In Reply to: JBR posted by Bali mad on Saturday, 3. September 2011 at 11:26 Bali Time:
You are right not to like the hooks. Bull hooks are often used and despite what some people like to believe, cause elephants a lot of pain.
Elephants are trained using physical pain from the time they are very young, and will experience pain and/or the threat of pain for the rest of their lives. They are a wild animal and that is how it's done.