In Defense of Animals Says “Rubbish” to Zoo Alliance With Trash Giant

Proposed Center Bad News for Elephants

Houston, Texas.—International animal protection organization In Defense of Animals (IDA) today blasted a zoo industry collaboration with trash giant Waste Management, Inc. to create an elephant farm in Florida. IDA said the so-called National Elephant Center (NEC), the plans for which will be announced at a Thursday press conference in Houston, TX, will do nothing to protect elephant welfare or promote conservation, and will in fact lead to more elephants suffering.

“How ironic that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), which claims a conservation mission, has teamed up with a giant polluter to establish an elephant farm next to a landfill in central Florida,” said IDA president and veterinarian Elliot Katz. “Even more ironic is the fact that the AZA chose the Houston Zoo, which has lost 13 of 14 elephant calves born there and is a hotbed for a deadly elephant virus, to announce this misguided venture.”

“The public should not be bamboozled into thinking that this proposed center will help elephants, either in captivity or in the wild,” Katz continued.

According to IDA, the center fails on many levels, including:

  • The “warehousing” of some elephants, while others will be routinely shuffled in and out, breaking social bonds and seriously impacting the welfare of these intelligent and socially complex animals.

  • Likely control of elephants through circus-style methods that rely on physical punishment and fear.

  • Siphoning off funds from true conservation programs that protect elephants where they naturally live. U.S. zoos already plan to spend in excess of $250 million to build new elephant enclosures in the near future. The NEC plan diverts millions more from conservation to the operation of the Florida elephant farm

  • Lack of public accountability. As a private institution, the proposed center would not be subject to public records laws as publicly owned zoos currently are.

The elephant farm is designed to facilitate the breeding and import of elephants, who will eventually end up in U.S. zoos. These zoos continue to house elephants in substandard and unnatural conditions that cause a range of problems, including painful degenerative diseases, reproductive failures, behavioral disorders, and premature death.

“The planned center is nothing new,” Katz observed. “It recycles the same old zoo approach to captive elephant management that has failed elephants for over 100 years.”

“It’s time to end the captive breeding and import of elephants and focus all efforts on saving these endangered animals in the wild,” he concluded.

In Defense of Animals is an international animal rescue and advocacy organization based in San Rafael, CA. For more information see www.helpelephants.com.

Click here for the "National Elephant Center Plan Bad Is for Elephants" IDA Statement.