Sad, but true. I'm all for preventing this scenario from happening in the future by banning the exploitation of these animals. However, the elephant in the story has been with it's owners for over 40 years now. Maybe it's Stockholm's syndrome, but I wouldn't risk the potential torment to both the elephant and the humans in this situation based on that amount of time. So while they should be able to keep this elephant, they should not be allowed to acquire a new elephant in the future.