Viral video of elephant performing headstand leaves internet distressed; ‘This is cruelty’

There’s no denying the fact that watching animal videos have an element of entertainment and joy. While the antics of elephants rarely fail to bring a smile to the faces of those watching it, not all videos are for entertainment and may leave people distressed for many reaons.As of now, a viral video has been doing rounds on the internet, which shows an elephant in a circus-like pose while taking a bath. The viral video has annoyed social media users and here’s the reason.

The video opens up to show the elephant pulling its hind legs in the air and supporting its massive body on its front legs and head, performing a headstand. As the elephant performs this move, a man sprays water on its exposed belly. It appears that the elephants posed like this so that they could get water all over its body. The video was shared by Twitter user Morissa Schwartz (@MorissaSchwartz).

Meanwhile, in the video, it could be heard crowd of spectators gasping and cheering at the view. After watching this act by the elephant, angry viewers took to the comment section to express their outrage. Many of them even claimed that the headstand was not real and the big creature was trained for doing so. People also said that there are chances that the animal was unethically trained to do it to entertain the crowd. The video has spread outrage on the internet.

‘This is cruelty’: Netizens react 

The video has garnered around 373.9K views since it was shared accompanied by several retweets and likes. The video prompted and even provoked many to express their views. Outraged people were concerned about the animal doing headstands, “Training elephants to do that involves a lot of cruelty,” a user wrote. The second user expressed, “unfortunately they were “forced” and “trained” to learn how to do that”. The third user spelled, “I recall cruelty behind this stunt.”

Image: Unsplash