Two Sumatran elephants could be seen at Mertasari Beach, Sanur this morning—picking up trash with their trunks and handing the rubbish to their handlers.
The ‘different’ idea of putting the elephants to work to clean up humans’ trash was apparently to inspire local residents to pitch in and help cleaning up themselves.
The event, “Berwisata Cantik Tanpa Plastik” was a joint effort by the Bali Safari and Marine Park and BKSDA (Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam) to mark National Waste Day. In addition to turning the elephants into trash vacuums, turtles were also released into the sea.
“There is a very important message that we want to spread through this unique activity,” said General Manager of Bali Safari & Marine Park, William Santoso, as posted on the park’s Facebook page.
The GM posed the question of how come elephants are able to clean the environment, but human beings often so relucatnat to dirty our own hands and pick up the garbage ourselves.
Let’s start now with the “good habit of keeping the environment clean” so we can enjoy the results together, Santoso concluded.
We can’t figure what’s more sad, that elephants were forced to touch all the gross icky trash on the beach, or that humans need to see elephants slaving away cleaning up our own mess to be ‘inspired’ to pitch in.
Editor’s Note: This article has been edited for clarity.
