USDA Seeking Public Comments on
IDA's Elephant Petition

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently seeking public comments on space and living conditions for captive elephants in the U.S. This important development is a direct result of IDA's citizen's petition seeking enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) at zoos and circuses, where elephants are suffering due to inadequate space, unnatural conditions, lack of exercise and social deprivation.

Zoos are mobilizing their members to write and defend the status quo. NOW IS THE TIME FOR EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT IMPROVING THE PLIGHT OF THESE MAGNIFICENT ANIMALS TO WRITE FORCEFULLY IN SUPPORT OF DRAMATICALLY IMPROVING THE STANDARDS FOR CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS (see sample letter below). Please submit your comments to the USDA by November 9th.

What You Can Do:

1) Please write to the USDA TODAY on the elephants' behalf!  The deadline for sending your comments to the USDA is November 9th.

Via Internet:

• Visit the Federal eRulemaking portal
• In the "Search Regulations and Federal Actions" box, select "Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service" from the agency drop-down menu
• Click on "Submit"
• In the Docket ID column, select APHIS-2006-0044 to submit or view public comments and to view supporting and related materials available electronically

By postal mail, send an original and three copies to:

Docket No. APHIS-2006-0044
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS/USDA
Station 3A-03.8
4700 River Road, Unit 118
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238

2)   Express your outrage at Clara's suffering. Send this letter demanding that the new baby, her family and all the elephants at St. Louis Zoo be transferred to a sanctuary with the space and natural habitat elephants need. To have a greater impact, also call the St. Louis Zoo at (314) 781-0900 and ask to speak with President Jeffrey Bonner, and write to him directly at administration@stlzoo.org or at Saint Louis Zoo, One Government Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110.

- Get more information on this USDA action.

- Learn more about IDA's campaign to help elephants in zoos.

TALKING POINTS:

• Zoos and circuses are not giving elephants the conditions they require for their health and well-being.
• The Animal Welfare Act requires that zoos and circuses provide elephants with adequate space. Zoos are not meeting this requirement.
• Elephants are big animals who need big spaces. But in too many zoos and circuses they suffer from lack of space, unnatural conditions and social deprivation that eventually cause a range of preventable ailments -- from painful arthritis and foot disease to reproductive and digestive disorders to neurotic behaviors like swaying and head bobbing.
• Many zoos lock their elephants in barn stalls for at least 12 hours a day when the zoo is closed. And, in northern zoos, elephants are confined indoors for extended periods during the cold winter months.
• Additionally, circuses and many zoos control their elephants through force, domination and aggressive use of the bull hook and prolonged chaining.
• I support all efforts to dramatically improve conditions for captive elephants in this country.
• Exhibitors of elephants must be required to provide large, naturalistic environments similar to those at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and the PAWS sanctuary in California. These two refuges provide hundreds to thousands of acres over which elephants can roam, socialize and maintain their health.
• The use of bullhooks, chains, electric shock devices and other instruments of force must be outlawed.
• BE SURE TO PERSONALIZE YOUR LETTER, PLEASE!