AR-News: SF Zoo to close pachyderm exhibit following elephant deaths

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

HeraldTribune.com
The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- 
The San Francisco Zoo has decided to permanently close its pachyderm exhibit 
amid criticism over the deaths of two of its four elephants.

When the two remaining elephants are sent to other facilities, it will be the 
first time since the San Francisco Zoo opened in 1929 that visitors will not 
be able to see the giant land mammals from Asia and Africa.

For years, the zoo has faced criticism from animal rights advocates in the 
San Francisco Bay area over its small and antiquated elephant enclosures.

But the criticism grew increasingly fierce after Maybelle, a 44-year-old 
African elephant, unexpectedly collapsed and died April 22.

Elephants generally live 50 to 60 years in the wild, experts say.

Maybelle died of heart failure, but zoo officials haven't determined the 
underlying cause of her cardiovascular collapse, zoo spokeswoman Nancy Chan said. 
According to zoo records, Maybelle had a long history of health problems, 
including chronic colic, anemia and various foot and joint ailments.

Less than seven weeks earlier, Calle, a 37-year-old Asian elephant, was put 
down by zoo officials because of her deteriorating health. She suffered 
degenerative joint disease, a history of tuberculosis and an old injury sustained in 
a highway crash in Mexico when she was a performer in a traveling circus.

The two surviving elephants - Tinkerbelle and Lulu, both 38 - also suffer a 
number of health problems, including colic and various foot, leg and hip 
ailments, zoo records show.

Since the deaths of Calle and Maybelle, the zoo has been the target of 
protests by animal rights advocates.


Sunday, May 9

full story:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040509/APN/405090683
 



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    "The day may come when the rest of the animal creation may acquire those 
rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of 
tyranny. The question is not can they REASON, nor can they TALK, but can they 
SUFFER?" 
Jeremy Bentham 1748 - 1832 



         
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