FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Toni Frohoff, Ph.D., (805) 836-0496, toni@idausa.org

Saving Seattle’s Elephants from the Oklahoma City Zoo

Suffering or Sanctuary for Seattle Elephants?

San Rafael, Calif. (March 2, 2015) – In Defense of Animals (IDA) would consider it an inter-state and national travesty should the Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) not be stopped by the city of Seattle from sending their two surviving elephants, Bamboo, 47 and Chai, 35, to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Succumbing to years of pressure, WPZ had finally announced the closure of its pathetic elephant exhibit last year. Seattle residents, along with Seattle’s mayor and city council, overwhelmingly expressed their desire for WPZ to retire the elephants to a sanctuary with decent temperatures for these tropical, Asian elephants. Instead, WPZ is showing further contempt and disregard for these elephants, and for the Seattle’s mayor, city council, and citizens, by sending them to the Oklahoma City Zoo where it is not only colder, but where there would be even less space per elephant.

The Oklahoma City Zoo has appeared on IDA’s Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list in the past and IDA has submitted complaints to the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act for their dangerous breeding practices. Toni Frohoff, Ph.D., Elephant Scientist for IDA asked, “Why would the Woodland Park Zoo want to send these two surviving elephants, who have already endured such horrific hardships, to another colder and smaller zoo?” She said, “These elephants could, and should, go to a comfortable sanctuary where they can live out the rest of their lives in peace.

In Oklahoma, these already beleaguered elephants would end up spending even more time either in cold weather or confined indoors in a small enclosure.” IDA is asking people across the United States to join us, along with Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, in urging WPZ donors to reconsider their support of the zoo if the elephants aren’t retired to an accredited elephant sanctuary. We are also asking Seattle’s city commissioners to pass an emergency resolution and for the mayor to write an executive order to let Bamboo and Chai live out their lives in comfortable, peaceful sanctuary. “Seattle’s city council and the mayor now hold the key to either “suffering or sanctuary” for Bamboo and Chai”, concluded Frohoff.

To see IDA’s Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants lists (including 2008’s #5 entry for the Oklahoma City Zoo and 2014’s Dishonorable Mention for the Woodland Park Zoo) please visit:

http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/wild-free2/elephant-protection/zoos-2/ten-worst-zoos-for-elephants/

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