Bamboo and Chai’s Saga for Elephant Sanctuary Peaks with Federal Injunction

This week, the Elephant Justice Project (EJP), represented by Smith &Lowney, P.L.L.C., filed a request in federal court requesting an injunction to keep elephants Chai and Bamboo at the San Diego Zoo in California until they can be sent to PAWS sanctuary just a few hours north. EJP, an ally of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants (FOWPZE), has succeeded in getting a partial ruling in the federal lawsuit alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act by Woodland Park Zoo. FOWPZE has been steadfast in leading this fight for almost a decade and recently filed a USDA complaint in response to the reckless transport from WPZ.

Bamboo and Chai, previously at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, are now at the San Diego Zoo after being rerouted from Oklahoma City Zoo due to hazardous weather conditions. If this sounds like a cruel game of musical chairs for the elephants, you’d be right. So, on Monday, Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants filed a Federal Injunction to keep the elephants in San Diego until PAWS (Performing Animal Welfare Society) Sanctuary in nearby Northern California can receive them.

This may be the best chance Bamboo and Chai will ever have to go to Sanctuary – and may help elephants nationwide based on the Endangered Species Act (ESA):

• In a previously filed injunction, the Judge indicated that if a sanctuary was ready to receive Bamboo and Chai, he might have ordered that they be retired to a sanctuary. Now there is a declaration from PAWS that it can provide lifelong sanctuary for Bamboo and Chai.
• The Judge expressed concerns for the elephants’ well-being in the zoological industry. Now Woodland Park Zoo’s reckless transport of Bamboo and Chai from Seattle – while ignoring such hazardous weather forecasts – elevates concerns about its endangering these elephants’ lives to a whole other level.
• Most legal cases trying to enforce the ESA fail because the plaintiff lacks standing to bring the case. But here, standing is so strong it has, thus far, gone unchallenged. With clear standing, this case might be one of the very first that can expose the private dealings of zoos and amusement parks with endangered species.

For more information, go to: http://FreeWPZelephants.org