Baby has died: chronicle of an abject abandonment
Baby, an African elephant captured in the wild as a calf, for whom One Voice has fought for two decades, died yesterday at the Belvédère Zoo in Tunis. After more than thirty years of abuse and political failings, her death is no accident: it is the result of a system that sacrifices wild animals amid a general indifference.
A stolen life of boundless cruelty
Baby was only two years old in 1985 when she was torn from her family on the African savannah. Like so many other baby elephants, she was captured to feed the entertainment industry. From then on, her life was no longer her own.
Baby was trained, violently, by Gilbert Yeuk Bauer, to endure all forms of humiliation: degrading circus acts, film shoots, television shows, commercials, commercial events and private events. Rented out like an object, presented everywhere as a veritable
freak show, for anything and everything, Baby never knew any respect, let alone freedom. When she was not being exhibited, she was locked up in the darkness of a circus truck. She was spared nothing. Alerts ignored, responsibilities evaded
Since 2005, One Voice has been following Baby’s ordeal. Investigations, reports, legal action, offers to take her into a sanctuary: everything has been tried. Convictions were obtained against her trainer. However, Baby was never taken away
from him. The authorities let it happen.
In 2023, her operator got rid of her by sending her to a Tunisian zoo, without any
intervention from the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. This transfer felt like an
additional sentence, far from prying eyes and from responsibilities.
The Belvédère Zoo: the final prison
In the summer of 2023, One Voice visited the Belvédère Zoo in Tunisia. This place is known for its serious shortcomings: in 2017, for example, a crocodile was killed by stones thrown by visitors.
Baby was surviving there alone, even though elephants are deeply social animals. She was suffering from serious leg problems and was not receiving appropriate care. Permanently exposed to the public, she was subjected to intrusions, littering, and
inappropriate food given to her by visitors who crossed the barriers.
Baby’s death is the result of political choices, administrative failings and a system that continues to tolerate the exploitation of wild animals by circus trainers. Her death forces us to face up to what the entertainment and captivity industry does to animals.
We refuse to allow others to suffer the same fate, like the hippopotamus Jumbo who is soon to be the next victim.
Baby is dead: chronicle of an abject abandonment
Baby, an elephant exploited throughout her life, has died in Tunis. A symbol of a
complicit system, the French authorities abandoned her.