Elephant Fears
What do animal-rights activists want? An offsite habitat for zoo elephants. When do they want it? Now.
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 INTO THE WILD? If the Oregon. Zoo doubles the space for. elephants, it won’t be enough for. some animal-rights activists. IMAGE: Hollie Jeans |
[October 10th, 2007]
Away from the crowd at the Oregon Zoo’s Asian Elephant exhibit, two trainers give the two-ton creatures a workout in a barn.
Using large pieces of carrot as incentive, the trainers coax the elephants to kneel, bow and even lie down on command. The handlers then can examine the eyes, trunks, feet and mouths of Chendra, Rose-Tu and Sung-Sarin for sickness or disease.
These female elephants, along with their three male counterparts, are some of the zoo’s biggest stars. Since the birth of a bull named Packy in 1962—the first captive elephant birth in the Western Hemisphere in over 40 years—the zoo has used the elephants extensively in its promotions.
According to an animal rights nonprofit, the zoo needs to return the favor by doing more than medical checkups.
The local chapter of California-based In Defense of Animals wants Metro, which oversees the zoo, to create a permanent off-site natural habitat of at least 50 acres. IDA member Matt Rossell envisions a setting where the elephants would be undisturbed by humans but viewable by webcam. That spot would give the creatures large areas to roam and “freedom of choice in daily activities and social interactions,” Rossell says.
He says the zoo’s “cramped and unnatural conditions” keep elephants from walking as much as in the wild. The result, Rossell says, is foot disease in five of the six elephants, including “repeated abscesses, lesions, ulcers, fissures and fractured toes.”
A Metro subcommittee has recommended doubling the size of the elephants’ 63,000-square-foot outdoor area at a cost of $13.5 million, with plans to explore options in the longer term for a large off-site facility.
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But Rossell would like to see the off-site facility on the table now. He says simply enlarging the space cannot solve the lack of room that’s creating health problems.
Rossell pointed to the 10 Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited zoos that’ve closed their elephant exhibits due to lack of adequate space, most recently in 2006 in Philadelphia. He also cites several others that have sent elephants to large sanctuaries in Tennessee and California.
“Why would we spend any money on making a change where the end result is an exhibit that is horribly outdated?” Rossell says.
Mike Keele, the zoo’s deputy director, says there’s not enough data to conclude that the elephants wouldn’t have the same foot problems in the wild.
But Keele says there is enough data to report that elephant foot problems have dropped dramatically since the area’s floors went from concrete to a rubber mix.
Keele says although the elephants may not walk the 10 or more miles they’d walk each day in the wild, they do get as much exercise as they need, and are “absolutely” happy. Any foot problem is quickly noted and reported to a vet, he says, and their situations are closely monitored.
Rossell says IDA has no specific agenda to shut down zoos. Keele is skeptical.
“It’s about driving an agenda,” he says “It’s about closing zoos down, one species at a time.”
The USDA fined the Oregon Zoo $10,000 in 2000 for elephant abuse due to the zoo’s use of the bullhook, a bronze or steel hook attached to a long handle that’s used to control the animals.
IDA needs to get a clue. This is just a way for them to start shutting down the zoo's! METRO- DON'T LISTEN TO THEM!
Yay. Now PETA aren't the only animal rights crazies in town. Wonderful.
The Oregon Zoo is one of the best zoos in the nation, if not the world, and I for one completely trust them to take care of their animals in the best way possible.
IDA can go screw themselves and leave our zoo alone.
I sure am glad I read your post Jefe. I was actually starting to feel empathy for these magnificent creatures (silly me). But no longer.
Thanks for setting us all straight. What are your credentials? I bet they're impressive.
I'm sure they're not nearly as impressive as yours Bill. If we were to count them up, I'm almost certain that you've hugged tons more trees than I have.
Itīs not about Animal Rights groups it is about the Elephants. The world has changed and we now truly understand that these sensitive and intelligent mammals need a lot more than what many zoos are currently offering them, in Oregan and all over the world.
It's sad that Mike Keele, the Oregon Zoo and the American Zoological Association have to resort to wild claims that elephant welfare advocates are trying to shut down zoos. All the science shows that foot and joint problems like arthritis, osteomyelitis, etc., appear only in elephants confined to small exhibits on hard surfaces -- and may affect as many as 3 out of 4 captive elephants. Until zoos actually look at the assumulated research and use elephants' lives in the wild as the standard against which they measure their exhibits, these magnificent animals will continue to suffer and die premature deaths.
First...you should change the picture of the African Elephant you are currently displaying to an Asian Elephant like the kind we have at the zoo (if you cannot tell the difference, you shouldn't write articles about them). Then you can be thankful that our lovely Asian elephants at the Oregon Zoo are not pack and burden ones like they are throughout most of Asia. The skin diseases I saw on many in Thailand were repulsive. My thoughts were they would be better off in a zoo where these afflictions could be treated.
If you want elephant's lives in zoos to resemble their lives in their range countries then I guess zoos should load their elephants up with parasites, under feed or starve them, make them haul heavy objects, regularly chase them out of their homes, shoot at them, kill them, remove the tusks and leave the body to rot, sell the tusks and buy automatic weapons - get the point? Elephants lives in range countries are far from idealized vision IDA and other groups promote. Don't fool yourselves. IDA and other groups don't care about elephants. They are using elephants in an attempt to achieve their long range goal - to close zoos, all zoos. They think they can do that if they convince the public to pressure zoos to no longer exhibit elephants, an animal they see as a big draw for zoos. Eliminate the big draw, impact attendance and the zoo's bottom line. Cynical? Well, sure but IDA doesn't care. 20 and 30 years ago animal rights groups were making similar arguements about exhibition of great apes and marine mammals. Now it's elephants. Next it will be giraffes or rhinos or large cats or just fill in the blank with what ever animal comes to mind. IDA, when you start doing something to contribute to conservation of endangered species in their home ranges (as zoos do), then you can criticize zoos. Until then..you're just blowing hot air.
To those zoo apologists who think the Oregon Zoo is so great, why did the USDA fine the Zoo $10,000 for animal abuse for bullhook beatings of their elephants? Zoos like this are a part of the past. The public is rapidly becoming educated about what elephants are like and what they really need and people don't want to see them suffer needlessly anymore. If zoos like the Oregon Zoo don't get out of their state of denial and wake up and smell the coffee pretty soon, they will make themselves irrelevant and the public will take care of the problem for them.
One guy went too far while working with the elephants and got caught, then fired for it. It's not like the zoo had an official SOP saying, "Take this hook and go out and beat the crap out of the elephants with it." Get real.
And zoos are hardly a "part of the past." The Oregon Zoo is incredibly popular and does extremely well. Normal people who don't have their heads up their asses about imaginary "animal rights violations" love the place while the only people who cry about it are moronic, bleeding heart gerbil hugging whiners. The Zoo rocks, deal with it.
Chiming in here: Yeah, why is there a picture of an African elephant when the zoo has Asians? I think the zoo may be equipped to minister care to most species held captive there. BUT LARGE LAND MAMMMALS do not fare well in captivity. Elephants suffer the most because they have unnatural environments and limited space. Regardlesss of what a zoo calls a natural environment exhibit, hard-packed earth over concrete is NOT NATURAL. Concrete is not found in the wild....!! Big cats, rhinos, giraffes, great apes, and large marine animals cannot be offered the space in captivity that allows them to be healthy -- and live naturally. They will all be afflicted. . at some point.. with captivity-related health issues and inappropriate behaviors. In my humble opinion, for what's it worth, I think the AZA needs to re-think and re-invent itself to offer protection to large species in captivity... and to ban breeding in captivity. To date they insist that elephants can be held in a captive environment ... and they insist on breeding them too. The AZA promotes breeding as 'species survival', 'conservation', preservation'. The truth is.. all births that occur in captivity.. well, the animal stays forever in captivity.
Why bring babies into the zoo world... that's a lifetime of captivity.. that sucks!
As for scolding, demeaning, and throwing dirt at IDA, well, at least they have the courage and good sense to speak up and speak out for the voiceless. Incidentally, IDA is NOT ABOUT SHUTTING DOWN ALL ZOOS!! Their commitment is to address obvious issues with animals in any situation. They promote awareness of animal issues, educate, and offer protection where it's needed.
-- Regards, djh --
I am an Oregon Zoo member. I have visited nicer zoos and I feel most of Oregon Zoo's habitats are too small. Elephants and other animals should have more legal protections against mistreatment.
And while we're at it, let's rename the Banfield "Packy Parkway" after the brave elephant who silently fought for the rights of other less fortunate pachiderms.
Better yet, lock ME in an exhibit with cable TV, a pool table, some hot chicks to mate with, and all the beer I can drink. You all can fight over the rights of the "Western Pacific Anglo Male Homosapien" exhibit, while I watch Sportscenter and get drunk.
The zoo's statement about foot problems in wild elephants is incorrect. Research and observation (Joyce Poole, Cynthia Moss, etc.) tells us wild elephants DO NOT suffer from osteomylitis, foot rot and abscesses. These diseases are restricted to captive elephants. It stands to reason (even if there is no hard-core scientific proof) that smaller, unnatural exhibits cause, or at the very least, contribute to these deadly diseases.