Date
August 9, 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.
Giant Banner Display Highlights Elephant Controversy at Philadelphia Zoo
Philadelphia, Pa. — “Philly Elephants Need Space. Sanctuary YES, Zoo NO” is the message of a giant banner rush hour commuters will see on the Girard Avenue Bridge Thursday morning. Elephant advocates holding the 4 ft. x 20 ft. banner aim to convince the Philadelphia Zoo to send its elephants to a sanctuary due to the inadequate conditions under which they are currently held.
Who: Members of Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants (FPZE) and In Defense of Animals (IDA)
What: Banner display
Where: Thursday, August 10, 8:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Where: Girard Avenue Bridge, facing north
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 close to a year since she was “attacked” by one of the Zoo’s African elephants. In March, IDA - a national animal protection organization - and FPZE notified the Zoo that its treatment of Dulary violated the federal Endangered Species Act.
“Elephants are suffering needlessly in zoos and it’s just not right,” said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, President of IDA. “These are big animals who need big spaces. Zoos should only hold elephants if they can provide the space and natural conditions elephants need.”
Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants is a group of local advocates who are concerned about the elephants at the Philadelphia Zoo. For more information, please visit www.helpphillyzooelephants.com and www.HelpElephants.com.