AR-News: Detroit Zoo to Free Elephants!!!

[Political Animal]

http://www.freep.com/news/metro/zoo20_20040520.htm

Detroit Free Press

DETROIT ZOO TO FREE ELEPHANTS: Animals going to a
refuge 

Director's bold decision aims to give sensitive
creatures better life 
May 20, 2004



BY HUGH MCDIARMID JR.
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The Detroit Zoo will become the nation's first major
animal facility to give away its elephants solely on
ethical grounds. 

Winky and Wanda, the latest in an 81-year-old
tradition of pachyderms at the zoo, will be sent to
one of two U.S. refuges this summer or early fall. 

The decision to send them away comes amid a nationwide
push to provide better care for elephants, widely
considered to be among the Earth's most intelligent
creatures. They form strong social bonds and have a
powerful need for physical and intellectual
stimulation. 

In the wild, female Asian elephants like Winky and
Wanda typically roam 30 miles a day, form lifelong and
unique friendships with members of their herds and
mourn for their dead. 

In captivity, they live in unnatural climates, develop
physical problems such as chronic arthritis and
exhibit psychological problems related to boredom and
stress. 

"People's traditional expectation of zoos is that they
see lions and tigers and elephants," zoo Director Ron
Kagan, 52, said Wednesday. "But it's also their
expectation that an animal has a good life." 

Although the Detroit Zoo is widely recognized as being
a leader in animal care, and even though the
elephants' 1-acre enclosure vastly exceeds new
standards being phased in nationwide, Kagan said that
is not enough. 

Wanda is taking anti-inflammatory medication for
chronic arthritis in her front legs; Winky has foot
problems, possibly related to sleeping in a standing
position -- an unnatural one for elephants, who sleep
on soft surfaces in the wild. 

"Now we understand how much more is needed to be able
to meet all the physical and psychological needs of
elephants in captivity, especially in a cold climate,"
Kagan wrote in memorandum explaining the decision. It
would cost $30 million to $50 million and require up
to 20 acres of land to provide an adequate
environment, the memo said -- costs so extravagant
they were never under consideration. Five U.S. zoos
have closed elephant exhibits in recent years under
public pressure after animal deaths or alleged
mistreatment, and a small animal sanctuary in Georgia
gave up its elephants earlier this year, partly
because of space and cost concerns. 

But the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak "is the first to make
a purely voluntary decision of this nature," said
Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane
Society of the United States. 

"This is precedent-setting," Pacelle said. "It will
reverberate throughout the zoo community, andby
extension, be an indictment of what goes on in
circuses where elephants are chained 22 hours a day." 

Elephants have a storied history at the zoo, where
generations of children have known them by name. One
of its most famous pachyderms, Paulina, gave rides to
about a half-million kids from 1928 to 1950. 

Winky, 51, has been at the zoo for 14 years. Wanda, in
her mid-40s, has been there for eight. 

In 1994, Ruth, the zoo's former dancing elephant, died
at age 45. In 1997, Missy, who had arthritis that left
her unable to stand, was euthanatized at age 35. 

The key to Detroit's decision is Kagan, whose views on
animal-welfare issues have incited both admiration and
scorn. He has spoken out against sport hunting, sent a
zoo expert to testify against a circus using polar
bears in Puerto Rico and bad-mouthed the tradition of
throwing dead octopuses on the ice at Detroit Red
Wings hockey games. 

In 2002, he was called an "ignorant hypocrite" by a
Ringling Bros. circus official who bristled at Kagan's
criticism of using elephants in circuses. 

Kagan's outspokenness has earned him praise from
animal-welfare advocates. 

"Ron Kagan has been in the forefront of behavioral
enrichment for animals, and for him to make this
decision is big," said Carol Buckley, cofounder of the
Elephant Sanctuary, a Tennessee compound where 11
elephants roam 522 acres. "Their minds and bodies are
designed to stay busy. When you put them in a sterile
environment like a zoo, they can't do that." 

New standards that the American Zoo and Aquarium
Association is imposing on its members require more
open space for elephants and detail enrichment
activities that should be offered. 

"We're seeing an evolution in elephant management,"
said Michael Hutchins, director of conservation and
science for the association. 

Detroit's 1-acre enclosure is about 16 times larger
than what the new, tougher standards require. 

Kagan said he believes that the needs of other animals
at the zoo are adequately addressed, though he
acknowledges future research might prove otherwise. 

Elephants "are the only animals at the zoo for which
there is a great disparity between what they need and
what we can provide," he said. "In the future, there
may very well be more species that we'll look back and
say, 'We just didn't understand.' " Hutchins said
reaction to Kagan's decision among other zoo directors
will run the gamut. 

"There has always been some question about keeping
elephants in captivity," he said. "His are
philosophical issues; he doesn't feel his facilities
are adequate. But people have different ideas about
what 'adequate' means." 

Hutchins said scientific and educational benefits
often outweigh the needs of individual animals: "How
many people in America will be able to go to Africa
and Asia to see elephants?" he asked. 

Captive elephants have provided valuable insights into
elephant behavior and biology, Hutchins said --
helping efforts to preserve wild elephants in Asia and
Africa where their habitat is being fragmented by
human settlement. There are 35,000 to 50,000 Asian
elephants left in the wild, and about 600,000 African
elephants. 

Even though the Detroit Zoo is "head and shoulders
above" other zoos in terms of animal treatment, the
decision was the right one, said Debbie Leahy,
captive-animal specialist with People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. "He's the first one to say
elephants don't belong in zoos." 

Detroit's elephants might go to the Tennessee
sanctuary, which by year's end will have 2,700 acres
of fenced land for them to roam. Or, they might go to
a similar sanctuary in California, the Performing
Animal Welfare Society preserve. 

Kagan said he knows he will disappoint zoo patrons who
also have come to know the elephants personally.
Explanatory signs will go up at the elephant exhibit
later this month, informing patrons of the impending
move. 

Kagan said the exhibit will house rhinoceroses after
the elephants are gone. 

"Oh, no!" said Karen Watters of Allen Park, who was on
her third visit to the zoo this year with children
Karley, 5, and Trevor, 3, on Monday. "We'll miss them,
but we'd rather they be where they have room to roam."


Kagan said he hopes that's the way most patrons will
feel. 

"I wouldn't expect the American public -- which has
been told for 100 years it's OK to have elephants in
captivity -- to say 'Oh, OK, we understand' right
away. But we have an educational mission. 

"The zoo is the window into our humanity, and how we
treat other things in nature."




Contact HUGH McDIARMID 



	
		
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