July 6, 2006
Elephant Polo Team Hosts Fundraiser
When you receive an email with this as its first paragraph, you can't help but want to read the rest:
My name is Kimberly Zenz I am the captain of the DC Elephant Polo team, and as our name suggests, we play polo on elephants.Yes, elephant polo does exist. And yes, D.C. does have its own team. But as the rest of the email to us suggests, it isn't terribly easy to play the sport in a city that lacks, well, elephants:
Given the scarcity of elephants in the DC metropolitan area, this requires travel. Our next trip will be in early September, when we will be traveling to Thailand to play in the King's Cup Tournament in Hua Hin. This tournament is a fundraiser for the Thai National Elephant Conservation Center and elephant hospital. Toward this end, we are holding a benefit (horse) polo match on August 20.If anybody is truly interested in finding out more about the sport and sending the District's own team to Thailand, head on over to the Capitol Polo Club (14660 Hughes Road, Poolesville, MD), where for just $10 you can do a bit of both. And while it's only going to be a game of horse polo, you can at least pretend those are elephants romping around.
|
Advertisement: DCist Continues Below!
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
I think that polo preferences will be divided along party lines like the red v. blue Nationals hats. I will be supporting donkey polo.
Didn't DCist take a stance against elephant abuse just a couple weeks ago?
How much would elephants cost? Doesn't the zoo have elephants? Could they play elephant polo on the Mall?
I don't think the zoo could keep the elephants alive for long enough to host a game in DC. Although I would love to see the elephants run amok on the mall and create some tourist pancakes.
aren't people who play elephant polo rich enough to fund their own trips to thailand? it doesn't seem like much of a plebeian sport.
I agree with kh - the dissonance eminating from DCist is hurting my brain :). (and yes, I do realize that the elephant polo tourney is going to benefit elephant conservation...just seems like an interesting way to go about supporting that cause).
Elephant Polo= Supporting elephant conservation
Visiting Strip Clubs= Supporting single mothers
We must all do our part.
Hi All,
To answer your comments/qeustions in turn...
On Donkey Polo:
I'm a big-time Democrat, but I'm still going to stick with the elephants. I'm also 5'9" and I think on donkeys my feet would just drag on the ground. And the donkeys would probably hate that.
On Elephant Abuse:
Elephant polo is elephant abuse only if you velive that anything involving elephants oter than them running wild is abuse. They get food and water throughout the day, are switched frequently to avoid overworking them and their mahouts (who work with that particular elephant year round) ride with the players and are responsble for the care of just that elephant the whole time. Also, I kind of like ht eidea of riding elephants to benefit elephants - its gives them a chance to get soemthing out of it too, rather than just riding them. The conservation center has a large sanctuary for elephants which are never going to be OK with people, a rehab enter, a hospital for abused and injured elephants and offers training to people who wok with elephants to insure they are treated fairly and humanely. Its also where the state sends abused elephants its confiscates (they're not like dogs or cats - your average shelter or kind volunteer can't accompdate them.
I may be a bit biased becasue I really want to play polo on elephants, but this shelter dog adopting, injured wildlife rescuing, Compassion Over Killing donating vegitarian thinks its OK.
- Price:
I have no idea how much an elephant costs, but since they eat something like 300 pounds of food a day and need a huge amount of land to be happy, I think upkeep would be enough of a challenge even if the elephant were free (isn't that where the phrase "white elephant| came from?)
- Elephant polo on the mall
That would be excellent. I'm not sure where to get elephants from, however. There is a company that rents them in New Jersey, but I'm not sure how they treat their elephants, and making them drive to DC might nt be too pleasant either. I am in favor making the tourists run before us however.
- Aren't we rich enough to pay for it all ourselves?
No. We arn't. Many of the other teams are (a Scottish Duke heads one, Mercedes execs another), but we are not. We are just a group of people that thought it would be enough of an adventure that it was worth trying to get there anyway.
Elephant polo sounds very adventureous. I wish I could participate. At least I know that sport is out there now!