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Zoos' Propaganda Regarding the Importation of Wild Elephants The ongoing zoo propaganda surrounding the capture and import of 11 wild elephants from Swaziland in Africa follows the motto “if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes reality.” But the truth remains that these zoos did not rescue the elephants; they bought them as attractions to increase the zoos’ profits. They wielded the threat that the elephants would be culled (a claim that Swaziland Big Game Parks head Ted Reilly privately acknowledged was not true) as a weapon to blackmail the federal government and the U.S. courts into sanctioning this venture and to make this unsavory elephant abduction more palatable to a concerned public. The end result is that 11 juvenile wild African elephants – two of them pregnant -- were taken from their native Africa, where they ranged over thousands of acres, and have been confined to zoo lots of 2 acres for the rest of their lives. FALSE CLAIM: The zoos have rescued 11 elephants from a fenced, managed park located within the Kingdom of Swaziland. REALITY:
The zoos did not rescue these elephants. They captured them to export
them as attractions and producers of prized baby elephants, known to be
crowd magnets for zoos. In doing so, they removed one-third of Swaziland’s
elephant population and ignored legitimate offers from three reserves
in Africa that were willing to accept the elephants and allow them to
remain in a free-roaming situation in their native habitat. In addition,
if the zoos were really interested in conservation, they could have contributed
the estimated $300,000 Swaziland needed for fencing to expand the elephants’
range, thus obviating any need to move elephants at all. Instead, the
zoos spent upwards of $10 million on the capture, transport and new exhibits
for the elephants—money that could have funded Swaziland’s
entire elephant conservation program for years to come! FALSE CLAIM: The elephants need to be sent to the zoos because there was nowhere else in Africa for them to go. Therefore, they would have been culled if not sent to U.S. zoos. REALITY: The Save Wild Elephants Coalition identified three reserves IN AFRICA that were willing to take the elephants. The Coalition offered to pay all translocation expenses. For months, the zoos and Swaziland ignored this offer, and when it was no longer possible to ignore it, they blatantly misrepresented facts about these alterative homes. The zoos falsely claimed that one of the reserves allowed trophy hunting. (A sworn affidavit in the legal case directly contradicts this false claim.) They stated that South Africa would never allow the elephants to be returned to that country, even though one of the alternative homes is not even in South Africa at all. (It is in Mozambique.) In addition, private reserves in South Africa suggested by the coalition are actively seeking elephants in order to develop ecotourism programs! The South African government would not allow the elephants to return to Kruger National Park where they were born and orphaned in a cull; however, the reserves seeking elephants are outside the park, and the government has an economic interest in helping them develop ecotourism programs. FALSE CLAIM: The zoos are dedicated to elephant conservation. REALITY: This elephant sale sets a dangerous precedent that will encourage the commercial trade in this threatened species that is protected under U.S. and international law. That’s why eight of the world’s leading African elephant experts, including Drs. Cynthia Moss, Joyce Poole and Keith Lindsey, condemned the import, warning of its “profound implications for elephants in Africa.” Please
click here to learn more about the detrimental effects of captivity
on elephants and our efforts to keep elephants wild. |
