© PETA
Elephant handlers, known as mahouts, are seen beating the animals with the hooks and jabbing them into their skin during a football match the animals were forced to partake in.
Warning: Some readers may find this footage disturbing.
Close-up shots show the elephants marked with bloody wounds with chunks of their skin missing in the video shared by activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
A number of sponsors, including Renault and Carlsberg Group, have cut ties with the event after the footage drew outrage.
Such elephants are often 'broken' by being beaten when they are very young to make them compliant and able to be trained to perform tricks.
Reader Comments
But what about the atrocities each day by also by people against other people, psychologically, spiritually, and physically.
Seems to me we as humanity, have a lot to say about the mishandling of the animals we share our life on this planet with.
But the thing that really bothers me, when it comes to humanity, very few are there to stand up to the atrocities against our own human family.
And if they do, it's under reported, the example of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen comes to mind at present.