5 min read Seriously Out of Touch: GOP Uses Live Elephants As Party Props In Downtown Dallas

<p>Dallas Morning News</p>

On Thursday, the Republican National Committee leadership visited Dallas, where RNC chairman Reince Priebus and his entourage were met with quite a display: fireworks! confetti! Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders! And, to top it all off, two live elephants -- the Republican Party mascot -- dressed up in red, white and blue, just hanging out in downtown Dallas.

#dfwnews 2 elephants are also here to greet the #GOP #RNC 2016 convention site selection committee. @cbsdfw http://t.co/GxONNYC6UA — Jack Fink (@cbs11jack)

The city is currently one of four in the running to host the 2016 Republican National Convention, competing with Cleveland, Denver and Kansas City -- but the wooing has by far been the most intense in Dallas. The news outlets reporting on the GOP's decision to include live elephants in the welcome procession did so entirely uncritically. The Dallas Morning News called the display "flashy," and "big ... bold ... [and] impossible to ignore." "I didn't wake up this morning thinking I was going to pet a couple of elephants on the way into the arena," Priebus said, "but that was certainly a nice touch."

The beginning of the @GOP site selection tour of Dallas for #RNC2016. @AmericanAir @visit_dallas #Dallas2016 http://t.co/78jlU2h854 — Kay Bailey Hutchison (@kaybaileyhutch)

Actually, it wasn't. The stressors involved with bringing elephants to a public event endanger the safety of both the pachyderms themselves and the humans around them. First and foremost, urban stimuli -- the lights, noises, strangers and pavement -- all place strain on the elephants, who can become aggressive and potentially dangerous when agitated. Additionally, the elephants (Suse and Esa) were transported to Dallas from Oklahoma, a long distance that necessarily must have kept the elephants confined for an extended period of time. And, in addition to having to endure the stress of an unfamiliar environment, Suse and Esa live in captivity at an undisclosed farm in Oklahoma. That means it's likely the pair has been trained to comply with humans' orders with the help of a bullhook, a cruel tool commonly employed to teach elephants total subservience. (Sure enough, images from the event show trainers standing alongside the elephants with bullhooks in hand.) Individual cities have moved to ban bullhooks, which habituate elephants to horrific pain, across the country; they're still effectively legal in Texas and Oklahoma, though.

That's one big dog! RNC Is visiting the AAC this morning. Dallas brought out everything to welcome them. @FOX4 http://t.co/Cb6lzBMARc — Paul Beam (@BeamFox4)

RNC Press Secretary confirms Dallas is only city to bring out elephants. Big hit so far @NBCDFW http://t.co/DrGekqxeip — Jeff Smith (@JeffSmithNBC5)