European Charities Announce First Circus Elephant Sanctuary

Two animal welfare charities in Europe have announced they plan to open Europe's first sanctuary for former circus elephants.  World Animal Protection and Elephant Haven will open the first facility in Limousin province, central France.  Circuses accross Europe exhibit 100 elephants in shows and they have nowhere to retire in safety.  Visitors will be able to view the elephants from an elevated platform as they roam freely in the sanctuary.  The groups said the idea for the sanctuary came about after the Danish government banned the use of wildlife in circus shows.  Fourteen other European governments have implemented similar ban which will come into effect this year according to the groups.  Elephants undergo intensive and sometimes cruel training to make them "safe" to interact and entertain humans at close range.  The survivors deserve a place to live out their lives at peace in natural surroundings.

In other elephant news:  Bunta, the male patrol elephant, trained to help discourage wild elephants from raiding villager's crops was found dead June 9th with one of his large ivory tusks cut from his cheek.  The cause of death was poisoning, a common tactic of irate villagers and poachers alike.  Bunta was 27 years old.  Bunta's killing is the second elephant death in Sumatra by poachers.  In January another male was found poisoned to death and both tusks hacked off.  Enforcement of laws against harming protected species in Sumatra is lax, and there is little hope that Bunta's killers will be brought to justice for their crime. In the few cases that reach the court system, perpetrators typically receive token sentences or minimal fines.  Bunta lived in the Leuser Ecosystem which is threaten by human encroachment.  Only an estimated 2400 Sumatran elephants, Elephas maximus sumatranus, survive in scattered, fragmented forest habitats across the island.