadium where the pachyderms were unloaded at circus time. They were (it seems) much less tightly guarded then than they are now, because they would lumber occasionally into his and his neighbors' yards. He got to pet them and shoot (photograph) them at will. And I'll get to see his pix someday soon. After talking elephant philosophy for a while, we agreed to meet soon and he'll reveal all on camera for me.
In the meantime, I plow through newspapers, books and films. And am inquiring into additional funding. I know I should be more aggressive and inventive here, but for some reason, I'm stuck on that end of it.
More as life and film progress.
12.08.2008
Laws and such
I talked to RI Representative Raymond Gallison today. He wrote and sponsored two bills in the legislature "Relating to Cruelty to Animals". It was a revelation.
The first bill, in 2005 aimed to ban animal circuses in the state because of their dreadful record of cruelty to their charges- specifically elephants. Gallison said he was spurred to present the bills because he had worked at the Civic Center and watched circus people mistreat the pachyderms by whipping them in the joints and dragging them with bullhooks in their mouths. That stuck in his craw for a long time, and then, when a "petting zoo" came to Warwick in 2004 and the people who went to it were pretty universally appalled at the bad treatment the riding elephant received and he saw the same folks set up the next day in Warren, he decided he had to do something to relieve the elephant's plight. There was a lot of action on the 2005 bill, with a lot of resistance from other reps who didn't want to stand against such a kid-centered activity as the circus coming to town. By the time Gallison and his co-sponsor, Charlene Lima, presented a similar, but less specific, bill to committee in 2006, the issue was basically dead. It sat until the end of session and demised in a drawer. We talked about upcoming options in 2009.
So far, I've found that these weren't the first anti-cruelty laws on the books in the state. The first I could dig up was in effect from 1857-72. It was pretty specific as to who deserved the thumbs down for various crimes against animals, and their punishement was clear, too. "for every such offense," the law read "[law breakers] shall be punsihed by imprisonment in jail or State work house, or house of correction, not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding two hundred and fifity dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment". An updating of the statues in 1956 were much more extensive, but held a lot of the same provissions.
I also talked to a friend who'd spent her Peace Corps years in Africa. She said she loved going to the game reserves and watching the elephants in their natural habitat. "Majestic. Awe-inspiring. But when I came back to the states and saw them in their tiny zoo enclosures and took my kids to the circus, it broke my heart," she said.
More as things progress...
The first bill, in 2005 aimed to ban animal circuses in the state because of their dreadful record of cruelty to their charges- specifically elephants. Gallison said he was spurred to present the bills because he had worked at the Civic Center and watched circus people mistreat the pachyderms by whipping them in the joints and dragging them with bullhooks in their mouths. That stuck in his craw for a long time, and then, when a "petting zoo" came to Warwick in 2004 and the people who went to it were pretty universally appalled at the bad treatment the riding elephant received and he saw the same folks set up the next day in Warren, he decided he had to do something to relieve the elephant's plight. There was a lot of action on the 2005 bill, with a lot of resistance from other reps who didn't want to stand against such a kid-centered activity as the circus coming to town. By the time Gallison and his co-sponsor, Charlene Lima, presented a similar, but less specific, bill to committee in 2006, the issue was basically dead. It sat until the end of session and demised in a drawer. We talked about upcoming options in 2009.
So far, I've found that these weren't the first anti-cruelty laws on the books in the state. The first I could dig up was in effect from 1857-72. It was pretty specific as to who deserved the thumbs down for various crimes against animals, and their punishement was clear, too. "for every such offense," the law read "[law breakers] shall be punsihed by imprisonment in jail or State work house, or house of correction, not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding two hundred and fifity dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment". An updating of the statues in 1956 were much more extensive, but held a lot of the same provissions.
I also talked to a friend who'd spent her Peace Corps years in Africa. She said she loved going to the game reserves and watching the elephants in their natural habitat. "Majestic. Awe-inspiring. But when I came back to the states and saw them in their tiny zoo enclosures and took my kids to the circus, it broke my heart," she said.
More as things progress...
12.03.2008
A grant and some questions
So the RI Council on the Humanities has given the nod to a research grant for Elephants! I'm really energized, because this means that others see the value behind the project and it's not just my own personal quirk that keeps it going. So after a month of holding my breath, I now feel ready to plunge into the world of elephants, their keepers and those who love them.
I have to admit, though, that after watching plenty of footage on the mistreatment of elephants in circuses on Youtube, etc., I am a little anxious about what this whole thing is going to do to me. Will I find it so painful I won't be able to continue? Unlikely. After all- this is about the elephants, and about our relationship to them in the microcosm that is Rhode Island. If by making this doc I can increase awareness of the elephants' plight, fab. If not- at least I can keep them on the radar. That's my job. I'm not making a "save the elephants" doc. I'm telling/showing history.
A few driving questions at this point:
Where is Betty buried?
Has anyone ever found the burial place of Tarza- a famous elephant that died of cancer in Providence?
Is AI good for elephants?
Why do we love elephants so?
And, by the bye- why didn't mastodons and mammoths hang around Rhode Island in the first place?
More as things progress....
I have to admit, though, that after watching plenty of footage on the mistreatment of elephants in circuses on Youtube, etc., I am a little anxious about what this whole thing is going to do to me. Will I find it so painful I won't be able to continue? Unlikely. After all- this is about the elephants, and about our relationship to them in the microcosm that is Rhode Island. If by making this doc I can increase awareness of the elephants' plight, fab. If not- at least I can keep them on the radar. That's my job. I'm not making a "save the elephants" doc. I'm telling/showing history.
A few driving questions at this point:
Where is Betty buried?
Has anyone ever found the burial place of Tarza- a famous elephant that died of cancer in Providence?
Is AI good for elephants?
Why do we love elephants so?
And, by the bye- why didn't mastodons and mammoths hang around Rhode Island in the first place?
More as things progress....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
