The following is copy of a letter I have sent to Cape and Islands Sen. Dan Wolf:

It has come to my attention that you will be discussing Monday a bill (S1626), to reduce abuse and torture to elephants in our great state. I urge you to support this bill. These amazing and sensitive animals are routinely tortured just by the fact that they are in captivity rather than roaming great territories; they are usually isolated in captivity when in fact they are extremely social animals. Like any wild animal they will only perform a human command if under extreme duress. The duress being the fear of being tortured. They know this fear because they have been tortured in the training process. This bill addresses two types of torture routinely used by circuses such as Barnum and Bailey, carnivals, the film industry, the advertising industry, businesses that offer elephant rides, etc. I believe that the entire wild animal industry should be better regulated and made far more humane. This bill is an important step forward for Massachusetts.

Thank you for your consideration.

To read about the bill go to malegislature.gov, bill #S1626.

For more about how elephants are trained and routinely mistreated in the name of entertainment, go to peta.org.

Suzanna Nickerson
Edgartown