Category — Activism

“The city will take no action to prevent a circus from performing on Monday despite a letter from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asking them to enact legislation.” – coshoctontribune.com

“City leaders have refused to get involved in a growing debate about where Jenny, the Dallas Zoo’s last surviving African elephant, should go. Instead, city lawmakers said they will leave the decision to zookeepers. ” – WFAA.com

“Some animal-rights activists are asking the city council to overturn the Dallas Zoo’s decision to move its lone elephant to Mexico.” – KXAS

The city of Dallas is on the verge of losing one of its valued citizens through “Extraordinary Rendition” to a foreign facility where she will be subjected to solitary confinement, social isolation, emotional stress, and public humiliation. Jenny has worked selflessly for the benefit of Dallas and its residents for the last 22 years and deserves a better fate.

Jenny, a 31 year old female African elephant has been on display at the Dallas Zoo since 1986. She was forcibly separated from her mother in Africa when she was only 2 and spent the next 7 years at a “training” facility where she was routinely chained, beaten and humiliated to modify her behavior before placing her on display. The elephant enclosure at the Dallas Zoo has always been very inadequate – elephants are highly mobile and require adequate space to roam as much as 30 or more miles each day; her enclosure was measured in square feet when it should be measured in acres.

Elephants are intelligent, social, and self aware. They require a herd to have the social interactions and friendships that are vital to their physical and emotional well being. Jenny spent many years alone and that contributed to her emotional problems that led to self-mutilating behavior which had to be controlled with medications. Her mental condition has been described as “Zoochosis” and as PTSD. Several years ago, a second female African elephant, Keke, was added to the exhibit and she and Jenny became close friends. Unfortunately, Keke passed away earlier this year and Jenny is once again alone. She is extremely depressed (yes, elephants do suffer from depression) and the zoo has determined they can no longer care for her.

Without any input from the citizens of Dallas, the zoo decided to send Jenny to an African Safari Park located in Puebla, Mexico, 80 miles southeast of Mexico City and 950 miles from Dallas. Concerned citizens in Dallas have recommended that rather than shipping her out of the country where she won’t have the protection of U.S. animal care and anti-cruelty regulations, that she be sent to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, where should would join 3 other female African elephants on 300 acres within a 2700 acre private reserve dedicated to the care of elephants rescued from zoos and circuses.

http://www.elephants.com

The zoo has refused to accept any input and remains resolute in their intention to send Jenny to the Mexican amusement park.

The zoo’s decision is wrong on many levels and their refusal to listen to the citizens of Dallas is unconscionable.

The Africam Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico is a drive-through amusement park that offers tourists the opportunity to drive their own cars through the various animal habitats. They have only 4.9 acres dedicated to their elephants which currently include 1 male and 2 female Asian elephants. Unfortunately, Asian and African elephants cannot be commingled as they have different social structures and behaviors. Worse yet, there are diseases that are harmless to African elephants while potentially fatal to Asian elephants. The bottom line is that Jenny would be alone in Mexico and all authorities in the subject agree that elephants should never be kept singly.

The idea that Jenny would be on public display and exposed to the noise, fumes, activity of cars and tour buses constantly moving through her environment represents the worst possible conditions for this sensitive creature already suffering from PTSD and depression. In contrast to this commercial exploitation, Jenny deserves the tranquility offered by The Elephant Sanctuary, with their focus on the preservation of the privacy, dignity and well being of elephants who have suffered years of mistreatment.

What can we do? Within the last several years, the zoos in Philadelphia and San Francisco have both determined that elephants cannot be humanely kept on display and have closed their elephant habitats by relocating their elephants to sanctuaries in Tennessee and California. We must join the citizens of Dallas in a public outcry against the “extraordinary rendition” of Jenny to a Mexican amusement park.

Please address your concerns and support for keeping Jenny in the U.S. and sending her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee by emailing, calling and writing to:

The Dallas Parks and Recreation Department:

Paul D. Dyer, Department Director
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 6FN
Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: (214) 670-4100
Fax: (214) 670-3205
http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/forms/form_pkr.htm

To Tom Leppert, Dallas Mayor at:

Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, TX
75201-6390
Main Phone: (214) 670-4054
Fax: (214) 670-0646
tom.leppert@dallascityhall.com

The following is a link to coverage by a local Dallas news report.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa080630_mo_elephant.f65c159.html

“On Friday New Hampshire Motor Speedway officials announced that the elephant show wouldn’t be part of the pre-race show on Sunday. A release from the track said proper permits weren’t secured in time to allow the show to happen.” – courant.com

“Elephant Anne who is with Bobby Roberts Circus on the Common in Marlborough is at the centre of an ongoing controversy.” – This Is Wiltshire

“Wind, rain and bitter cold could not keep five determined women from sending their message to Woodland Park Zoo: An elephant never forgets.” – seattlepi.com

“An animal welfare group charges that eBay sales of ivory are brisker than ever a year after the online marketplace promised to restrict the sale of products made from animal teeth and tusks�many of which come from endangered species.” – Scientific American

“A spokesman for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey said Wednesday he doubts Oklahomans will be scared away from the circus next month by recent legal action accusing the company of chaining its elephants for days at a time.” – NewsOK.com

“Both sides of the spectrum were on display this weekend, each battling to make their voices loudest. Mitch Goldsmith, social relations and policy freshman and events coordinator for Students Promoting Animal Rights, or SPAR, said the circus is an old-fashioned tradition that promotes animal cruelty. Goldsmith said the government agrees. Royal Hanneford, he said, has previously been cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for several offenses.” – The State News

“The ASPCA has posted a petition in opposition of TNT’s upcoming television series, “Greatest Show on Earth.” The TNT network announced last month that it is developing six new unscripted series as part of a primetime programming shift, and one of the shows is Greatest Show On Earth, which will take viewers inside the famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as it whisks the circus to cities and towns across the country. It will be produced by Earth Angel Productions, with Mark Wolper, Kenneth and Feld, Al Hassas and Res Izad as executive producers.” – ConnieTalk

“A special rectangular device lifted the bubble Tuesday morning around the 4-ton elephant, named Tai.” – KNBC | Los Angeles

“A city charity is calling for a whisky firm to end its association with the sport of elephant polo.” – Edinburgh Evening News

“Animal rights campaigners are urging people to boycott performances of Bobby Roberts’ Super Circus at Huntingdon Racecourse over the presence of an elderly elephant.” – Cambridge News

“Animal rights protestors have launched a series of demonstrations outside a circus in Northampton, angered by the presence of a 55-year-old elephant named Anne.” – Northampton Chronicle and Echo

“It is too soon for conservationists to ring the alarm bells over South Africa’s elephant management plan that includes culling, argues Dr Richard Leakey. In this week’s Green Room, he says the measures are necessary and based in animal welfare concerns.” – BBC NEWS

“According to TMZ, former Price Is Right host, Bob Barker, wrote a letter to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California, stating that he is against their planned stunt in which an artist will enclose an Asian elephant inside a giant soap bubble. ” – Celebrity Cafe