Pink Elephants? Try animal abuse

[Twisterdog]

This is not even CLOSE to animal abuse. Work at a shelter for a while, and you will see REAL abuse.

We will never know if it bothered the elephant a little bit or not. But it most certainly not abuse.

I have heard the same thing about poodles dyed pink ... "Poor dog! That's abuse!" No, it's not even close. Dogs love their new hair styles, actually, because of ALL the attention it brings them. As a groomer, I've seen it time and time again.

[Lady's Human]

There's a difference between dying an animal's fur and applying paint directly to the animal's skin. Dying fur is no different than dying your hair.

[Twisterdog]

There's a difference between dying an animal's fur and applying paint directly to the animal's skin. Dying fur is no different than dying your hair.

True. But painting an animal's skin is no different than applying makeup for Halloween (last year my son was completely green!), for a play or movie, a paintball competition, any number of things.

I wasn't implying painting skin and dying hair are exactly the same thing, I was just giving another example of something that people scream "Abuse!" about, which is NOT abuse.

I'm not saying it's something I would do, or that it's wonderful. But it's NOT abuse. I have personally seen, and we have all heard about, horrible cases of animal torture and abuse, things that I can't even type here without feeling physically ill.

I tend to think, just MHO, that people who are interested in the animal rights/protection fields need to pick their battles. I think the general public hears animal rights groups shouting "Abuse!" about a painted elephant, and roll their eyes and think, "Sheesh, that's a bit of overkill. That's not really abuse." Then when the animal rights groups shout "Abuse!" about something that truly IS abuse, the public is over-exposed and cynical about it, and assumes that whatever is going on isn't really so bad, again. It's the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" syndrome.

I think PETA is a perfect example of this. They "Cry Wolf" over every little perceived violation of an animal's rights, even something as simple as a horse being ridden. The public, for the most part, has discounted and written them off as the "The Sky is Falling" extremist animal rights group. Therefore the good things they do in exposing TRUE abuse gets lost.

Not saying I'd go paint an elephant. But I think there are far, far bigger more serious and exteme cases of animal abuse that need everyone's attention far more than this.

[Lady's Human]

I've been covered in non-toxic body paint for a number of hours, not a fun experience. Ask the army how many soldiers are in dermatology clinics for precisely that reason on a daily basis. There were MANY other options the "artist" could have used to get the same effect, among them being using a fiberglass elephant, or leaving the elephant in it's natural state. When it's just being done to make a statement, there's no reason for it.