Animal Protection Groups Praise City and Residents of SF for Support of Elephants as Zoo Announces Transfer of Pachyderms to California Sanctuary
Groups Call on Zoo to Immediately Bring in Sanctuary Experts to Begin the Move

San Francisco, CA – As the San Francisco Zoo prepares to announce the transfer of two surviving elephants to the Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in San Andreas, California, Bay Area animal advocacy organizations are hailing the City of San Francisco and its support for this long-overdue and necessary move.

"This is a victory for the elephants and for the City of San Francisco," said Elliot Katz, DVM, president of In Defense of Animals (IDA). "We're pleased that the Zoo has chosen to listen to the Board of Supervisors who urged the transfer of the elephants to the PAWS sanctuary. You could not find better caretakers and guardians for the elephants than PAWS founders Pat Derby and Ed Stewart."

"Now the zoo must immediately bring in PAWS staff to begin the transfer process," said Deniz Bolbol, a consultant working with IDA on the San Francisco Zoo elephant issue. "Not a moment's more delay - Tinkerbelle and Lulu must begin their journey toward healing and a better life today."

The elephants will be leaving their antiquated zoo lots (less than ½ acre in size) and heading to the naturalistic environment at PAWS, which affords the pachyderms up to 100 acres of space to roam. There, the elephants spend their days lolling on grassy hillsides, munching vegetation, swimming in the pond or relaxing in the 20,000 gallon Jacuzzi that was designed specifically for arthritic elephants, a condition commonly developed by elephants held under the intense confinement of zoos and circuses. They will also enjoy the company of their own kind.

IDA, Citizens for Cruelty Free Entertainment and others have been calling for the relocation of the elephants at the San Francisco Zoo for several years, and intensified efforts after the deaths of Calle, a 37-year old Asian elephant on March 7. Within seven weeks of Calle's death, 43-year old Maybelle, an African elephant, collapsed in her enclosure at the zoo and died. On June 8, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling on the zoo to transfer the elephants to the PAWS sanctuary.

Acting under intense political pressure and public outcry (the zoo received over 1,000 calls and letters from the public and nearly 2,000 zoo patrons signed petitions endorsing the elephants' immediate transfer), the zoo will make an announcement today regarding the transfer of the elephants to PAWS.

"We are grateful to the people and government of San Francisco for the strong support they have shown for these long-suffering elephants," Katz continued. "Without their support, this move would never have taken place."

"The next step is to learn the lesson of the recent elephant tragedies by permanently closing the elephant exhibits at the zoo," Katz said, noting that the space freed up by the transfer of the elephants could be used to provide more naturalistic environments for other animals housed in substandard conditions at the zoo.

Katz also noted that a nationwide trend is underway to re-evaluate the ethics of keeping elephants in captivity, led by the Detroit Zoo, which last month announced that it would close its elephant exhibit for ethical reasons.