ELEPHANT FROM SAN FRANCISCO ZOO EUTHANIZED DUE TO SEVERE CAPTIVITY-INDUCED FOOT PROBLEMS
In Defense of Animals Blames Premature Death on Zoo, AZA, and USDA

San Francisco - In Defense of Animals (IDA) blames the untimely death of Tinkerbelle—the 38-year-old Asian elephant who moved from the San Francisco Zoo to the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary—on the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Zoo for acting too slowly to transfer the elephant to a more naturalistic environment. Tinkerbelle was euthanized due to chronic, debilitating, and painful foot disease and abscesses, arthritis and joint problems caused by adverse zoo conditions associated with lack of space. On average, elephants in U.S. zoos die at half their natural 70-year lifespan.

Tinkerbelle was at the PAWS facility for the past three months. Acting on public outcry following the captivity-related deaths of two elephants at the Zoo last year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in June 2004 unanimously passed a resolution urging the Zoological Society to send the long-suffering elephants to the PAWS sanctuary. Elephants, Earth’s largest land mammals, can travel tens of miles day in the wild. Constant movement of elephants is essential for their psychological and physical well being. Lulu, the remaining elephant at the Zoo, was transferred to PAWS earlier this month.

“This is a tragedy that could have been avoided. The AZA, San Francisco Zoo, and the USDA are all complicit in this death,” says IDA President Elliot Katz, DVM. “As far as I’m concerned, this abuse is in violation of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and the USDA must not allow the practice of keeping elephants in small enclosures on concrete and compacted surfaces that is so damaging to their feet and legs and causes them to suffer and die. Unfortunately there are elephants suffering in other zoos under similar conditions and we are determined to come to their aid.”

Like the majority of elephants kept in zoos, Tinkerbelle’s foot and health problems are attributed to urban zoo conditions that prevent normal exercise and social development for elephants while forcing them to stand on hard, compacted surfaces that exacerbate the joint and leg problems. 

Please visit SaveZooElephants.com for more information.