Although IDA understands that Brookfield Zoo is distressed at the death of Affie, we are deeply disappointed in the zoo's defensive posture and attacks on those who raise questions about her death. The zoo's strategy of attacking the messenger while ignoring the message does a grave disservice to the public and the elephants. The welfare of elephants is a subject that people care deeply about, and by failing to address it honestly, the zoo is letting down the very people it is claiming to educate.

In response to IDA, the zoo issued a statement and further comments that contained a number of gross misrepresentations and falsehoods. To set the record straight:

1. This is not an issue of animal protection groups versus zoos.
A global array of field scientists, conservationists, veterinarians, former zoo directors and elephant keepers all agree that elephants' complex needs cannot be met in small zoo displays, no matter how much care or enrichment is provided. Read some of the many statements by experts who have spoken out for dramatic changes in the way zoos hold elephants here.

2. It is undeniable that zoo conditions are causing a range of problems for elephants in zoos, and that Affie is only the latest victim.
These include painful and often-fatal foot disease and arthritis, obesity, infertility, a high rate of birth complications and stillbirths, high infant mortality rates, and abnormal behaviors such as aggression and repetitive swaying and rocking.

It should be noted that Brookfield Zoo director Dr. Stuart Strahl did not deny that Affie suffered from painful foot disease and arthritis; he merely claimed that, in his opinion, she did not die from them. Many elephants with these conditions perish as a result of related problems, such as toxicity from long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or cardiovascular disease and obesity. Others, possibly including Affie, collapse when they can no longer stand on their deteriorated feet and joints, either dying outright or being euthanized.

3. The best care in the world cannot compensate for the fact that cramped and unnatural zoo conditions cause elephants to suffer and die prematurely.
The reality is that confining earth's largest land mammal, which has evolved to walk tens of miles each day, to tiny zoo lots of a few acres or less in size, exacts a heavy toll on elephants. Recent elephant exhibit expansions have for the most part been insignificant, and there is no evidence that the many millions of dollars spent on them will result in elephants living longer or healthier lives.

4. Affie was not a geriatric elephant, as the zoo has claimed.
Natural African elephant lifespan is 65 years. At 39, Affie would be considered middle-aged and still in her reproductive years.

The median life expectancy for a wild female African elephant is 56 years, according to the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, which has conducted the longest running study of free-ranging African elephant behavior (more than 30 years). The famed elephant Echo, star of the BBC documentary "Echo of the Elephants," recently died in Amboseli. She was well into her 60s and lived a long and rich life. By contrast, Affie, also an African elephant, died nearly two decades sooner than the median age for her wild counterparts. This, despite the fact she received regular keeper and veterinary care and a controlled diet, and was not subject to wild conditions such as drought or famine. If conditions in zoos were satisfactory, elephants would be living much closer to their natural lifespan.

5. While some species live longer in zoos than in the wild, elephants do not.
A recent study in the prestigious journal Science found that elephants in zoos are not thriving and are have far shorter life expectancies than their wild counterparts. Zoos vehemently attacked this study, however the industry's rebuttal was rejected and refused publication by Science's peer review, known to be among the most rigorous of any scientific publication in the world.

Zoos often cite a faulty study published in a zoo industry journal that claimed African elephants have an average life expectancy in U.S. zoos of 33 years. In fact, the calculations in that study excluded infant mortality (which would have significantly reduced average life expectancy) and then compared those to figures from Africa and Asia that did include infant mortality. They were deceptively comparing apples and oranges.

6. Brookfield Zoo should publicly release all veterinary records for Affie and Christy, and the preliminary and final necropsy reports for Affie.
Only then will the zoo be truly transparent when it comes to the care of its elephants. If there is nothing to hide, the zoo should have no problem with the full release of the records.

The veterinary records can shed light on the extent to which Affie suffered foot disease and/or arthritis, and whether she was on anti-inflammatory and pain relief medications and for how long. Christy’s records will reveal her medical status as well.

7. It's time to stop the name-calling, gross mischaracterizations and outright falsehoods targeted at those who have called attention to the suffering of elephants in zoos.
It takes quite a leap of logic to say that because IDA cares about the welfare of elephants - animals who are unique for their great physical, social and psychological needs - that our intention is to close down all zoos. IDA has never said that, nor is that our goal. We simply believe that if a zoo cannot provide the space and natural conditions elephants need, then that zoo should not hold elephants.

8. IDA and other animal protection organizations support conservation efforts in Africa and Asia.
Brookfield Zoo cited its anti-ivory efforts of the 1980s as evidence of its conservation efforts. Today, IDA engages and motivates its members to get involved in conservation issues by expressing mass opposition to the culling of elephants in South Africa and financially supporting anti-poaching activities in Africa. IDA has raised significant funds to support behavioral and conservation research in Asia and Africa. IDA also operates a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees in Cameroon, and leads a campaign against the bushmeat trade.

9. Zoos can be places of education, but not at the expense of animal welfare.
What kind of message do zoos send when elephants are ailing and dying prematurely because of the inadequate display they're held in? We are convinced that children, who are naturally compassionate, would not want to see an elephant in the zoo if they knew that animal was suffering.

Zoos have no evidence to support the claim that seeing an animal in a zoo is a pre-requisite to caring about saving them in the wild. People have been looking at elephants in zoos for 200 years, yet the animals' numbers have still dwindled in the wild. .No one will ever see a blue whale in an aquarium, yet we care about these animals and work to ensure their continued existence on this Earth.

10. The self-serving claim that "there is no wild left anymore" and that zoos are the last refuge for elephants is false and misleading.
As long as there are national parks and protected nature preserves in Africa and Asia, there will be elephants, and the only way to conserve elephants is to protect them where they naturally live by preserving and protecting their habitats. The zoo’s claim about being a last refuge harms conservation by promoting a defeatist attitude – in essence encouraging people to give up on saving elephants in the wild as long as they can be in zoos. However, preserving a few hundred elephants in zoos, where they suffer and die prematurely, is not equivalent to saving thousands of these individuals in their natural habitats.

Leading the public to believe that zoos are the answer to elephant problems in the wild denigrates the efforts of conservationists working in their native countries and making strides to protect wild elephant populations. These same conservationists will readily tell you that breeding elephants in US zoos has nothing to do with conservation in their countries.

The future of elephants must necessarily remain in their natural habitats, not in zoos, where elephants are not thriving.