#236: The Real Elephants

Does viewing elephants in a zoo turn them into mere objects?

A little over a month ago, I wrote a blog post about the ornamental elephants sitting on my bookshelf. I wrote that I didn’t think I was likely to see real elephants any time soon, and I wondered what the most ethical way of doing so might be. I didn’t realise I would soon see a total of five elephants at Chester Zoo.

Of course, elephants are not objects, so perhaps I am stretching the focus of this blog by writing about them, but I would like to respond and expand on the comments of my previous elephant-related blog post in light of this new experience. Before, I considered the objectifying effect of placing animals in a zoo for the amusement of tourists. Now, after standing before elephants, watching them eat, play and bathe, I’m torn as to whether this effect is true.

The elephants were the first animals we saw upon entering the zoo. We wandered round the corner and there they were, in a sandy enclosure, tugging down food with their dextrous trunks. I had barely come to terms with the fact there were elephants standing mere metres away from me, when I realised there were also not one, but two baby elephants in the enclosure.

I felt like a child again. There was an amazing, unthinking, uninhibited joy at seeing these creatures so close and so real. I couldn’t help but smile. We watched them eat and play and poop, and then moved on to the many other animals in the zoo. Even as we came to the end of our trip, even after seeing an endless list of impressive creatures — cheetahs, orangutans, lions — I was still desperate to see the elephants again, and felt a childish disappointment when I saw they had all gone inside for the night.

I can conclude, then, that those elephants were far more than just the “animated object” I thought they would become through the eyes of a tourist.

And yet, what were those elephants gaining from having me watch them? Did I once consider what this experience would be like through their eyes? I was so preoccupied by their majestic stance, the antics of the calves, and the flexibility of their trunks, that I didn’t once wonder if they minded me watching.

After stepping away from the enclosure, the ethical questions came flooding back. Chester Zoo does a lot to ensure it uses tourism to benefit conservation efforts, whether that’s raising awareness of their current palm oil campaign or gathering extra donations from their guests for wildlife projects. Even the act of going to the zoo can help a member of the public become more aware of conservation issues, and most of the zoo’s animals are, to some extent, endangered, and therefore somewhat justified in being kept out of the wild.

Do these benefits justify the problematic aspects of keeping wild animals in unnatural conditions? Can I justify the enjoyment I took in watching these creatures, detached from their own experiences of the world?

Whether or not I ethically should have, it’s true that I really enjoyed our day at the zoo. And that seeing elephants playing right in front of me was something I couldn’t have experienced in any other way. To be fully immersed in watching something that is standing metres away from you, rather than through a screen, is a luxury we don’t often appreciate today, and one I feel lucky to have had.

And so, as you can tell, I am torn. Perhaps I did turn those elephants into an object for my own enjoyment, but I did also really enjoy it...

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Eleanor is a writer using her skills in overthinking to write a weekly blog post about everyday objects. To read more, check out her blog Object, a collaboration with fellow Medium blogger Katie.