Date
August 30, 2006
Contact
Catherine Doyle
(323) 301-5730
Marilie Sage
(915) 526-3697
(915) 351-2885
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 Calls for Closure of Elephant Exhibit at El Paso Zoo
Animal Protection Organization, Elephant Expert Blast El Paso Mayor, City Council After Allegations of Elephant Beating
El Paso—In the wake of allegations that a Zoo employee struck one of the elephants at the El Paso Zoo, In Defense of Animals (IDA) is calling on the mayor and city council to close the Zoo’s elephant exhibit. The request comes more than one year after El Paso City Council voted to “expand and enrich” the outdated elephant enclosure at the Zoo, rather than send the two elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary, a 2,700 acre naturalistic habitat for elephants in Tennessee. To date, City Council has done nothing.
“El Paso Zoo’s repeated failure to protect elephants from physical abuse is but one of the institutional failings of its elephant program.,” wrote Catherine Doyle of IDA and Les Schobert, former curator of the Los Angeles and North Carolina zoos, in a letter to Mayor John Cook and the El Paso City Council. “There are three important conditions elephants need to thrive in zoos: space, social constituency and proper management. El Paso Zoo fails on all these accounts.”
This is the second known incident of elephant abuse at the Zoo. In 1999, the vicious beating of Sissy, another elephant at El Paso Zoo, was caught on video. With three of her legs chained to the ground and the fourth tied to a bar, Sissy was unable to escape the blows, which were so hard that she fell down twice. Following a massive public outcry, Sissy was sent to The Elephant Sanctuary.
“It’s just not right for an elephant to suffer at the hands of those who are charged with her care. Responsibility for this disturbing event goes beyond one individual’s actions and falls squarely on the City of El Paso for allowing the abuse to occur,” added Doyle and Schobert.
Nine U.S. zoos have shut down their elephant exhibits, most recently in Detroit and San Francisco. More zoos have announced plans to close or phase out their exhibits, including Philadelphia Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo (Calif.), and the Bronx Zoo in New York which announced it will, instead, direct its funds toward preserving elephants in the wild.
“The eyes of the country again will be on the City of El Paso and its handling of this shocking event. We urge the City to do the right thing, as was done for Sissy, and send Juno and Savannah to The Elephant Sanctuary immediately,” states Doyle and Schobert. “Juno and Savannah deserve the same chance and nothing less.”
For more information, please visit www.helpelephants.com. A copy of the letter to Mayor Cook and El Paso City Council can be found by clicking here.