Mainly because I saw Water for Elephants Friday afternoon, I’ve been thinking a lot about animals and when species meet. If you’re familiar with the movie or the book by Sara Gruen, then you’ll be familiar with the relationship between Jacob, an almost-vet who leaves Cornell after his parents die, and Rosie, a circus elephant who is thought to be un-trainable but is far more intelligent than her previous owners know. I thought this might be a good starting point to tie some things together and, behold, PETA didn’t let me down.
PETA has a series of articles about the treatment of circus animals, some which can be seen here: http://www.peta.org/features/ringling-bros-elephantgate.aspx. I found some photos of ads for boycotting circuses and, despite the over-dramatization of the ads and edging on cheesiness, I instantly felt mournful and found myself thinking of Rosie the elephant from the book/film. Despite the fact that PETA sights no outside sources or even where they got their information from, I admit that PETA’s won me over on this. Generally, I don’t like PETA (especially how they go about presenting their ads and information) and I’ve been to plenty of circuses in my youth (my father grew up in the “circus capital of the world” – Peru, Indiana, which used to be the winter headquarters for Ringling Brothers, among other circuses, thus I’ve seen several shows there) but still I find myself agreeing with them. Partly because of my love of the character Rosie and recent watching of Water for Elephants, but also because elephants are just awesome.
That’s where the dolphin project comes in. I really like that there was a focus on human interest in dolphins, especially as I was a dolphin fan girl when I was little. There’s something about certain animals that just fascinate and captivate us and, no matter what, we still feel some sort of connection with them (why else would we find a cat and a dolphin meeting so utterly adorable?) When animals start showing how intelligent they are, I feel like we develop a new sort of bond with them – a connection that may be comforting for some and terrifying for others. Yes, it’s very possible that dolphins are just as intelligent than us, or even more intelligent. While some find it scary that we may not be at the top of the animal kingdom, I think it’s incredibly awesome. If we were the only creatures capable of complex thought, I think that’d be a rather dull world. And it would certainly make me feel really dumb for talking to my roommate’s cat.
However, I feel like this gets really complicated when PETA gets involved. Though I’m sure they mean well, they seem to go a bit overboard with humans and animals being similar. Yes, I think dolphins and elephants are very cool and very intelligent. But when you put band-aids on a cartoon elephant to tell me to support animal rights, things get messy. Elephants can’t wear band-aids! I thought to myself as I looked at the picture for a second time. And yet I still feel moved my the image, much like I still feel moved when I see the silly cartoon of the polar bear from An Inconvenient Truth.
PETA, in a slightly evil sort of way, is genius in their ad campaign. They hone in on animal rights through attributing human-like qualities to animals and grim circus imagery that instantly reminds me of August from Water for Elephants. This all leaves me in a sort of identity crisis – I like circuses, but I also love animals. Can I be a fan of both? PETA says no. But I’m also no fan of PETA, for reasons the group presenting covered really well (in short, using naked super models in ads and pouring blood on people who wear fur really makes me dislike them). And though I’m sure, in the end, PETA wants me to identify with their group, to feel part of their campaign for animals. Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t quite turn out that way. I still identify more towards dolphins and elephants, as human or not human as they may be. Yes, I over-romanticize animals; it’s probably kind of strange. But there’s something really spectacular about different species meeting that I can’t get over – whether it’s the cat and the dolphin video we saw in class or Jacob and Rosie from Gruen’s book. There’s plenty on PETA’s website about animals – but not much about humans and animals. Maybe if that was more of their focus, they’d have a more positive impact with their campaign.
Elephants are an animal I have always been fascinated by as well. They are one of very few other mammals who actually mourn their dead, even revisiting grave sites years later.
ReplyDeletehttp://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/09/03/toronto-zoo-and-its-elephants-mourn-tequila.aspx
As a kid I went to the circus too, and I even rode an elephant at the Renaissance fair. Looking back on it, the way we try to "connect" with animals seems all wrong. So often we try to humanize animals for our own sake. You are right, Peta does leverage this to try and spin things around and as usual their efforts are misguided. It's too bad because an organization of it's size could really be making a more positive impact, without all the drama.