Euthanasia of San Diego Wild Animal Park Elephant Imminent

IDA charges zoo conditions caused 40-year-old Carol to suffer from severe foot disease

San Diego, Calif.—The San Diego Wild Animal Park intends to euthanize Carol, a 40-year-old Asian elephant who suffers from severe and painful foot disease, sources have informed In Defense of Animals (IDA) today.

IDA charged that the imminent death of this elephant is premature and directly linked to the inadequate conditions under which the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park confine elephants.

“The type of severe foot disease from which Carol reportedly suffers involves painful and chronic abscesses and infection that eventually invades the bone,” said IDA president Elliot M. Katz, DVM. “This excruciating condition afflicts more than 60 percent of elephants in zoos and is directly caused by the cramped and unnatural exhibits zoos force these magnificent animals to live in.”

Katz said that foot disease and arthritis, also caused by zoo conditions, are the leading cause of euthanasia of elephants in zoos, claiming their lives decades before their time. A natural elephant lifespan is 60-70 years. In the wild, elephants reproduce into their 50’s and can live a decade or longer after reproduction ceases. At 40, Carol is only middle-aged.

Carol was born in Asia in approximately 1967 and lived in San Diego since she was about a year old, first at the San Diego Zoo, then at the Wild Animal Park, where she lives in an exhibit less than three acres in size.

That amount of space is completely inadequate for earth’s largest land mammal, Katz said, which in the wild can walk ten or more miles a day. Lack of space in zoos prevents adequate movement and forces elephants to stand on unyielding surfaces like concrete and compacted soil, wreaking havoc on elephants’ feet and joints.

“Elephants need space, natural conditions and intact, extended families in order to thrive,” Katz concluded. “Zoo conditions are causing elephants to suffer and die. How many more elephants must die before the zoo industry comes to terms with this reality?”

The San Diego Wild Animal Park’s elephant program became the center of controversy when it dumped three older African elephants in order to make room for younger elephants, recently captured and imported from Africa. The three elephants – Peaches, Wankie, and Tatima, had lived in San Diego for decades. In 2002, they were shipped to Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, where cold winters forced the elephants to be confined indoors for long periods. Within two years, all three of the elephants died.

IDA is an international animal protection organization based in San Rafael, Calif. For more information on IDA’s elephant campaign, see www.helpelephants.com.