He claims it's harmless, but animal rights activists were not amused when they heard artist Fan Yang would be attempting to put a bubble around Tai, an 8,000-pound Asian elephant.
"Well I never expected that somebody will bring out negative opponents on bubbles because I think children around the world and adults and everybody are fascinated about this natural phenomenon, and actually beautiful things to do. If somebody based life on negative aspects, they will always find objections and negative things to say," Yang said.
Gary and Cari Johnson have owned Tai for over 30 years. They said public events bring in the money they need to properly take care of the elephant, so when the Santa Ana event was canceled in the midst of protest, they decided to do the event in Perris.
"We were all so disappointed, and there were so many other people that were interested in seeing it. We did not think it was fair that that group of people should be able to stop everybody else from seeing it," Cari Johnson said.
It's up to the Guinness Book of World Records to decide whether Yang bursts the world record.
"With Guinness, we have to send them the image, that there was a bubble intact, and there was about one foot above the elephant and maybe below it, and with all the footage that we have, it should work," Yang said.
The big concern about the safety of the elephant was when the bubble bursts, where the soap would go. Yang said the bubble all burst outward, so in theory, the elephant was never in any danger.
No animal rights activists attended the Perris event.
