For Baby, we will not let go

Like Tania, Baby is an African elephant. Both are over thirty and both were taken when they were just baby elephants after those they loved. Where does Baby come from, exactly? From Kenya, like Tania? From Zimbabwe, a country that used to sell baby elephants? We ignore it. What we do know, however, is that Baby has a broken left hind paw. She is disabled. We saved her, in Africa, she would not have survived with her handicap, we are told. This means that Baby has been injured since childhood. Because of the lack of money, we were unable to treat her, but she is very well and does not suffer.

Do not suffer? Living for 30 years with a broken leg, and it's not much? Being obliged, on a regular basis, to perform circus acts, to parade around the city, to be rented to agencies for advertising spots or photo sessions ... Today, Baby has taken over from Dumba, at the circus of Paris. And believe it, we are outraged. When Dumba was present in France, the elephant was at the heart of the controversies. She performed numbers unworthy of an elephant, walking a dog, playing ball and forcing him to make selfies with visitors. Dumba was thin and stereotyped. It was unthinkable that the Paris circus could hire an elephant again, and yet ... Baby is there.

Baby no longer takes selfies with visitors at the end of the issue, as Dumba did before her or as she herself did at the Saint Léger park. On the other hand, the numbers are always as ridiculous since Baby must wear his trainer on his tusks, take postures on a stool and pose for photos. During its representation, Baby keeps its trunk well in height. And outside the show? Baby wouldn't be visible. She is hidden, almost all the time, according to a whistleblower, in her trailer. Could it be to avoid the same scandals as in the past?

Now is too much. We remain available to exchange with her trainer, but we ask for the final placement of Baby in a fixed place and without show. In addition, Baby lives alone, without its kind, like Tania and Dumba. We therefore ask, like Tania, for her placement in a sanctuary where she can rub shoulders with other elephants. Wouldn't that be the best gift? After all, it is the man who stole his life as an elephant in Africa, so it is up to us to offer him the opportunity to find her, if only the minimum.