Resources - National Zoo Fact Sheet
Three Asian elephants, two females and a young bull, currently live at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Shanthi, Ambika, and Kandula all share an enclosure that is less than one acre total in size, including both indoor and outdoor spaces.
Elephants have a tragic history of suffering and premature death at National Zoo due to inadequate and unnatural conditions, including an exhibit that measures less than one acre in size. From 2000 to 2005, the National Zoo exhibited five elephants, two of whom are now dead. The first, Nancy, was euthanized in 2000 after suffering for years from foot infections and arthritis. The second elephant, Toni, was euthanized at age 38 in January 2006, after becoming so crippled from arthritis that she could no longer bear weight on her front legs. In an attempt to take weight off her aching joints and feet, she frequently leaned against the walls or her elephant companion Ambika, stretched her trunk over the fence and leaned her weight on it, and lowered her back end onto a large tire in the elephant yard.
In 1995, an elephant calf named Kumari died from the highly fatal elephant herpesvirus. His mother, Shanthi, had been sent to Rosamond Gifford Zoo for breeding, a facility associated with the deadly disease. Because an elephant has died at the Zoo and the current female elephants have lived with an African elephant, there is the risk that another elephant could sicken with this disease.
Since Kandula's birth in 2001, a result of artificial insemination, National Zoo has unsuccessfully continued to artificially inseminate Shanthi.
The National Zoo is renovating its elephant exhibit, which is set for completion in 2011. This facility will cost $60 million, half of which will be funded by federal taxes. While the exhibit will be larger than the current enclosure, it still will be woefully inadequate for elephants. In addition, the National Zoo plans to hold as many as a dozen elephants in the renovated facility, essentially negating any space gains for the elephants.
The National Zoo employs a controversial system of training and management that relies on dominance and physical punishment to control elephants. Desired behaviors are achieved through a combination of negative reinforcement (pain and discomfort, usually inflicted with a bullhook), physical punishment or threat of it, and positive reinforcement. The bullhook, or ankus, is similar to a fireplace poker, with a sharp steel point and hook at one end is used to poke, prod and stab elephants into compliance with commands.
The two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the U.S. never use physical force to manage elephants, and they provide between dozens and hundreds of acres of naturalistic landscape on which to forage and exercise. Meanwhile, the National Zoo and other zoos continue to waste millions in tax dollars on new elephant exhibits that are still inadequate and already outdated.
The Elephants
Nancy (1954 - 2000)
Nancy was captured on the African savannah and taken from her family when she was just an infant, and spent the remainder of her life in captivity. Zoo veterinary records provide evidence that Nancy suffered from numerous physical disorders, and that she was in significant pain for a long period of time before her death. Over the course of years, progressive arthritis, chronic foot infections, ulcerative colitis and other afflictions took their toll on this elephant's health. In the last years of her life, Nancy's feet hurt so badly that she tried to compensate by walking with a distorted gait, and often leaned against a water tower in the enclosure for support.
While records indicate that zoo officials knew that Nancy's problems were directly related to lack of space and hard walking surfaces, they did not try to alleviate her suffering by improving her surroundings. There is no mention in the records that the zoo ever gave Nancy anything soft to stand on, lie on, or lean against. Instead, they fed her drugs to mask the pain while the medical conditions causing it worsened.
In 2000, Nancy's pain got so bad that she stopped eating, and the zoo euthanized her. Her necropsy revealed an extensive tuberculosis infection in her lungs, sinuses, and lymph nodes. Though Nancy had lost more than 2,000 pounds in the final two years of her life, the zoo only diagnosed this life-threatening condition after veterinarians performed a post-mortem necropsy.
Toni (1965 - 2006)Following Nancy, Toni was the second elephant to die at the National Zoo in the 21st century. In 1989, at the age of 22, Toni was transferred to Washington, D.C. from the Scranton Zoo in Pennsylvania. Although she sustained an injury at the Scranton Zoo, Toni subsequently developed acute lameness, foot disease, arthritis, nail abscesses, and stomach ulcers while at the National Zoo. Again, the National Zoo's solution was prescribing medication to treat the symptoms, without addressing the cause of her afflictions, which is the zoo exhibit itself.
Toni's aching joints and feet clearly caused her significant pain. In an attempt to take some weight off of her legs, she frequently leaned against the walls of her enclosure and even on the body of her elephant companion, Ambika. She also stretched her trunk over the fence for support, then lowered her rear end onto a large tire in the elephant yard so that her feet did not have to bear her full weight.
Toni was emaciated towards the end of her life, having lost over 900 pounds. In addition, she was obviously in pain. Dr. Joyce Poole, research director of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya, and Dr. Mel Richardson, a zoo and wildlife veterinarian with over 30 years experience working with elephants, observed Toni a few weeks before her death. Both of these experts said they had ever seen an elephant-wild or captive-in worse condition.
In January 2006, Toni was euthanized after becoming so crippled from arthritis that she could no longer use her front legs. The National Zoo officially blamed Toni's arthritis on her Scranton injury, ignoring the fact that lack of space and the hard surfaces in the National Zoo's elephant exhibit had exacerbated Toni's condition.
Toni was just 38 years old when she died. She was survived by the three elephants that remain at the National Zoo today.
Ambika (born 1948)Ambika was born in India and captured in the Coorg Forest as a one-year-old baby. She was shipped to the U.S. in 1981 when she was 33, and has lived at the National Zoo ever since.
Ambika is suffering from many of the same foot and joint problems that affected Nancy and Toni. She has exhibited chronic lameness and stiffness in her left front leg, and has shown a reluctance to lean her weight on this weakened limb. Records show that Ambika has had significant problems with rising from a lying position, as well as lying down at night, and that she has experienced difficulty walking. The records also foot disorders.
Shanthi (born 1975)Shanthi came to the National Zoo in 1976 when she was only a year old. She is still a young elephant at 31 years of age, yet she has suffered from lameness and stiffness of the limbs. Despite uterine cysts revealed by a rectal ultrasound reproductive exam, the Zoo still considers her a good candidate for their captive breeding program.
In 1991, Shanthi was sent to Rosamond Gifford Zoo in upstate New York where she was impregnated, and in 1994 gave birth to a female calf named Kumari. This baby elephant died just over a year later from Elephant Endothelial Herpesvirus infection (EEHV). Shanthi was impregnated again through artificial insemination, and on November 25, 2001 bore a male calf named Kandula who remains one of the National Zoo's most popular and lucrative attractions. Subsequent attempts at artificial insemination have failed.
Kandula (born 2001 to Shanthi)The only significant health issue concerning young Kandula is possible exposure to the elephant herpesvirus, which in elephants is almost always fatal. He has been treated with the anti-viral drug, Famciclovir, on at least three occasions.
Kumari (born December 1993 to Shanthi; died April 1995)
Kumari was the "index case" for the deadly elephant herpesvirus. He died at less than two years of age.