Well, of course there was animal abuse somehow tied to the "Water for Elephants" movie. You can't have an animal-themed movie without substantial inhumane treatment of animals. Apparently, the elephant featured in the movie was abused years before filming the movie. Animal Defenders International claims there is a video that shows Tai, the elephant in the movie, being trained with electric shock devices and bull hooks. This supposedly happened back in 2005, but this has to make everyone involved with the movie uneasy. You don't want to work with an unstable elephant - the Internet knows how that usually turns out.
The group claims the trainers in the video are Tai's current owners, Have Trunk Will Travel. The American Humane Association claims that "Water for Elephants" had no abuse shenanigans... but then again, no one is really up front about their animal abuse these days.
