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Police and RSPCA launch joint investigation after video shows elephant being hit and repeatedly kicked by her minder
Police have launched a joint investigation with the RSPCA after another animal rights group shot video footage of the UK's last circus elephant being struck and kicked by her minder.
Northamptonshire police said it had begun the inquiry in response to the covert film taken by Animal Defenders International (ADI), showing the 57-year-old Asian elephant being hit with a metal pitchfork, repeatedly kicked in the face and body and shackled by heavy chains.
ADI is calling for the elephant, Annie, to be released into its care by the Bobby Roberts Super Circus. The group said it took the footage between 21 January and 15 February in a barn in Polebrook, Northamptonshire.
The circus said in a statement the incidents "appear to be isolated" and occurred when the circus's owner, Bobby Roberts, was away.
Roberts' wife, Moira, said the culprit was a Romanian groom employed to care for Annie who had now left the circus. The couple reacted with "shock and horror" when they saw the footage, she said, adding: "We wish we had been given the opportunity to prosecute him and hand him over to the police."
Jan Creamer, ADI's chief executive, said the group was seeking the name of the groom. "We have a terrific network of sanctuary contacts throughout the world and are very experienced at animal rescue, rehoming and relocation, so we now appeal to Mr Roberts to do the decent thing and hand Annie over to us.
"Let us give Annie the proper retirement that she so richly deserves, where she will have space to be free and act like an elephant, as nature intended."
