Woman Does Pull-Ups On An Elephant’s Tusks, Sparking Outrage

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There are times when we may do something that we feel is perfectly innocent but when we share it online, we quickly find out how other people feel about it. A gym owner named Emma Roberts discovered this when she shared a video as she did pull-ups using an elephant’s tusks. It took place in Adventures with Elephants sanctuary in South Africa.

People around the world were furious at her actions, but in her estimation, she was sharing an “amazing moment” and did not feel that it was cruel in any way. After journalist Yashir Ali posted the footage to Twitter along with links to the social media operated by the gym owner, it went viral.

He captioned the footage: “This is horrible,” and went on to say how the actions of this South African woman and those of the elephant Park were exploitive and abusive.

Ali then posted another tweet, saying that Emma Rogers had been called out on the abuse but she didn’t back down or apologize. He said: “She doubled down saying that anyone shaming her is uneducated.”

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After the footage had passed around, Roberts was accused of animal cruelty and those on social media were furious.

One person that lives by elephant rehabilitation camps in Thailand said what she did was “vile, harmful to the elephant and she should be prosecuted.”

Another said how she enjoyed the power and referred to the “defeated look” in the eyes of the elephant.

The Metro went on to report that Roberts responded by posting on Instagram. That post has since been deleted, but it said:

“For the sake of this amazing facility I have opted to remove my post.

I do not agree that sharing an amazing moment with this animal is cruel in any way. However, there are many humans out there who only see the negative.

Beating elephants is cruel, riding them is not ideal, keeping them in horrible environments and killing them for their ivory is cruel.

Providing them with a home in their natural environment and educating people about how intelligent and wonderful they are is not cruelty.”

Roberts went on to say that very few people in the world are enlightened enough to see her point on the matter. She thanked those that sent kind messages and shame to those who turned what she considered to be an “amazing experience” into something she should be ashamed of. Her page is now no longer available.

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