Elephant handler admits abuse

2003-02-03 23:30

Pretoria - Student elephant handler Wayne Stockigt told a court on Monday that he did not think it was cruel to hit an elephant, whether it be with a stick or a fist.

He admitted to a televised video showing him beating an elephant with a broken broomstick, but said he had been taught to do so by expert Indonesian handlers to discipline elephants.

Stockigt was testifying in the Pretoria Regional Court where he is standing trial for allegedly maltreating 30 Tuli elephants brought to a farm near Brits from Botswana in 1998.

Stockigt and his co-accused, Riccardo Ghiazza, who bought the elephants, have pleaded not guilty to four counts of contravening the Animal Protection Act. Ghiazza has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of training animals without a licence.

Under cross-examination Stockigt said he would normally have used a lot less force in delivering the blows.

In the incident on video, Stockigt testified he hit the elephant to punish it when it ignored verbal warnings to stand still to be shackled. He hit the elephant again when it jerked its restraining ear-rope from his hand and pushed him with its forehead.

Stockigt could not remember other incidents in which he was accused of hitting elephants, but told the court that if these had taken place, they would not have occurred without a reason.

He, however, denied ever hitting an elephant on its forehead with his fist even though he had seen mahouts do so from time to time.

Magistrate Adriaan Bekker postponed the case until Thursday.

- SAPA