Date
June 7, 2006
Contact
Marianne Bessey
(610) 733-1248
In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael
CA 94901
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
5,000 People Urge City Council to Send Elephants to Sanctuary
Thursday: Day of Action Highlights Elephant-Sized Controversy at Philly Zoo
Philadelphia, Pa.—Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants (FPZE) and In Defense of Animals (IDA), accompanied by “Dulary” the elephant, will deliver petitions containing over 5,000 signatures of concerned Philadelphia-area residents and visitors to Philadelphia city council members during Thursday morning’s council meeting to urge them to pass a resolution requesting the transfer of the Zoo’s four elephants to a sanctuary. The groups, also leafleting later that day at Philadelphia Zoo’s “Zoobilee” fundraiser, are concerned about the inadequate conditions under which the elephants are currently held.
What: Delivery of Petitions to Philadelphia City Council
When: Thursday, June 8, 10:00 a.m.
Where: Philadelphia City Hall, Room 400
What: Demonstration at Zoo’s “Zoobilee” Fundraiser
When: Thursday, June 8, 5:00 p.m.
Where: Philadelphia Zoo – Main entrance
An elephant-sized controversy has raged at the Zoo since its financially-based decision not to build a new enclosure for its elephants, who are currently confined to a 1940’s-era exhibit under cramped and unnatural conditions that are detrimental to their health and well-being.
According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, the Philadelphia Zoo has already decided to close the elephant exhibit and send its four elephants away. Elephant advocates have urged the Zoo to transfer the elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary (TES), a 2,700-acre refuge in Tennessee that has the space and natural conditions necessary for elephants to thrive.
The Zoo threatens instead to send the elephants to another zoo. No U.S. zoo has an exhibit large or naturalistic enough to meet the biological and psychological needs of elephants, who in the wild walk tens of miles a day and live in large, extended family groups. (The largest elephant exhibit at a U.S. zoo is just eight acres. There are 640 acres in one mile.)
Of particular concern is the Zoo’s treatment of Dulary, a 42-year old endangered Asian elephant who has been warehoused in a concrete barn for more than nine months since she was “attacked” by one of the Zoo’s African elephants. In March, IDA and FPZE notified the Zoo that its treatment of Dulary violated the federal Endangered Species Act.
On Thursday, elephant advocates will urge the Philadelphia City Council to pass a resolution requesting the immediate transfer of Dulary to TES, before her health declines further in solitary confinement at the Zoo.
Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants is a local group of individuals living or working in or near Philadelphia dedicated to helping the voiceless.