Annie Ilonzeh
Annie Ilonzeh has her right wrist decorated with a beautiful detailed elephant tattoo. It continues around the inside of her wrist with a background of swirls to give the inking a bracelet look. It’s actually a cover-up of an older writing tattoo which we can’t fully decipher but it seems to start with “Never.”
Elephants have a very special place in Annie’s heart. She described them as her spirit animal and as “an incredible symbol of strength power and peace” in an instagram post. She spoke to PETA about why believes elephants shouldn’t be used for circus entertainment.
They take these animals when they’re babies, strip them from their mothers, their families, and break down their spirits…They’re super emotional creatures, and to have that calf stripped of their mom by humans and abused is the most painful thing to see. And I feel like if the public were a lot more knowledgeable about the way that they were being trained, where it’s not on a reward system it’s on a punishment system, then circuses would not exist and they should not exist.
She has also spoken up supporting America’s bans on importing elephant tusks and ivory. “Elephants are phenomenal, remarkable, beautiful creatures and we need them around. This is their planet too,” she wrote.
