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Namaste. Thank you for increasing our awareness of the amazing sensitivity of elephants.

Didj-

how did you print that funny looking swahili-hindi-bindi looking character after the "Elephant feet"

ah, ok
i guess you did a copy and paste from somewhere?

Yes

The human to animal relationship is critical to saving the planet and ourselves. Humans debase themselves by killing animals, eating them, putting them in zoos or circuses, making them beasts of burden or pets. In order to free themselves, humans have to free animals and take the collars off their necks and the chains from their feet. Human destiny is for humans to love each other, not serve their neurotic needs for love by enslaving animals. Give animals the freedom of their own dignity and humans will begin to find their own. Eating animals is the biggest ecological disaster by far, and making pet slaves of them is not far behind. If humans were really interested in stopping global warming, they would stop abusing animals by killing them for food or to meet their needs for affection and control. Cruelty to elephants just scratches the surface of human blindness and arrogance.

Release your pets and stop Global Warming! wow, that's a new one, Dennis.

Actually, the life span of an elephant in the wild is much closer to 70, seventy years on the high end. Those in captivity lose about two decades of life.

Their sense of hearing is one of the most acute of all creatures. They communicate in high and low tones. Some of their low tones are infrasonic, below what we can hear. Giraffe's have this same ability which was discovered by accident relatively recently.

The feet of an elephant can feel very low frequency seismic waves. One theory is that this sound travels through the bone structure of the elephant to the sensitive ear, much like a mechanic that uses a long thin metal cylinder placed on engine component while the engine runs, with the opposite end to his ear, picking up sounds of trouble in the moving part. This ability allows for communication over several miles between elephants, much like whales that can communicate over 3,000 miles through the oceans.

Keeping these elephants in captivity is cruel. I don't care how good you treat them, they are not as healthy or happy as those in the wild.

Tyler, you are attributing something to me which I did not say. I did not say "release your pets." I suggested that giving up the addiction to pets is a long process of raising awareness. The connection between pets and global warming is this: humans have made pets a class of consumers which fuels global warming; pets consume enormous amounts of resources which could be directed to suffering people; pets such as horses are livestock which segue into the devastating problem of livestock on our planet; pets divert attention from genuine people needs; in many cases pets provide compensation for neurotic needs for affection which are better served by people to people relationships; pets negatively affect the decisions of human consciousness which in turn affects global warming. I hope this clarifies the oversimplification of your reading of my post. Love, Dennis.

Hi Dennis - no, of course you didn't say "release your pets" and I didn't quote you, I paraphrased. You did say "humans have to free animals and take the collars off their necks and the chains from their feet" and "Give animals the freedom of their own dignity".

So Dennis, you are saying that dogs and cats should simply not exist? Or are you saying that millions of dogs and cats should roam the world and fend for themselves?

I couldn't disagree more about the benefits of pets to society. They teach young children about gentleness, kindness and companionship. They teach families about death, which children later have to confront as their grandparents and then parents age.

Pets connect people to nature - how many people every day take a long walk or a hike into the mountains that they otherwise would not? That benefits peoples' health AND it connects them to a more natural world.

I personally find myself connecting easier and more quickly to "dog people" - there is a certain warmth, openness and sense of humor in many dog people.

Pets are also incredibly important in the mental health of the elderly. For someone who has lost their family, and perhaps decades of companionship, a pet can be essential in maintaining a spirit and quality of life.

You state "pets consume enormous amounts of resources which could be directed to suffering people." I don't see any sort of connection between the two. If we didn't have pets, people might direct their resources to video games, or robot vacuums or instant messaging. The fact that we have too many suffering people and not enough resources can hardly be attributed to the fact that we have pets.

And regarding this, "pets negatively affect the decisions of human consciousness" - where do you get this? Do you have childhood pet trauma? Was a special pet taken from you, or never given to you? Have you never experienced the joy and love of a pet? If you have, have you made negative decisions because of your pet?

I'm looking forward to the connection between British banking money interests and pets - tie it all together, kind sir.