Watch this elephant, rescued from abusive treatment in Burma, now paint an amazing self portrait. You'll be amazed at how his talent unfolds.
So touched by their horrific backgrounds and loving personalities, ExoticWorldGifts.com now supports, "Starving Elephant Artisans" by selling their paintings so they can continue to have a new life in Thailand.
P. D. and J. ...with a special appearance by H
4 comments:
Forgot to mention Kindle found this first and showed it to me. * Fascinating *
Interesting, but probably not "heartwarming." According to http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_elephant_painting.htm,
"the video is real, but it's important to note that the elephant painting this self-portrait... has been painstakingly trained to produce this image, and may even be receiving off-camera hand or voice directions."
It'd be heartwarming if such training were accomplished without any selective starvation, negative feedback, or implicit threats. But it's not really the elephant's "artistic" expression so much as a learned set of instructions.
So as I say, it's "interesting" but perhaps instructive beyond that.
Well, naysayer (Dave), I believe this elephant had been rescued from brutal treatment, so I don't think they were using torture to produce the painting. And yes, it was not the original inspiration of the artist himself, but I am just impressed an elephant COULD be trained to paint a picture with such careful attention. I guess that was the heartwarming part, to me.
And, it's probably a better way to spend your day than cramming people on your back and walking in circles until they get their 4,500 kyat's worth.
I would argue that while situations such as these are not ideal, they are beneficial in some way. It's sad that people have to go to zoos to see wild animals, and it can't be much of a life for the residents of the zoo. BUT, how else will Americans, who rarely travel outside the confines of the States as it is, learn to appreciate what nature has to offer? And in terms of the painting elephants, at least they are raising money for a good cause. Or, at least I think they are. I only read headlines, but one of the sites I came across* said that money was donated to the National Elephant Institute with each painting purchase. And in this case, I believe they donate money to rescue other elephants? I should probably research this more before clicking "publish" but, meh.
*Actually, Jenn came across it, but I just took credit.
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