St. Louis Zoo Euthanizes Long-Suffering Elephant

In the wake of 54-year-old Clara the elephant’s death, IDA is charging that inadequate conditions at the St. Louis Zoo are directly responsible for her death on the night of Tuesday, March 13th.

“For years, Clara suffered from painful and debilitating arthritis and chronic foot infections. These conditions are a direct result of decades spent in the St. Louis Zoo’s tiny yards and concrete-floored barn stalls,” said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, president of IDA. “It’s shameful that the St. Louis Zoo allowed Clara to decline to the point where she could barely walk or stand. Had the zoo taken action several years ago to provide Clara with the space and natural conditions she needed to heal, Clara might still be alive today.”

The largest yard at St. Louis Zoo is one-half acre, totally inadequate for elephants which can walk tens of miles a day in the wild. In addition, elephants spend nights and prolonged periods during the winter locked in the zoo’s concrete-floored barn stalls.

Experts agree that lack of exercise and standing on unyielding surfaces wreak havoc on elephants’ joints and feet. Recent surveys show that a majority of elephants in zoos suffer from painful and potentially lethal foot and joint disease. Clara is the eighth elephant to die in 15 months at facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Seven of those elephants suffered from severe foot and/or joint disease prior to death.

Over a year ago, IDA had called on St. Louis Zoo to transfer Clara to The Elephant Sanctuary, a 2,700-acre natural habitat refuge in Tennessee. The sanctuary’s space and natural terrain has restored quality of life to many elephants debilitated by years spent in a circus or zoo.

“Instead of addressing the cause of Clara’s problems, the zoo continued to hold her in the same environment that was causing and exacerbating the degenerative conditions,” Katz said. “All the while the zoo was masking Clara’s pain with ever-increasing doses of pain killers, even to the point of causing bleeding ulcers and signs of kidney damage.”

“Clara stands as a national symbol for the suffering elephants needlessly endure in zoos,” Katz concluded. “If zoos cannot provide the vast space, soft ground and natural conditions elephants need, they should not keep elephants at all. It is elephants like Clara who pay the price for zoos’ unwillingness to provide what science tells us elephants need.”

Elephants have a natural lifespan of 60-70 years. Even though elephants in zoos are protected from poaching, drought, famine and disease, they typically die decades short of their natural lifespan.

Learn more about IDA’s campaign to help elephants in zoos and join our Elephant Task Force.