http://www.annaandkristina.com/working-with-elephants/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=working-with-elephants The Shopping Bags, Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic, share product tests, shopping tips, and top picks on everything from mascara to the family car. Find out which products get the A and K Stamp of Approval! Wed, 04 Dec 2013 01:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.1 http://www.annaandkristina.com/working-with-elephants/#comment-1172 Fri, 01 Nov 2013 22:11:00 +0000 http://www.annaandkristina.com/?p=9667#comment-1172 Thanks Lulu. Some great advice here.

]]> http://www.annaandkristina.com/working-with-elephants/#comment-1166 Thu, 31 Oct 2013 23:27:00 +0000 http://www.annaandkristina.com/?p=9667#comment-1166 Hi There. I just wanted add a few things to this. Rosemary is an acquaintance of mine; we met through our mutual love of elephants and where she has worked with elephants in Asia, I have done so for 3 1/2 years in South Africa. I just wanted to stress that I do not promote the practice of elephant rides and like Rosemary, I prefer to observe them, however, it must be pointed out that not all elephants are trained through beating and abuse; good facilities will train the elephants through the use of positive reinforcement using food and verbal rewards. which can be extremely effective. With this said, it is not always difficult for one from the outside to know which facilities are good and which ones aren’t, and if one simply takes the time to really observe them, both you and the elephant will get more out of it. If people are looking to volunteer in South Africa, AERU, the African Elephant Research Unit accepts volunteers from 2 weeks to 3 months. If one really wants to get the chance to truly start to learn about the elephants, a month or more is recommended. Volunteers get involved in cleaning up after the elephants, preparing food, preparing enrichments, tending the elephant’s garden and most importantly, assisting the research unit in ongoing behavioral research.

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