Back in 2009 an
attempt was made to introduce an AR-inspired
guideline on elephant husbandry "Elephant in the Room" as a standard
protocol in S.Africa - Prof Ted Friend kindly wrote an opinion
for South African circuses. He also cites some interesting studies and papers
he has published on circus animal behaviour.
Dr. Ted Friend
3785 W. Villa
Maria Rd.
Bryan, Texas 77807 U.S.A.
3 June 2009
Mr B. Madikizela
Director,
Regulation and Monitoring
Dept of
Environmental Affairs and Monitoring Services
Re:
Proposed Restrictions for Elephant Management.
Dear Mr Madikizela
I am a professor
of Animal Science at Texas
A&M University, at College Station, Texas. A native of New
York, I received my B.S. degree at Cornell and my M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at
Virginia Tech. I am also a Registered Professional Animal Scientist and a Diplomate of the American College of Applied Behavior Sciences. The Diplomate
certification is the highest certification possible in the Applied Behavior Sciences. I have been conducting behavior and stress-related research on a wide range of
species for over 30 years. Much of my research has been on animal
welfare-related issues and was stimulated by requests
from moderate animal welfare groups. In 1981 I
received the Felix-Wankel International Award
(Germany) for research promoting animal welfare. In 1986
the Animal
Protection Institute
(California) honored me as their Humanitarian of the
Year.
