Date
June 20, 2006
Contact
Suzanne Roy
919-732-8983
Amy Mayers
202-513-7834
202-363-2537
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.
STATEMENT ON NATIONAL ZOO’S ELEPHANT EXHIBIT EXPANSION PROPOSAL
The National Zoo’s proposed elephant exhibit expansion is very disappointing. The plan is too much money for too little space.
Elephants are big animals who need big spaces, and four acres is simply not enough to meet their needs. It’s fiscally irresponsible to spend $60 million on an elephant exhibit that will still be inadequate. It will be smaller than the Oakland Zoo’s existing elephant yard, and much smaller than exhibits being planned at other zoos around the country.
Whether in the wild or in captivity, elephants need to walk long distances to maintain their health. Even the elephants at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee walk 3-15 miles each day. And these are older elephants who have been retired from zoos and circuses and suffer from arthritis and foot problems after years of intense confinement.
The Zoo is using a conservation message to sell this costly plan, but the proposal has nothing to do with conservation, because the Zoo is not breeding elephants to be returned to the wild. And the $60 million does not include a penny for real conservation programs like habitat preservation or anti-poaching activities that directly impact the survival of the species in range countries.
Renowned elephant scientist Joyce Poole of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya told National Zoo director John Berry personally in a January meeting that the money the Zoo is spending on the elephant exhibit could conserve entire elephant populations in the wild.
In Defense of Animals' (IDA)’s goal is to improve the quality of life for captive elephants. We’re simply asking for zoos to provide an environment that allows elephants to be elephants and to meet the biological and social needs of this species.