Date
September 20, 2006
Contact
Catherine Doyle
(323) 301-5730
Kristie Phelps
(757) 553-8624
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.
Animal Protection Group Charges Safari Park With Cruel Break-Up of Long-time Elephant Companions
Lifelong friends separated after 34 years together
San Rafael, Calif.—In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection group, has charged Lion Country Safari with cruelly separating three tightly-bonded elephants – Mama, Ladybird and Stumpy – who have lived together for more than 34 years at the facility. Ladybird was quietly shipped to Greenville Zoo in South Carolina in August. A fourth elephant, the lone male Bulwagi, was sent to Disney’s Wild Kingdom earlier this year. Reportedly, Lion Country Safari will no longer display elephants.
“Elephants are highly intelligent and complex individuals who form deep social bonds. Females remain with their natural family groups for life,” explains Dr. Elliot Katz, a veterinarian and IDA president. “It’s wrong to rip these elephants apart after more than three decades and callously ship them off to other zoos.”
Elephants are known to grieve and suffer depression when separated from long-time companions,” says Katz. He called on Lion Country Safari to send Mamma and Stumpy to an elephant sanctuary, where Ladybird could be reunited with them as well.
Lion Country Safari is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), a zoo industry trade group that oversees and approves all elephant moves. “The AZA clearly has no regard for the welfare of individual elephants,” Katz stated, “otherwise it would have recommended sending Mama, Ladybird and Stumpy to an elephant sanctuary where they could live out their days together. Instead, the lives of three sensitive, intelligent animals have been shattered.”
IDA calls Ladybird’s transfer to Greenville Zoo particularly troubling. The zoo’s last attempt to integrate an elephant failed, and the AZA tabled its accreditation in 2003 after finding that the zoo did not meet the organization’s standards for elephant care and management.
Zoos across the nation are under intense public scrutiny because they are failing to provide for elephants’ specialized needs. Lion Country Safari will be the 10th U.S. zoo to shut down its elephant display. Most recently, Detroit Zoo and San Francisco Zoo ceased keeping elephants; the Bronx Zoo and Philadelphia Zoo have announced plans to discontinue their elephant displays.
For more information see www.helpelephants.com.