An Apology to Elephants

This affecting story is difficult to watch, what with painful scenes of humans beating, prodding, and otherwise coercing these gentle giants into submission. The video clips were chosen to appeal to your sense of decency, and you'll likely walk away feeling sick over abuse you may or may not have known existed. You'll learn about elephants torn from their mothers, kept in small crates, and subjected to painful practices that force them into unnatural behavior. Animal experts weigh in on the need to protect elephants in the wild, calling up their importance to their local ecologies and their vulnerability to poaching practices. Ultimately, if it makes you think twice about buying a ticket to the circus or visiting the elephant exhibit at your local zoo, then it's achieved its goal.

But the story doesn't focus solely on the bad. It also spotlights two projects -- The Oakland Zoo and the Performing Animals Welfare Society -- that are going against the tide, catering to elephants' natural instincts and needs, and reaping the benefits of the animals' improved emotional health. These segments are no less moving than are the accounts of abuse, but they do offer some hope for the future of elephants both in the wild and in captivity. The bottom line? This important story is well worth watching, but the nature of the content is too much for all but the sturdiest teens and adults.