Oh right... People seem to forget that most goods have to be tested on animals first. I don't only talk about make-up, who cares about that. I'm talking about medication, maybe the medication that saved your son, your brother, your mother, or even you from certain death! We should put down those doctors who found cures to the worst disease?

Also remember that capital punishment is what humans received to, so I'm pretty sure that it was only fair for the elephant, no?

People also seem to have no compassion for the person who was killed. As far as I know all those people who pity the elephant are the immoral ones. Not even a thought for the trainer? He was not an educated person, he knew what he was doing. He was killed by a beast that in itself was useless to society, while this man probably had a family, a family that needed him to bring bread on their plates (unless the mother also worked). All those people saying 'poor elephant' without any thought for the killed human being are the heartless ones in my eyes.

Nobody will miss the elephant, the killed man will be.

By the way, next time you eat some beef, or any other meat for that matter, think about how much cruelty this animal had to go through, doesn't that bother you? Feasting on the remains of a butchered animal?

Anyway, on with the picture.

I found it amusing, brought a chuckle. It must have been quite a sight in real life, I also appreciate its historical value.

I visit neatorama quite often - for the neat side of the web as one would say. A hung elephant is NOT neat. If I'd like to look at pictures that make me sad, I'd more likely visit rotten dot com. PLEASE stay with the neat side.

This just shows that the humans are the most disturbed of all animals on this earth!

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I am sorry to say but Mary was not the first Elephant to be killed on tour or executed by unusual means.

Folks here have already mentioned Topsy (the Edison elephant) but long before that there was H. Bailey's 'Old Bet' - who was actually one of the first five elephants in the US. Old Bet was shot by a bitter farmer in 1816. The farmer believed it was a sin to spend money on viewing an elephant when that same money could go to the church.

Following that there was the messy execution of Chunee, on display in London. In 1826 soldiers were summoned from Somerset House to shoot Chunee and the animal was shot 152 times with muskets to no avail. The animal bleed out and was finished with a harpoon and sword.

The entire affair was considered quite gastly, and rightfully so. The wails of the dying elephant frightened people for miles and the papers will filled with reports of outrage.

Chunee had also refused to eat poison and her crime was killing a handler as well.

Again, as many people have said, all these events were almost 100 years ago or more. It was a very different moral and ethical time.

And by the way, if you want to kill an elephant with a gun you have to shoot it behind the ear.

Maybe this makes me a bit more callous, but it's hard to deny there is an element of marvel, if tinted with horror, at the sight of humans going through so much to destroy a beautiful creature of nature.

It's not neat, per se, but it does boggle the mind.

That's just sad. I would hope we, as a society, have moved forward since 1916. But you still occasionally see stories of horrific animal cruelty. So maybe we haven't.

A very, very friendly cat that would've made a great addition to our two kitties, but he wasn't ours, and I was very very glad to find the owner.

"Any animal that kills a man must be put down" (a quote by Tim Wells #14): whether you agree or not, this seems to be the policy of animal handling in the US, right? (From the sensational cases of dog mauling, etc.)

Carl: The cat is cute, I wonder what happened to his eye though.

WHOAH whoah whoah rafael, you seem to have completely misunderstood the point of my comment. I do not in any remote sense condone the cruel mistreatment of animals. I merely posted the information because it was completely relevant to the Neatorama post which is in fact "neat" from a historical and curiosity-based perspective. If you want to deny the existence of HISTORY then that is your business but I find what people have done in the past in the name of science not only fascinating but also a grounding for the moral IMPROVEMENT of our conduct as a society towards the future.

Just this morning, literally, I rescued a cat that i found in my parking lot. I could have ignored it. I could have shot it! (if I owned any guns, which I don't). But no. I rescued it and called all over town to various places. Finally someone called back and reported that a cat owner was desperately missing her cat. So I brought the fellow back to her.

Indulge in "sensationalized cruelty" ? I THINK NOT.

By the way, here's a picture of the cat. It only has one eye. He's pretty darn cool and very friendly. His name is Zack:

http://www.carlh.com/images/fuzz_fuzz.jpg

The last post is absolutely on the money.

If it's true, it's sad. Deal with it.