Animal Rights Archives | Otaku No Culture

Coming to VOD/Digital on Nov 18 Worldwide

When a documentary title is simply called Elephant Refugees, it’s easy to realise they have no place to call home and somewhere, humans are mistreating them. In respect to the latter, when Botswana banned elephant poaching in 2014, these gentle mammals knew there’s a haven to flock to and it’s perfectly documented. Their migration was unexpected, and it generated problems and provoked humanity to re-evaluate their accord with the gentle beast.

What’s studied in this documentary by Louise Hogarth goes beyond studying our rapport with this majestic fellow. The last work I reviewed was When Elephants Were Young, which concerned the latter–exploiting them for tourism and labour. With this latest, the focus is on how we can help them. But at what cost? When they proved to be a unexpected boon to a region that’s been opening up to eco-tourism, to move them away is required when they start devestating the area in search for water. In regards to the Moller family’s ironically named camp site and bush lodge, Elephant Sands, the pros and cons about keeping them around or sending them away need to be weighed.

Continue reading “Elephant Refugees and Their Ongoing Fight to be Free”

Available to view on demand on Vimeo
starting March 30th. 2017

Whether created by animation or live-action, the great bear has come to symbolize one of several things. As a symbol of strength and courage — or perhaps a constellation you see on the night sky — this animal’s importance to nature and in a grander a cosmic scheme must never go unnoticed.

In the cartoon world, we have beloved characters like Yogi the Bear (created by Hanna-Barbera in 1958) and Baloo from Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967) / Tail Spin (1990). Jump ahead a little more than a decade, this studio made Brother Bear (2003) which looked at how man should respect nature and understand tolerance. The main character, Kenai, was transformed into a bear, and had to learn for himself why this animal is so revered within his tribe. In Haida culture, this gentle creature is known as the “Elder Kinsman” and is treated as a noble guest instead of a thief because it stole from the river, which also provided sustenance to the locals.

If only the people who hunt them can treat and think of these gentle creatures the same way. In this documentary, the hunters sort of say they do, but that’s for the viewer to decide. I was offered the opportunity to get a sneak preview of a very thought-provoking and insightful program. It looks the role this animal and where it stands within different organizations. From the hunter’s perspective to governmental and First Nations, everybody has an opinion on a hot political topic in this year’s British Columbia election: to finally ban grizzly bear hunting.

They are sought after more often as trophys these days, which is sad. For those just wanting to take a snapshot, it it even helpful to the local economy? A lot is said to view the pros and cons of both, and this film nicely walks the fine line than lean towards a specific stance.

In Africa, the lion is said to be on top of the food chain. In North America, it is the bear. Destroy the alpha, and there will be problems. This fact and many other details are revealed in this documentary that’s now available online to view. And writer/director Tom Reissmann had other facts to reveal about the making of this film:

Continue reading “Does the Bare Necessities Reveal The Grizzly Truth? An Interview with Tom Reissmann”