AR-News: (India) elephants stressed by conditions

[Mary Finelli]

STRESSED ELEPHANTS GET MASSAGES
Agence France-Presse, February 4, 2004

complete article at:
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8582504%255E13762,00.html

Indian wildlife officials have invited a US massage therapist to carry out 
"pioneering" work with stressed-out captive elephants.

Elke Riesterer, who has worked for six years with African elephants at 
Oakland Zoo in California, spent a few hours yesterday at an elephant colony 
on the banks of the river Yamuna that winds its way through the Indian 
capital. She uses a combination of several massage techniques to assess 
animals' stress levels. "It's pioneer work that I do with elephants but I 
feel so strongly that it has made a difference," Riesterer told The Times of 
India newspaper.

"The animals here are far too tense," she told another newspaper, The Hindu. 
"This is mainly because of the conditions they are kept in. Chained to a 
spot with little access to water and food along with long working hours, the 
elephants don't seem to be very happy."

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