Legal Showdown Aims to Stop Six Flags in Vallejo from Lying about Elephant Program

Park Spokesperson Accused of Defaming Animal Protection Organization

Vallejo, Calif.—International animal protection organization In Defense of Animals (IDA) is demanding a retraction and payment of monetary damages for defamatory statements made by Nancy Chan, the spokesperson for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom relating to the group’s criticism of the park’s elephant program. Chan’s comments were reported on July 6 in a Bay City News Service article that ran on a CBS television website and by the Vallejo Times-Herald.

In a letter sent to Six Flags Chairman Daniel Snyder and President & CEO Mark Shapiro, Dion A. Sullivan, attorney for IDA writes, “…Ms. Chan knew her statements were false. IDA based its statements about Six Flags on documents obtained from Six Flags itself under the California Records Act. …To claim that IDA ‘falsified information’ and ‘is lying” about the [elephant] program’ at Six Flags is undoubtedly defamatory.”

According to IDA, Nancy Chan, who previously served as a spokesperson for San Francisco Zoo, has a history of misrepresenting the facts about elephant well-being. Chan left the San Francisco Zoo shortly after the controversy surrounding the deaths of two elephants ended with the surviving elephants being sent to a sanctuary.

“The veterinary records don’t lie, no matter who Six Flags hires to spin the situation,” said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, IDA President. “The park’s own records document a terrible history of elephant suffering and death.”

Five elephants at the park were euthanized after suffering from painful foot and/or joint disease, conditions directly related to the elephant exhibit’s cramped and unnatural conditions. At least two of the surviving elephants – Taj and Liz, both city – “owned” – are afflicted as well. Despite their condition, the park forces these ailing elephants to perform in shows that include lifting 600 pound logs with their diseased feet and limbs.

“Six Flags cares first and foremost about the bottom line, and they are clearly willing to sacrifice elephant welfare in the name of profit,” Katz continued. “We are speaking to them about the gravity of their misrepresentations in the only language they understand: money. As a charity that depends on our good reputation to further our mission, we will not tolerate slander, lies, and misrepresentations.”

IDA is seeking removal of the elephants from the park to a natural habitat elephant sanctuary. IDA has posted the elephant veterinary records, obtained through the California Public Records Act, on its website at www.helpelephants.com. A copy of the letter is available upon request.