Illinois Native Richard Pryor Urges Chicago City Council To Send Elephant To Sanctuary
Threat to Elephant’s Well Being No Laughing Matter to Comedian

Chicago — Following the deaths of two elephants at the Lincoln Park Zoo, world-renowned comedian and Illinois native Richard Pryor has sent a letter to members of Chicago’s Committee on Parks and Recreation urging their support of a resolution to send Wankie, the sole surviving elephant at the Zoo, to a sanctuary rather than another zoo and permanently closing the Zoo’s pachyderm exhibit. The resolution, introduced by Alderman George A. Cardenas, has been referred to the Parks and Recreation Committee and will be heard at the upcoming Parks and Recreation Committee meeting.

Within a few months of each other, 34-year-old Tatima and 55-year-old Peaches prematurely died spurring a flurry of debate over the ability of the Lincoln Park Zoo to provide for elephants’ needs for expansive space and complex social networks. Both elephants died due to captivity-induced health problems caused by zoo conditions. Elephants in the wild naturally have a 70-year lifespan; elephants in zoos on average die at half their natural lifespan.

“Lincoln Park Zoo’s recent history of two premature elephant deaths in a three month period reinforces the fact that zoos are incapable of providing for elephants’ physical and psychological needs,” Pryor writes. “Unlike any zoos, two elephant sanctuaries in the U.S. provide elephants with access to hundreds of acres where they can roam and heal the painful foot infections and arthritis developed from years of standing on hard soil and concrete.”

Elephants in the wild can travel tens of miles per day; there are 640 acres in one mile. This constant movement is necessary for elephants’ well being. The Lincoln Park Zoo announced plans to move Wankie to another zoo. The largest outdoor enclosure in any U.S. zoo is just six acres. Sanctuaries offer elephants free space to hundreds of acres.

Pryor joins X-Files star and Chicagoan Gillian Anderson in appealing to the Chicago City Council to help send Wankie to a sanctuary where she could socialize with other elephants and cope with the recent loss of her lifelong companions.

Pryor’s letter to Chicago’s Committee on Parks and Recreation follows. Please visit SaveZooElephants.com for more information.

Richard Pryor letter to Honorable Committee Members, Committee on Parks and Recreation, Alderman Mary Ann Smith, Chairman.