IDA Holds Memorial Day Weekend Protest of Elephant Abuse at Six Flags

Vallejo, Calif.—As tourist season kicks off at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, San Rafael-based In Defense of Animals (IDA) will hold a Memorial Day Weekend demonstration to urge the amusement park to focus on the rides and stop subjecting animals to substandard conditions for a few cheap tricks. The organization, equipped with a bullhook—an instrument shaped like a fireplace poker with a sharp steel hook at the end used to stab, hook, and hit the elephants—will call on Six Flags to send its seven elephants to a sanctuary, and focus on the rides instead.

When: Saturday, May 26, 2007 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, 1001 Fairgrounds Dr. (in front of the ticket booth)

Members of IDA will also screen behind-the-scenes video footage that depicts the dominance and physical punishment exerted in order to train elephants to give rides. In view of the public, keepers will prod the elephants lightly. Video of how elephants are trained for rides—chained by all four legs in a cage and hooked by a handler with a bullhook—will be shown on “body screens.”

IDA has been protesting Six Flags’ use of elephants for years. While most zoos stopped elephant rides long ago for humane and public safety reasons, Six Flags continues the practice.

Six Flags crams elephants—who naturally walk 10 miles or more a day—into small spaces that cause them to develop arthritis and foot disease. Recently, five elephants have died at the park from causes that include: severe arthritis and feet so infected they bled and oozed pus; massive infection from a dead calf decomposing in the mother’s womb, and an infection in a two-year old baby elephant who was taken from his mother.

Medical records obtained by IDA from the city of Vallejo indicate that elephants currently residing at Six Flags suffer from health problems. There are also problems with elephant aggression, a sign of psychological distress. In addition, several of the Six Flags elephants have been observed stereotypically rocking and swaying, a neurotic behavior associated with stress.

“Six Flags makes a mockery out of highly intelligent and complex elephants by treating them like just another ride at its amusement park,” said Melissa Gonzalez, IDA spokesperson. “Elephants do not belong in amusement parks—it’s just not right.”

For more information, please visit www.helpelephants.com.