AR-News: (USA) Please send a thankyou letter to USDA for helping the elephants

[molly]

      USDA Seizes the Moment, Orders Hawthorn to Give Up 16 Elephants





      Frantz Dantzler/HSUS
By Richard Farinato
In the week before St Patrick's Day, 16 performing elephants in Illinois got
an early dose of the luck of the Irish: a permanent separation from their
much-maligned owner.

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service brought the Hawthorn Corp., a USDA licensee owned by John
F. Cuneo Jr., before a USDA administrative judge in Washington, D.C.
Hawthorn, one of the larger suppliers of performing elephants and tigers in
the country, had been charged with numerous violations of the Animal Welfare
Act (AWA), including serious charges such as mishandling that caused
physical harm, discomfort, and trauma to the elephants and created a risk
for both elephants and the public.

Under a consent decree, Cuneo admitted guilt and was assessed a penalty of
$200,000. More important, Cuneo was also ordered to place all of his
elephants into USDA-approved facilities by August 15.

The immediate aftershocks of the USDA's actions were felt all across the
animal kingdom. I was on my way to an animal care conference in Dallas on
Monday, March 8, and I swear I felt the planet swerve on its axis slightly
while in flight. When I checked e-mails on Tuesday, I finally realized why:
The resolution of this case was truly earth-shaking.

The animal protection and animal rights community have long campaigned
against Hawthorn Corp. and its treatment of animals. There have been several
incidents over the past ten years involving elephants trained and rented out
by Hawthorn that should have been enough, in the view of many, to make the
USDA lower the boom earlier.

The tragedy in Hawaii in 1994-in which a female elephant named Tyke charged
through an audience in Honolulu after killing one circus employee and
injuring another-graphically showed the danger inherent in any wild animal
performance. That incident resulted in human death and injury followed by
the prolonged agony of an elephant doomed to die on a city street in a hail
of small-arms fire. News reports at the time say it took Tyke nearly two
hours to die after being shot almost 100 times.

A year later (and again in 2001), more Hawthorn-owned elephants went on a
rampage, resulting in property damage and public panic. But then in 1996,
something really rare occurred: Two Hawthorn elephants died within days of
each other from tuberculosis, marking the first case of zoonotic
tuberculosis in elephants in the United States since the late 1800s. What's
more, in 1997, the company attempted to ship a tuberculosis-infected
elephant to Puerto Rico, violating a USDA-imposed quarantine on the Hawthorn
herd.

The litany of charges could, almost literally, go on for several pages, if
you were to cite the individual deficiencies noted by USDA inspectors in
animal care and handling, and list the fines paid by Cuneo as a result of
such charges and incidents.

Lota Trouble

The history of a female Asian elephant named Lota, now in her 50s, has been
one of the most unfortunate involving Cuneo. Lota was transferred to the
Hawthorn Corp. by the Milwaukee County Zoo in 1990. She was a troublemaker,
said the zoo, and she had to go. So Lota was dragged in chains, struggling
and screaming, into a truck and packed off to her new life as a circus
performer for Cuneo.

In her 14 years with Hawthorn, she has endured the inadequate care
documented by the USDA, not to mention the usual stress and trauma of travel
as she was rented out seasonally to various performance venues. She
eventually developed tuberculosis.

Several individuals and groups-even, eventually, the Milwaukee County Zoo
itself-attempted to purchase Lota from Hawthorn and allow her to retire. All
pleas were ignored. Only now is there a chance for Lota (an the other 15
elephants still owned by Cuneo) to get the respite they so richly deserve.

But here's the rub: This forced retirement could have happened years ago,
and probably should have. Historically, it has been difficult to understand
why the USDA has allowed situations like this to continue.

USDA Seizes the Moment

In April 2003, the USDA brought its last slate of charges (this time
totaling at 47) against Cuneo for the treatment of elephants between March
2001 to June 2002. In November 2003, the USDA seized an elephant named Delhi
from Hawthorn, transferring her (and her ownership) to the Elephant
Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee.

Observers knew that for an action of this magnitude to take place, the
animal had to be suffering or in imminent danger of death from lack of
adequate care. Judging from descriptions of Delhi's front legs and feet, and
the presence of serious bone damage, I'd say she was suffering. Her seizure
was historic; it made some of us think that a major event was in the making.

And it was. Now, we look forward to the first large exodus of performing
elephants from conditions that no animal should have to endure. Although 16
elephants is a significant number of animals to find good homes for, it can
be done. But it will not be easy, and it will be expensive.

The USDA should be inundated with thank-yous from anyone who cares about the
welfare of a dog, a worm, an elephant, or any other creature who shares the
world with us. The agency did its job, and did it well. All of us should
also be prepared to help, in whatever way we can, to ensure that these
elephants are placed in environments that will meet their needs to as large
a degree as possible.

But while we look at this positive scenario for Delhi, Lota, and her
companions in Illinois, we need to remember that another 500-plus elephants
in the United States, be they performers or zoo dwellers, live lives that
are often bleak and physically and emotionally impoverished. We also need to
be aware that wild elephants in Africa and Asia are being caught and shipped
here for exhibition.

It looks like we will need more than just St. Patrick's assistance-or the
USDA's-to give all the world's elephants some peace and quiet.

What You Can Do

Write to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman. Tell her that you applaud the
seizure of the Hawthorn Corp.'s elephants, that you hope she will do
everything in her power to ensure that these elephants are housed in
facilities that will care for them responsibly for the rest of their lives,
and that you encourage her to pursue all other cases of AWA violations with
the same thoroughness.

Send your letters to:

The Honorable Ann Veneman
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250

Richard Farinato is The HSUS's Director of Captive Wildlife Programs.

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