Elephant Cruelty: What is it and how do we stop it?
Elephants are animals known throughout the world and are important in many different cultures. Elephants are animals with feelings and emotions similar to humans, which is rare for any type of animal. Elephants are also thought of as beautiful creatures which many people all over the globe admire. So why is it that we hurt the things that are most beautiful?
Elephants are being poached for their tusks, abused for entertainment through circuses and zoos. The way elephants are being trained for circuses and zoos is inhuman and includes chaining their legs together, leaving them in a confined pen for extended periods of time, and beating them with bull hooks. This particular topic is a sensitive one that could result badly for these zoo and circus owners, this is why these cruel acts are trying to be hidden from the public. This is why we need to bring all the attention to it that it can get to end these horrible crimes.
Working Hypothesis 1
Elephant abuse is something that happens every day in multiple countries across the globe. Elephants are being abused in circuses and zoos. They are also being hunted and killed for their beautiful tusks. This crime has been hidden from the public and needs to be addressed.
Working Hypothesis 2
A possibility is the poachers may harvest the tusks without killing or injuring the elephant. Or how elephant’s participation in zoos and circuses could be changed so that they are trained in a more docile humane way.
Topics for smaller papers
Why elephant tusks are being hunted?
What makes the tusks so valuable, what really goes into retrieving them, and how it injures the animal
The “training” process
This topic would involve the process in which elephants are captured and chosen for the circus. How the circuses and zoos go about retrieving them from their habitat, and the methods used in making them docile show animals. Also includes how trainers claim positive reinforcement and how they misconstrue that term.
What makes it different than training a dog? (Rebuttal)
Elephants are not the first animal to be brought from the wild and trained to be docile friendly animals. We do it all the time with dogs, birds, lizards, and plenty more. If the owner of the elephant purchases the animal, it should be his or her right to train the animal how he or she pleases.
How does the abuse affect the elephants
This would involve researching the physical pain and injuries that this kind of abuse places on elephants. It would also examine the different emotional characteristics elephants contain and how they are damaged or affected by abuse.
Current State of the Research Paper
I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with this whole research and blog process for my paper. I am not used to doing all these different steps prior to writing my paper so that is why I think it is overwhelming me. In the long run I think this will benefit my paper. I’m also struggling with putting all my resources into one argument. I am very passionate about my topic and eager to research some more and develop my ideas further! I still have a lot of research and reading to do to back up my argument
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Counterintuitive Spring 2024 
feedback requested
Feedback provided. —DSH
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Hey, skyblue. Let’s see what we have here.
P1. Interesting. When I read your “title,” I thought to myself, “Those aren’t quite the questions that interest me. I’m more curious to find out how we could possibly allow ourselves to be cruel to them.” So I’m not surprised that’s your real question. Why do we hurt them? One imagines that whatever use they’re put to, we should be able to find a humane way to accomplish the same goal; therefore, the economic or intellectual explanations for the ill-treatment are worth examining.
To me, that’s a hypothesis. Elephants are too obviously awesome to harm. There must be an explanation (or several) for our ill-treatment of them. Let’s examine it (or them) with the goal of finding alternatives to the abuse.
P2. So, are these the primary types of abuse? Or are they the only types you’ve discovered so far? You should devote more than a sentence to the tusks problem. In fact, it deserves a paragraph of its own, even in an early White Paper, because it is so clearly a topic distinct from the entertainment problem.
Are you sure the chaining and the pen confinement are part of the training? Your sentence says so, but it’s a dubious claim.
Grammar quirks:
—a topic can’t result badly
—no cruel acts try to be hidden
It’s a peculiar causal claim that we need to bring attention to a problem because it’s being hidden. The hiding doesn’t create the urgency. The problem is urgent. Therefore, it’s important that we bring attention to it. We will have trouble making it public BECAUSE the zoo owners want to hide it. See the difference?
WH1. Is any of this hypothetical, skyblue? Two things occur to me. 1) It’s not the taking of the tusks that is the elephants’ real problem. It’s the killing of the elephants to remove their tusks that really disturbs them. So, what’s the explanation for why they have to die? 2) Handling animals, even show dogs for the Westminster Dog Show, involves reward and dissuasion. You may object to any sort of training if you wish, or you may draw a line for yourself. Both are more debatable than wanting to “eliminate abuse.” Of course, everybody would agree with that.
WH2. Yeah, more like that. You don’t really need WH1 at all. Maybe you thought you needed to show me two. You probably should. But this one is easy to separate into more complex hypotheses, making it hands down the better choice.
—China holds the answer to the ivory question.
—Yes, indeed, the issue of the humaneness of training is crucial.
—(It may be arguable that no confinement of animals for our enjoyment is humane. You should examine that argument, for support, or for rebuttal.)
—I like the dog-training analogy. Analogies are excellent sources of richness for arguments.
Current State
Relax, skyblue. You’re right. In the long run, all this process will have real benefits. Don’t worry yet about trying to “fit” sources in. The more you WRITE, the more your writing will guide your thinking, which will direct your argument. The sources will come in handy just when you need them.
Let me know if you find this helpful or still feel helpless.
Awaiting your reactions.
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I appreciate your detailed feedback and I am sure it will be helpful in developing my paper. Thank you
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My pleasure, skyblue. You work hard, care about the process, and deserve the help. I’m very glad you found a topic you’re passionate about. The writing will benefit from your engagement.
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