An elephant with a shackled leg is pictured at the Hanoi Zoo in Hanoi on August 16//AFP
Legs in iron chains and unable to roam freely, the treatment of two elderly elephants at the Hanoi public zoo has drawn outrage in Vietnam, with animal rights groups demanding the pair be relocated.
The groups are calling for the two female elephants — Thai and Banang — to be released to a national park, and close to 70,000 people have signed an online petition in support.
State media has also covered the story widely in recent weeks.
On Wednesday morning, the pair’s legs were in chains as zookeepers fed them grass and sugarcane, AFP journalists observed.
“The elephants are quite fierce. With a broken electric fence, we had to chain them,” a zoo staff member told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
Staff said the two elephants were brought to the zoo from the country’s south and…
