IDA Blasts Alaska Zoo Board Delay on Transfer of Elephant

Another Winter is a Death Sentence for Maggie, Group Charges

Anchorage, Alaska—In Defense of Animals (IDA) today blasted the Alaska Zoo Board of Directors for delaying by at least a month the decision on where to relocate the zoo’s ailing African elephant, Maggie. The Zoo Board’s decision means that in all likelihood Maggie will not be relocated to a facility with the space, conditions, and resources to care for her properly this summer, increasing the likelihood that she will spend yet another long winter locked in her cell at the Alaska Zoo.

“Maggie’s situation is an emergency, and the Board’s delay on relocating her is utterly outrageous,” said IDA president Elliot M. Katz, DVM. “By sentencing her to another long, cold Alaska winter, the Board is basically issuing her a death sentence.”

Controversy has surrounded the lone elephant at the Alaska Zoo for years, and elephant lovers have long been advocating her transfer to a climate-appropriate facility where she can be outdoors year-round. Public outcry heightened in May after Maggie collapsed twice and could not right herself. Both times the Anchorage Fire Department was called in to hoist her to her feet.

Photographic and video evidence since the incidents reveal an elephant in poor condition, looking gaunt and suffering from gaping wounds on her body. Despite her condition, it appears that the Zoo has failed to have a veterinarian with elephant expertise examine and treat Maggie.

“There is no excuse for the Board’s inaction in this matter,” Katz said, “especially when two qualified, natural habitat sanctuaries with track records in rehabilitating elephants like Maggie are available and standing by.”

IDA is urging Alaska Zoo to send Maggie to an accredited sanctuary instead of another zoo. Only a sanctuary can provide the space and natural conditions that Maggie needs to thrive, the group contends.

At Alaska Zoo, Maggie is forced to spend the cold half of the year indoors and sedentary in a 1600-square-foot pen with concrete flooring, which can lead to fatal foot and joint problems. Maggie has lived alone since the 1997 death of her companion, Annabelle, caused by chronic foot infections. Annabelle was euthanized at age 33, half an elephant’s natural lifespan.

For more information on IDA’s campaign to move Maggie, please visit www.helpelephantsinzoos.org.