Second Elephant at SF Zoo Dies in Less Than Two Months

Animal Protection Groups Call for Immediate Closure of Elephants Exhibits and Transfer of Two Surviving Elephants To Sanctuaries

Video Footage and Images of Elephants Available

SAN FRANCISCO – Another elephant has died at the San Francisco Zoo, making her the second elephant in as many months to perish at the facility, In Defense of Animals (IDA) announced today. Maybelle, a 43-year-old African elephant, died within the past day under circumstances that remain sketchy. On March 7, the Zoo killed Calle, a 38-year-old Asian elephant, who had suffered for years from debilitating ailments caused by decades of captivity under grossly inadequate conditions.

IDA, which has been pressing for two years for the transfer of the San Francisco Zoo's elephants to sanctuaries, reacted strongly to the latest death, calling for an independent investigation and permanent closure of the zoo's elephant exhibits. IDA charged the zoo with "extreme negligence and cruelty" for continuing to hold elephants in tiny enclosures that prevent adequate exercise and socialization. These conditions cause painful arthritis, foot abscesses, infections and other health problems, as well as stereotypic behavior indicative of emotional distress, from which all of the zoo's elephants have suffered for years. (In the wild, elephants travel up tens of miles a day. San Francisco's elephants are held in zoo lots of less than a 1/2 acre.)

"If the zoo had acted on offers to transfer the elephants to an appropriate environment two years ago, the tragic deaths of Calle and Maybelle could have been avoided," said Dr. Elliot Katz, a veterinarian and founder of IDA. "Responsibility for these deaths falls squarely on the shoulder's of the zoo's management, which has stubbornly insisted on keeping clearly ailing elephants at the zoo under conditions which are literally a death trap for world's largest land mammal."

Katz noted that Calle and Maybelle should have been in the prime of their lives. (In the wild, elephants can breed into their 50's). He also said that while Calle arrived at the San Francisco Zoo seven years ago, Maybelle, along with the zoo's two surviving elephants - Lulu and Tinkerbelle -- were captured from the wild as babies specifically for the zoo and have spent virtually their entire lives in San Francisco. As a result, the health problems from which they suffer are directly attributable to their time in captivity here.

IDA and Citizens for Cruelty-Free Entertainment are calling on the Board of Board of Supervisors to immediately take action to transfer the surviving elephants to one of two sanctuaries that have offered to take the elephants at no cost to the City or Zoo. The sanctuaries offer adequate space to allow freedom of movement and access to a variety of natural substrates and live vegetation, all of which is essential to healing the painful joint and foot problems from which the elephants currently suffer.

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