Abuse of elephants - elephant painting travesty

I thought elephant paintings were cool and interesting and beautiful - until we saw a documentary directed by Tim Gorski and Synthian Sharp - How I Became an Elephant. These elephants, in order to be trained to make these paintings, are basically tortured at the age of 1 year - they are still babies then. They are caged and beaten to the point that they are so spiritually broken they can no longer even recognize their own mothers. In order to continue their training they are beaten with wooden sticks with metal hooks on the ends of them. In this documentary, Synthian Sharp and Tim Gorski's crew follow Juliette West as she explores the treatment of elephants in India. This is horrific. Before riding elephants, giving money to the zoo, or admiring these paintings, you need to know what you're paying for. More links: Synthian Sharp at SpectreWriter (vegetarianism).