Activists Ask Zoo Association To Give Detroit Elephants Reasons To Be Thankful
IDA and PETA Demand AZA Reverse Decision Denying Elephants Sanctuary

Silver Spring, Md.- On the day before Thanksgiving, animal protection advocates will gather outside the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) headquarters in protest of the industry trade group's refusal to allow the Detroit Zoo to send its two ailing elephants, Wanda and Winky, to a sanctuary. In Defense of Animals (IDA) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who have blasted the AZA for putting business interests ahead of elephant welfare, demand the association give the elephants something to be thankful for by allowing them to go to an accredited elephant sanctuary.

The activists will greet AZA employees on their lunch hour with posters reading, "AZA: Give Winky and Wanda Reasons to Be Thankful."

What: Protest at Zoo Industry Association Headquarters
Date: Wednesday, November 24
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12: 30 p.m.
Place: American Zoo and Aquarium Association Headquarters, 8403 Colesville Rd.

Detroit Zoo's elephants, like elephants in other U.S. zoos, suffer from captivity-induced health problems that include severe arthritis and recurrent foot problems, a direct result of inadequate exercise caused by confinement in cramped, unnatural quarters. The situation is exacerbated by cold, snowy winters in cities like Detroit, which force elephants indoors, where they stand on concrete for months on end.

Instead of sending the elephants to a spacious sanctuary where they will have access to hundreds of acres of rolling hills, varied grasses and the ability to exercise and forage year round, the AZA wants the Detroit Zoo to send its elephants to the Columbus Zoo, where they will be confined indoors for the long winter, a situation that will aggravate their arthritic conditions.

Elephants in the wild travel tens of miles per day and are genetically designed for almost constant movement, a condition necessary for psychological and physical well being. Yet AZA standards allow an elephant to be held in an enclosure of 1,800 square feet -the equivalent of six parking lot spaces.

"It's time for the AZA to recognize that elephants are dying young in zoos because zoos cannot provide for the vast physical and social needs of the earth's largest land mammal," says IDA President Dr. Elliot Katz, a veterinarian. "More than six AZA-accredited zoos have sent their elephants to sanctuaries. AZA should be supporting these moves, rather than opposing zoos that place the interests of the animals first."