Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants

Zoo elephants

The Telegraph (UK) reports that the RSPCA is recommending that UK zoos no longer keep elephants in zoos because it is inhumane. Here’s an excerpt:

They have a far shorter life-span and higher infant mortality rate than wild elephants and also suffer from high levels of obesity, a report found.

They also show behavioural abnormalities and a level of lameness equivalent to that endured by intensively farmed livestock “recognised internationally as cause for great welfare concern.”

But conservationists said the Government funded study should have called for an outright ban on bringing anymore elephants into UK zoos.

Read the full article in the Telegraph

Dondi

An elephant in a Massachusetts Zoo has died at the young age of 36, according to In Defense of Animals’ blog:

IDA filed a complaint today with the USDA, urging an investigation into the death of Dondi, an Asian elephant held at the Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, Massachusetts. She died on Wednesday, after suffering an unidentified illness. Dondi’s unexpected death raises a red flag because at age 36 she should have been in the prime of life.

Check out the full story here.

Check out this new video, created exclusively to help the elephants at Woodland Park Zoo!

Regarding the recent lawsuit against the City of Seattle for its taxpayer-funded support of elephant cruelty at the zoo, local DVM responded in a letter to the editor in the Seattle Times:

I have two main concerns with the Woodland Park Zoo elephants [“Zoo sued over care of elephants,” NWWednesday, June 30]. The first lies in the way Chai is continuously inseminated despite the knowledge she will once again pass deadly herpes to any of her future offspring.

Any calf born at Woodland Park Zoo may likely die from Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV) before the age of 10. Of the young Asian elephants who get sick with herpes, 85 percent die.

My second concern lies in the knowledge that elephants need room to walk. Only in nice weather can the elephants be out on one acre, an enclosure that does not allow for proper lymphatic circulation. The Tennessee sanctuary would give these captive zoo elephants more than 2,000 acres and a natural water source.

The notion that we must keep elephants chained behind bars is antiquated in the time of webcam, when a visit with her at the sanctuary is only as far as the nearest computer screen.

Read all that day’s letters to the editor here.

This legal Complaint for Injunctive Relief was filed with the Superior Court of the state of Washington for King County with help from the Animal Legal Defense Fund. The lawsuit is brought against the City of Seattle, asking that it “cease its waste and unlawful use of City funds to support ongoing illegal conduct at the Zoo.”

Download the full complaint here.

Urge the City of Seattle to stop funding the Woodland Park Zoo’s cruel elephant exhibit. Sign the petition today.

From the Animal Legal Defense Fund:

SEATTLE—Outraged citizens represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund are filing a lawsuit against the City of Seattle today to stop the City’s unlawful use of taxpayer dollars to support the Woodland Park Zoo’s reckless and illegally cruel treatment of its elephants. As a result of inadequate facilities, abusive management practices, longstanding intentional neglect, and breeding practices in callous disregard for elephants’ welfare, the Zoo’s elephants Bamboo, Watoto, and Chai suffer from severe and chronic foot and joint injuries, unexplained physical trauma and bleeding, and sustained psychological harm. Chai’s daughter, Hansa, died in 2007 when she was only six years old as a result of the Zoo’s practices. Plaintiffs Mary Sebek and Nancy Farnam—both Seattle taxpayers—brought their concerns about the misuse of city funds to support illegal conduct at the Zoo to the national non-profit Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), whose attorneys are representing them.

Read the full text of the press release here. Also check out their video:

Bamboo with foot infection

Please join Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants in reminding donors attending Woodland Park Zoo’s (WPZ) largest fund raiser of the year, of the suffering endured by the three elephants on display at WPZ.

Three “human elephants” will perform neurotic behaviors exhibited by Bamboo, Chai and Watoto. One “human elephant” will be caged in a 4′ x 4′ enclosure; the human equivalent to the elephants’ barn stall.

Who: Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, 206-595-7770, wpzelephants@yahoo.com
When: Friday, July 9, 2010, 4pm – 6:00
Where: Woodland Park Zoo’s NORTH entrance – N. 59th and Phinney Ave N., Seattle, WA  98103
Signs and banners provided.

Bamboo, Chai and Watoto, who live at Woodland Park Zoo, are locked in a tiny barn stall 16 – 17 hours a day for 7 months of the year.  WPZ medical records reveal they suffer from captivity-induced ailments such as colic, obesity, arthritis and painful foot problems.  (Foot problems are the #1 cause of death in zoo elephants.)

Outdoors, our elephants have less than 1 acre.  It is well documented that zoo confinement causes elephants to die decades before their natural lifespan.

The Elephant Sanctuary

The 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary has offered to give our elephants a home for life. For the first time, these intelligent, social animals would be able to roam thousands of acres and make companions of their own choosing.  They would be able to heal from the physical and mental trauma of zoo captivity.

Come show your support for the Zoo to make the humane decision to let them go.

This year’s “thank you for coming gift” is a grocery tote that proclaims:

“Proud supporter of free-roaming elephants
Out of the Zoo – Into a Sanctuary”

Please join us for The International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos, a global event organized by IDA (In Defense of Animals).

Last year, Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, along with demonstrators in 33 cities and 7 countries brought awareness about the tragedy of keeping elephants in severe confinement.

Here in Seattle, Bamboo, Chai and Watoto spend 16 – 17 hours a day locked in a tiny barn stall – barely able to walk a few steps in any direction.  Due to our climate, this lock-up lasts 7 months each year!  Outdoors they get less than 1 acre.

Please spend an hour to expose the suffering of elephants worldwide. Voice your support for Watoto, Chai, and Bamboo to live at the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary.

Where: Woodland Park Zoo, South entrance at N. 50th St. & Fremont Ave. N. in Seattle
When: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 11am – 12 noon

For more information please visit our Issues page.

Please also save the date for our fifth Jungle Party demonstration which is on Friday, July 9^th at 4pm at Woodland Park Zoo.

We’re all busy, but please take a few minutes to help those who are powerless and suffer at the hands of human greed and ignorance.

An elephant in a Shrine Circus in Pennsylvania kicked and killed his trainer.

Elephants in circuses suffer from brutal training and treatment, are forced to spend hundreds of hours in small travelling containers, and are deprived of everything instinctual to their nature.

Please voice your outrage over keeping elephants in circuses.

Here is info and graphic videos of how elephants suffer in circuses:   http://www.circuses.com/

Here is info on the Shriner’s mission:  http://www.alepposhriners.com/shrinersmission.html

Contact info:

Irem Shrine, P. O. Box 307, Dallas, PA 18612.

Shriners International Headquarters, 2900 Rocky Point Drive, Tampa, FL 33607, email: shrinepr@shrinenet.org.

Email Shrine Circus: roger@shrinecircus.com

Write your local Congressperson and ask them to support legislation that would abolish elephants in traveling shows.

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants coordinator, Alyne Fortgang, was a guest on Martha Norwalk’s radio show last Sunday, along with elephant experts from all over the country. From the description on Martha Norwalk’s website:

This week the topic is all about the elephants, Bamboo, Chai, and Watoto, at the Woodland Park Zoo. Find out why a Tennessee sanctuary has offered to pay for their permanent transfer there. Martha is joined by experts from all over the country who weigh in on the controversy. Find out why these magnifient creatures are miserable at the zoo and what you can do to help them.

Alyne joins the show approximately a 1/2 hour into the show.

Martha Norwalk: March 21 WPZ Elephants Part 1

Martha Norwalk: March 21 WPZ Elephants Part 2

Martha Norwalk: March 21 WPZ Elephants Part 3

Give the show a listen if you haven’t already and share it with your friends!