Date
July 28, 2006
Contact
Suzanne Roy
919-732-8983
Kristie Phelps
757-423-0093
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.
IDA Asks Feds to Intervene on Behalf of Suffering Elephant at St. Louis Zoo
Group Files Complaint with USDA; Sends Plea to Zoo
St. Louis, Mo.—In Defense of Animals (IDA) has sent an urgent letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture asking the agency to intervene on behalf of Clara, a 52-year-old Asian elephant who is severely debilitated from painful arthritis, chronic foot abscesses and foot erosions.
“[T]he St. Louis Zoo has violated the adequate care requirement of the Animal Welfare Act by failing to move Clara off concrete and out of the tiny enclosures that have caused and are exacerbating her foot and joint problems, while continuing to treat her symptoms with high doses of NSAIDs [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] that are destroying her internal organs,” wrote Elliot M. Katz, DVM, IDA president in the complaint to Dr. Robert Gibbens, Western Regional Director of USDA’s Animal Care Division. “The zoo has also violated the adequate space provision of the Act by continuing to hold Clara under conditions that have caused her obvious and painful decline from degenerative, yet preventable foot and joint disease.”
In a separate letter to St. Louis Zoo director William Boever, Katz wrote, “As veterinarians, you and I took a solemn oath to use our scientific knowledge and skills for the ‘protection of animal health [and] the relief of animal suffering.’ Given Clara’s painful and obvious decline, I believe that your zoo has violated this solemn oath by failing to move her to an environment that provided space for exercise, soft soil and natural substrate to help her deteriorating feet. . .”
The St. Louis Zoo holds elephants in yards of less than one-half acre and confines them to concrete-floored barn stalls for extended periods of time, especially in winter when the cold temperatures force elephants to be indoors for days on end. Six of St. Louis Zoo’s seven elephants have suffered from foot, nail and/or joint problems.
Zoo conditions do not provide elephants with freedom of movement to exercise, behave and socialize in a manner consistent with this species’ natural behavior. As the Earth’s largest land mammal, elephants in the wild walk tens of miles each day. Standing on hard surfaces for extended lengths of time causes lameness, joint problems, chronic foot abscesses, arthritis, infections, cracked skin and nail problems in elephants.
IDA seeks Clara’s transfer to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, a 2,700-acre, natural habitat refuge that has documented experience restoring quality of life to elephants debilitated from arthritis and foot problems after decades in the circus or zoo.
The USDA is currently investigating the Los Angeles Zoo, where last month, a 48-year-old elephant, Gita, died prematurely after suffering chronic foot disease for decades. Foot disease is the leading cause of death of elephants in zoos.
For more information on IDA’s elephant campaign, see www.helpelephants.com.