Woodland Park Zoo Named "Seventh Worst Zoo for Elephants"
By Damon Agnos
Tuesday, Jan. 6 2009 @ 12:23PM
If you kids don't behave, I'll send you to Seattle!
In Defense of Animals, a California-based animal rights group, released its "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" list for 2008, and Woodland Park Zoo is tied with Washington DC's National Zoo for 7th. At blame, says IDA: the zoo's efforts to breed 30-year-old Chai and 33-year-old Shanthi, in defiance of herpes and age-related pregnancy complication risks. Chai, who miscarried last June, also recently lost her 6-year-old daughter, Hansa, to Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus, a virus that can cause massive and fatal hemorrhaging.
Zoo public relations manager Gigi Allianic, says the list "is part of a national campaign to remove elephants from zoos. We provide [our elephants] with excellent nutrition, exercise, veterinary care and enrichment. Woodland Park Zoo is dedicated to keeping elephants from becoming extinct. Conservation and education are the reasons we care for elephants in zoos."
As for the pregnancies, she says, "Elephants have a higher chance of a successful birth before age 25. In the wild, elephants can breed successfully into their 40s and 50s and we believe that is the case for our Asian elephant, Chai, age 30. There is no data available on higher risk of birth complications for older elephants." As for the herpes risks, she says that the experts the zoo works with say that virtually every elephant carries the virus, and it's unclear why some show symptoms and others don't.
Update: Suzanne Roy of IDA sent this statement (word doc), submitted jointly by IDA and PETA to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, opposing an extension of the zoo's permit to import semen to inseminate Chai. It explains in greater detail why the group views inseminating Chai as particularly risky. For example, young Asian elephants that are housed with African elements seem to be at greater risk for contracting the virus, and the zoo houses Watoto, an African elephant, along with its Asian elephants.
4 comment(s)
Claudine Erlandson says:
Seattle Woodland Park Zoo must send their elephants to the wonderful Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Seattle zoo is keeping them in such close quarters; it's horrible. Their breeding program endangers them and is very unconscionable. I will not take my 6 year-old grandson to visit the Seattle zoo, not until the elephants are no longer there being exploited and mistreated.
Posted On: Tuesday, Jan. 6 2009 @ 7:40PM
Bob Chorush says:
If zoo public relations manager Gigi Allianic thinks that the zoo provides such wonderful nutrition, exercise, medical care and enrichment for its elephants, surely she would be willing to live in their enclosure and endure their wonderful conditions for a week. She wouldn’t even have to be bred or contract herpes. My guess is that she’d be begging to go to a sanctuary.
Posted On: Wednesday, Jan. 7 2009 @ 5:36AM
John Houck says:
Woodland Park Zoo is an asset to our region and is thought of in that way by the vast majority of people in our region. It got that way because of leadership in conservation and education, and its impressive support significant real world conservation projects around the globe. Far from being on a radical group's "worst" list, Woodland park is often regarded as one of the best zoos in the world.
Posted On: Thursday, Jan. 8 2009 @ 1:13PM
PearlsofWisdom says:
If a zoo refuses to even acknowledge that elephants, the largest land mammal, need a lot of space, then they are not showing leadership in conservation and education. On the contrary, though Woodland Park Zoo is an attractive zoo to stroll through from the zoo visitors' perspective, their refusal to recognize what elephants need to thrive shows that the zoo remains firmly entrenched in an outdated, 19th century menagerie model of keeping and displaying elephants. This is most of all unfortunate for the animals who continue to suffer and die prematurely from captivity-induced ailments and from a tragically failed breeding program with an alarmingly high death rate. It is more than cosmetic appearance that makes a world-class zoo. It is also a forward-thinking, progressive philosophy that promotes the best iterest of the animals under their care. I'm afraid from that perspective, Woodland Park Zoo has earned its place on this "10 Worst Zoos for Elephants" list.
Posted On: Monday, Jan. 19 2009 @ 12:34PM