“I was a caretaker for monkeys and captive elephants for the Save Elephant Foundation.
Working in an animal ‘retirement home’, hundreds of miles away from civilization, I felt isolated, depressed and lonely. So I spent time talking to the locals.
From them (locals), I realized that these animals (that were saved) were rescued from a barbaric tradition of ‘breaking their spirit’.
The elephants undergo a cruel traumatic process called ‘Phajaan’, which distorts their natural instinct for them to be submissive to humans.
They eventually become working elephants, doing illegal logging, tourist rides, and street begging.
Thats why I feel humans are responsible towards animal aggression.
I repeatedly tell those who come to visit the sanctuary not to feed the monkeys because they will attack.
You see, first we destroy their habitat, secondly we put them in a confined area which we call it ‘home’ for the animals and thirdly we teach them to behave accordingly by shaping them to act like how we want them to be.
Just because animals don’t speak the same language as us does not mean they can’t feel how humans feel.” – Wendi Sia
Photo and story by Kelvin Mah
Edited by Christine C
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(This post was first published on April 4th 2018)
