Campaigns - Dallas Zoo News
August 5, 2008
Mayor Tom Leppert and the Dallas City Council
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street
Dallas, TX 75201-6390
To the Honorable Mayor and City Council of Dallas:
We, the undersigned zoo and elephant professionals, strongly urge you to revisit the Dallas Zoo’s decision to export your African elephant Jenny to the Africam Safari Park in Mexico. Instead we ask you to send her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
The signatories to this letter represent an international array of professionals possessing extensive knowledge about elephants. Included are scientists, a veterinarian, and former zoo directors, curators, managers and keepers, including those in leadership positions with Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited institutions.
Our experience with elephants leaves us gravely concerned about Jenny’s welfare should she be transferred to Africam, especially considering her known history of violent aggression and extreme, aberrant behaviors, including self-injury. Although some of Jenny’s abnormal behaviors have subsided, zoo records indicate a concern that, under stress, Jenny could again regress. This concern is well founded, as evidenced by the fact that Dallas Zoo tranquilized her for periods of time in 2007 and 2008.
It is troubling that Dallas Zoo would even consider sending this particular elephant to a drive-through attraction when The Elephant Sanctuary, a facility recognized worldwide for its expertise in the rehabilitation of troubled and ailing elephants, is willing to take Jenny. The Sanctuary has received elephants from many AZA-accredited zoos.
Considering Jenny’s individual temperament and her behavioral history, The Elephant Sanctuary is best suited to meet her needs for the following compelling reasons:
The Sanctuary specializes in caring for elephants like Jenny and will provide the individualized treatment and quiet, therapeutic environment she needs. A drive-through attraction like Africam, where Jenny would be constantly exposed to passing buses and cars, simply is not appropriate for this elephant who has been severely traumatized by loud sounds and large vehicles while at Dallas Zoo.
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Jenny will continue to be protected by U.S. anti-cruelty and animal welfare laws, which is critical because of her behavioral history. Once out of the country, Jenny will not have these important protections. Independent oversight through regular inspections by the U. S. Department of Agriculture is particularly important for an elephant like Jenny. AZA accreditation simply is not enough to protect her.
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The Sanctuary will provide a permanent home for Jenny and the company of other African elephants. Africam presently houses only Asian elephants. Despite reported plans for an African elephant companion for Jenny, her difficult behavioral history and the small display area decrease the likelihood of a successful integration. This may well force Jenny to live alone, which is unacceptable considering the intensely social nature of elephants, or she may be shipped to yet another zoo, inflicting even more stress and trauma. In contrast, the Elephant Sanctuary provides a lifelong home for all the elephants it receives.
Jenny will have more space. The Elephant Sanctuary provides its three African elephants with 300 acres for foraging and exploration. Africam is planning to build a 4.9-acre display, which will be subdivided into smaller yards.
Jenny has spent her life before the public, the last 22 years of it serving the citizens of Dallas. Relocation to The Elephant Sanctuary is the most reasonable and humane choice for this individual elephant.
We respectfully urge the City of Dallas to stop the ill-advised plan to send Jenny to Africam and instead arrange for her relocation to The Elephant Sanctuary.
Sincerely,
Joyce Poole, PhD
Director of the research and conservation group ElephantVoices
Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Amboseli Elephant Research Project (Kenya), the world’s longest-running study of elephant ecology and behavior under natural conditions.
Petter Granli, Executive Director for ElephantVoices
William Keith Lindsay, PhD
Conservation biologist and project manager, has worked in association with the Amboseli Elephant Research Project since 1976, investigating foraging ecology, habitat change, ranging behavior and population demography; past member of the IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group
Les Schobert
Former general curator, North Carolina Zoological Park; Los Angeles Zoo
Former curator, Busch Gardens (Tampa, Fla., Houston, Tex., Williamsburg, Va.)
Former vice-chair of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Wildlife Conservation Management Committee and Member of the Ethics Board
G.A. Bradshaw, PhD
Director of the Kerulos Center and international expert on the effects of stress and trauma on elephants, with her research featured in Nature, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Ethology, Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, Time Magazine, the New York Times, and 20/20.
Barbara Anderson
Former elephant keeper at San Diego Wild Animal Park, Calif.; Marine World, Vallejo, Calif.; Chehaw Wild Animal Park, Albany, Ga.; The Elephant Sanctuary, Tenn.
David Hancocks
Former director, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, Wash.; Melbourne Zoo, Australia
Dr. Robert Atkinson
Head of Wildlife Dept., Science Group, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, United Kingdom
Former curator, Woburn Safari Park, and former keeper
Peter Stroud
Independent Zoological Consultant. Former director, Werribee Open Range Zoo and former Senior Curator at the Royal Melbourne Zoo, Australia
Ellen Leach
Animal Behavior Consultant, Behavioral Resources, Inc.; author of "Animal Training" in Encyclopedia of the World's Zoos
Former elephant keeper/trainer/consultant
Amanda Sandos, former keeper at Dallas Zoo (African Wilds section) and North Carolina Zoo
Gary Kuehn, DVM
Veterinarian, formerly at Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Calif.; Zoo Negara (National Zoo), Kuala Lumpur, W. Malaysia
John W. Freeze
Former zoo animal husbandry manager/African elephants, North Carolina Zoological Park, Asheboro, NC
Copy to:
Mary Suhm, Dallas City Manager
Paul Dyer, Director, Dallas Park and Recreation Department