Well Ingwe, the babies are very value, babies are seldom shot. They are sold to zoos and to circuses. An other horrible thing is happening in Africa but also in Spain. Canned hunting. In Spain, old circus animals are used and shot in a confined area and in South Africa the big cats are shot in a bigger area but also fenced off. And in the States there are canned hunts.These big cats are often bred and are used to people. It is a lie that they will be returned to the wild. And the hunters, in Zimbabwe where poaching has decimated the wildlife, the government allows hunting, even with dogs for 30 pieces of silver.

Watch this dvd and buy the story of the land of the free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUKLFFsiQPk

Nobody knows how much money is made on wild animals and they are leaving us right in front of our eyes. We are blinded by some protected areas but we are there for a few days as tourists. The WWF is not protecting animals, they say they are protecting habitats and are now involved in the so called "global warming swindle". So take them off your list to donate money to protect endangered species.The ADI are doing a good job and find a small organisation that is not using donations for their lifestyle.

Here is the story what the WWF says about canned hunting, I received the same answer....

http://www.cannedlion.org/content/wwf

And here what happened in Zimbabwe with the land invasions, the animal carnage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzpUaiWWhyo

What can we do?

That is very good Katip, that Finland is so strict. I have the dvd "Stop the

suffering" from ADI (animal defenders international) in Portugues and give

it to schools and people who don't believe what happens behind the scenes.

Here is the link to this film and the truth behind the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAf1AKj-izY

In here there is a footage of Victor Cardinali, beating the tusk-less elephant.

Thank you Skelm, it's heartbreaking.

It's also very upsetting to read that these lovely ellies are orphans of animals who were culled.  I always understood that whole herds were removed to reduce the trauma.  If not, and should culling be re-introduced, I do hope that no small elephants would be spared in order to suffer a fate such as the ones you show.

This is a hard truth in many  countries  and  more east you go, the worse it is. Uncivilized, ignorant people do that and it is unforgivable that goverments let circuses to keep wild animals.

We can join to the groups of animal rights and that way try to influence to decision-makers. Personally, when I meet animals which are shown to crowd or offered to be photographed with a prisoned animal, I have always denied and made clear what I think of that. From small streams grow a river!

I am proud to say that here in Finland it is prohibited by law to keep wild animals in circuses. But dogs, cats, tame horses, sea lions are allowed by provincial governments (applying for a permit). They are also keeping on eye on circuses. Then we have a group young people who are looking after animal rights very powerfully. There is always hope of better but we all have to act!

Skelm, thank you for doing this hard but great work! You touch our hearts with the sad photos . It hurts but it makes us also to care.