Date
September 25, 2006
Contact
Catherine Doyle
(323) 301-5730
Suzanne Roy
(919) 732-8983
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 Issues Challenge as Zoo Industry Association Convenes in Florida: Zoos Must Support Real Elephant Conservation
Tampa, Fla.—As the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) convenes for its annual conference this week in Tampa, In Defense of Animals (IDA) today challenged the organization and member zoos to focus resources on in situ elephant conservation, rather than wasting millions on expensive, unnatural and inadequate elephant exhibits.
IDA called on zoos to follow the lead of the prestigious Bronx Zoo, which earlier this year announced it phase out its elephant exhibit and direct money instead toward preserving elephants in the wild in Africa and Asia.
“Real conservation of elephants takes place where elephants live,” said Les Schobert, former General Curator of the Los Angeles and North Carolina Zoos, and consultant to IDA on elephant issues. “Zoos could protect entire populations of elephants in range countries just with the money currently being spent on exhibit expansions that still won’t give elephants the space they need.“
AZA zoos plan to spend over $150 million on elephant exhibit expansions, the largest of which is 3.5 acres, still too small for earth’s largest land mammal. In addition, AZA zoos annually spend an estimated $16 million to maintain fewer than 300 elephants, based on an average of $58,000/year/elephant, according to AZA statistics. By contrast:
- $400,000 is the entire annual budget for the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, which protects the lives of 1,400 elephants in 52 families in their natural habitat in Kenya. This is the same funding that some zoos spend to maintain four elephants for a year.
- $10,000 is the rough cost of supporting an anti-poaching team (including salaries and food supplements, some medicine support and basic body equipment) in Thailand for one year, according to WildAid.
- $25 million is the entire annual budget for the Kenya Wildlife Service, which protects some of the world’s most diverse wildlife populations, including more than 30,000 elephants across more than 20,000 square miles of natural habitat. The total combined size of all US zoo elephant enclosures is less than 1 square mile.
IDA noted that many zoos spend more on marketing than they do on conservation. For example, Los Angeles Zoo, which plans a $39 million exhibit expansion for 5-6 elephants, spends .5 percent ($90,000) of its annual $17 million budget on conservation, while 12 percent ($2 million) of its annual budget is spent on marketing and advertising (according to AZA 2004 Annual Survey).
“Do we continue to put money into so-called “modern” zoos, a concept that was created 200 years ago or do we go down a different path that offers a chance of real success because it protects animals in their natural habits rather than in captivity?” asked Will Travers, conservationist and CEO of the Born Free Foundation and Born Free USA.
IDA is an international animal advocacy organization based in San Rafael, Calif. In addition to its elephant program, IDA operates a chimpanzee sanctuary in Africa. The sanctuary houses orphans and operates an anti-bush meat campaign in Cameroon.