Actions4ZooAnimals's Xanga

Action 4 TONY the Elephant

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 14:05:59 GMT

Because ZOOS are NOT IDEAL FOR ELEPHANTS and Because they didnt listen, they refused to reason; such a waste!

It was the selfishness and greed of the National Zoo that is responsible for these deaths and it was NOT NECESSARY! Years of confinement walking around in circles in that little room on hard concrete floor, making her do stupid tricks - the cause for arthritis and osteomylitis (debilitating foot disease) .. SUCH A CRYING SHAME. Also I will remind them of Nancy, another senseless premature elephant death at their zoo.

Sad news in the Thursday, January 26, Washington Post. The headline is, "Toni the Elephant Euthanized; Animal Rights Groups Had Urged National Zoo to Move Her." (Pg B02)

The article opens:
"An ailing National Zoo elephant, whose worsening arthritis made her the flashpoint of a debate over whether her species belongs in zoos, was euthanized yesterday after her condition deteriorated dramatically.

"Toni, an Asian elephant, was 40 years old, about two decades short of the typical expected lifespan. She had been at the Smithsonian Institution animal park since 1989. Zoo officials said her arthritis, caused by a leg injury at a previous zoo, flared up in the summer and was only temporarily brought under control by large doses of ibuprofen. She lost hundreds of pounds and her muscles shrank.

"Only a week ago, zoo officials downplayed the possibility of euthanasia, but their assessment changed in recent days."

On the attempts to have Toni transferred:

"Animal rights groups, saying the close confinement and hard floors in zoos are not appropriate places to keep elephants, had urged the National Zoo to move Toni to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee where she would have more space and a more natural habitat. Zoo officials rejected calls to move their animal, saying she might not survive the journey and would be comfortable and well cared for in a familiar environment."

There is such terrible irony in the refusal to remove her because she might not survive the journey, given that zoo officials eventually chose to kill her themselves.

Suzanne Roy, program director for In Defense of Animals is quoted:
"It's shameful that the National Zoo allowed her to decline to this point. Toni's death should prompt serious reevaluation of the National Zoo's ability to care for elephants. The zoo simply does not have the space to meet the vast needs of earth's largest land mammal."

You can read the full Washington Post article on line at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/25/AR2006012500930.html

And you can send a letter to the editor urging the retirement of the zoo's other elephants to sanctuary and against holding wild animals captive for human entertainment to letters@washpost.com . The paper advises, "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers."

You can learn more about IDA's campaign to remove Toni from the National Zoo at http://www.savezooelephants.com/national_zoo.html

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

* Elephants are highly complex, social animals who live in extended family groups and travel over thirty miles a day. Today’s zoos are unable to meet the physical and social needs of elephants. These needs include space, adequate exercise, and extended social groups.

* Elephants in zoos suffer from captivity-induced physical and psychological health problems due to lack of space. Health problems include debilitating foot and joint problems, arthritis, digestive disorders, stereotypic behaviors (neurotic behaviors resulting from severe confinement). Other problems include reproductive system shutdown, and high infant mortality rate.

* As the largest land mammal, elephants are genetically designed to move and forage most of the day; this constant movement is necessary for their psychological and physical well-being.

* Historically elephants have been managed through coercive force, such as chaining for prolonged periods and use of bullhooks and electrical hotshots; this abuse is unacceptable.

* Zoos routinely move elephants, and other animals, from one zoo to another with little to no consideration for their social bonds. In the wild female elephants never leave their mothers and male elephants have complex social structures with other bulls and females. No elephant in the wild lives in constant solitary confinement.
www.savezooelephants.org

Toni, an Asian elephant at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was euthanized after a prolonged battle with captivity-induced arthritis. IDA had long urged the National Zoo to send Toni to the Elephant Sanctuary because she was in danger of dying prematurely, but officials dismissed our warnings and those of elephant experts. The three elephants still at the Zoo will likely meet the same fate as Toni if they spend the rest of their lives on exhibit. Please "Take Action" to urge the National Zoo's Director and elected officials to re-examine the Zoo's elephant exhibit expansion plan and close the exhibit if it can't locate the space (thousands of acres) necessary to meet the needs of this intelligent and complex species.

Toni was wracked with painful arthritis, could barely stand and desperately tried to find relief by leaning against the wall or even the other elephant. Our experts were shocked by her condition and predicted her untimely death.

It's shameful that the National Zoo allowed her to decline to this point.

Even if she had a previous injury, the Zoo kept Toni under conditions that only caused further deterioration instead of improvement.

This should never happen again to another elephant at the National Zoo.

This is the second elephant to die prematurely from lethal, zoo-induced health problems. Nancy was euthanized in 2000 after suffering for years from horrible and painful foot infections.

Toni stands as a national symbol for the suffering elephants endure in zoos across the country.

Zoos do not provide elephants with the things we know they need: space, soft ground and natural family structures. Elephants pay the price for zoos' unwillingness to listen to what science tells us elephants need.

Arthritis and foot disease are just some of the many painful, zoo-induced health problems that elephants suffer from.

Toni's death should prompt serious re-evaluation of the National Zoo's ability to care for elephants. The Zoo simply does not have the space to meet the vast needs of Earth's largest land mammal.

It's time for zoos to stop poisoning elephants with Ibuprofen and other painkillers and start addressing the cause of their problems in the first place: the woefully deficient zoo environment.

Elephants are intelligent and free-ranging animals who live in tightly-knit family groups, walk 10 miles or more a day, and have home ranges of up to 200 square miles.

IDA has a local spokesperson available for comments. Photos are available upon request.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW!!!!!

This is the original petition for Toni here on Care2’s Petition Site. Please sign still because I will be submitting this petition and all its signatures to the media, the reps, my 2 senators (you can send to your legislatures too!), and the other contacts listed below and in the links following. Please express your outrage in the comments section about Toni’s death – that is if you had not already signed the petition.
Sent Toni the Elephant at National Zoo to the Elephant Sanctuary

You can still write these contacts and express your OUTRAGE!:
WHAT MORE YOU CAN DO

1. Please write today to the following officials to ask that the Zoo agree to transfer Toni to The Elephant Sanctuary where she will be given a second chance at life. In addition, urge these officials to ensure that the National Zoo re-examine an elephant exhibit expansion plan that will continue to fail to meet the needs of this intelligent and free-ranging species.

John Berry, Director
National Zoo
3001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 202-673-4607
BerryJM@si.edu

The Honorable Bob Ney, Chair
Committee on House Administration
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: 202-225-3394
bobney@mail.house.gov

The Honorable Juanita Millender-McDonald, Ranking Member
Committee on House Administration
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: 202-225-7926
millender.mcdonald@mail.house.gov

2. Sign up for our Friends of Toni Action List for updates, petitions and flyers to circulate and sign ups for leafleting activities and other events at the National Zoo.

Email Kristie Phelps at Kristie@idausa.org.

Send comments of outrage to:
Smithsonian's National Zoological Park
Office of Public Affairs
202-633-3055
ZooPublicAffairs@si.edu

Representative Xavier Becerra
U.S. House of Representatives
1119 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0001

Senator Thad Cochran
U.S. Senate
113 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001

Representative Ralph Regula
U.S. House of Representatives
2306 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0001

Senator Bill Frist
U.S. Senate
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001

Representative Sam Johnson
U.S. House of Representatives
1211 Longworth House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515-0001

Senator Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senate
433 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Lawrence Small
Castle Bldg., Room 205
1000 Jefferson Drive SW
Washington, DC 20560
smalllm@si.edu
Tel: (202) 357-1846
Fax: (202) 786-2515

New Director at National Zoo
John Berry
3001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
BerryJM@si.edu

Others to add are:
tannerm@si.edu ; murrays@si.edu ; gallowaym@si.edu ; barkerk@washpost.com ; jschroeder@fonz.org ; board@fonz.org

Les Shubert’s Op Ed
lqcasak9@dc.rr.com

David Evans, Undersecretary for Science, Smithsonian Institution and Interim Director, National Zoological Park
evansd@si.edu

Mary Rakow Tanner, Deputy Director, National Zoo
tannerm@si.edu

Suzan Murray, Head, Animal Health/Chief Veterinarian
murrays@si.edu

Marie Galloway, Elephant Manager
gallowaym@si.edu

BerryJM@si.edu (director of the National Zoo)

Evans@si.edu (assistant for the secretary at smithsonian institute)

Letters to the editor:

letters@washpost.com

Bunny, 53, arrived at the Elephant Sanctuary (TES )in 1999 with foot problems; today her nickname is "Nature Girl" because she returns to the barn to sleep only in the coldest weather.
Jenny, 33, came to TES in 1996 with a crippling leg injury, arthritis and chronic foot rot. Today there is no mountain too high, no terrain too rough for Jenny to master.
TES expected to provide hospice care for Delhi, 59, who arrived in 2003 with osteomyelitis, a debilitating foot disease. Today Delhi explores TES like an elephant half her age.

Is there precedent for a zoo to send its elephants to a sanctuary?

Henry Vilas Zoo (Madison, WI), Mesker Park Zoo (Evansville, IN), the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo (Monroe, LA), Chehaw Wild Animal Park (Albany, GA) and the El Paso Zoo (El Paso, TX) have all sent elephants to TES. And within the last year, the San Francisco and Detroit zoos realized they could not meet elephants' complex physical, social and psychological needs and sent their elephants to a sanctuary as well.

The National Zoo is accredited by the AZA. What about TES?

TES is not a zoo. It is accredited by The Association of Sanctuaries (TAOS, whose standards equal or exceed those of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). TES is also licensed by the U.S. Agriculture Department and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

The Zoo has vets on staff. What about TES?

TES animal care staff live on premises. Unlike zoos, whose staff goes home at night, TES monitors its elephants 24 hours each day. TES's on-call vet lives and works only five miles from the Sanctuary. And TES has written emergency protocols addressing safety and veterinary emergencies.

What would it cost the Zoo to send Toni to TES?

Nothing. TES will accept Toni free of charge. Additionally, TES's experienced staff will orchestrate Toni's loading and transport free of charge.

The Zoo's mission is conservation and education. What about TES?

TES uses interactive telephone, video, and multimedia computer technology to teleconference live with schools, libraries, community centers, and other organizations nationally and internationally.
TES's live webcam (www.tappedintoelephants.com) takes viewers into the elephants' daily lives as they forage for food, play, swim in the pond and take their daily naps. TES broadcasts the arrival of all its new residents, so Toni's fans would be able to watch her first steps into freedom without even leaving their computers!
TES supports research and conservation efforts in Asia.
Next year TES will begin construction of an innovative, non-intrusive education center that will allow visitors to view the elephants and their habitat through cameras strategically placed throughout the habitat.
Future plans include establishment of the first Elephant Health and Welfare Institute.

Letter to National Zoo from Les Schobert

RESPONSE TO NATIONAL ZOO RESPONSE TO CONCERNS ABOUT TONI

http://www.savezooelephants.com/national_zoo.html

RESPONSE TO NATIONAL ZOO RESPONSE TO CONCERNS ABOUT TONI

        “As a scientist who has studied elephant behavior and communication among free-living individuals for 30 years, I am stunned that the American Zoo and Aquarium Association is not able to perceive the empirical evidence that elephants need much more space than what is currently allotted to them. In the form of routine problems captive elephant managers face every day, the evidence is unmistakable: foot diseases, arthritis, weight related diseases, infertility, heightened aggression, and other neurotic behavior.”
         -Joyce Poole, Ph.D., Research Director, Amboseli Elephant Research Group, Kenya

"No captive situation, however attractive it may appear to a human, can possibly be adequate for the needs of an elephant in terms of space. An example is our 10 year old bull, Imenti, who walked 84 miles in 14 hours, turned round and walked back 100 miles in search of a friend. Even Tsavo, which is 8,000 square miles in extent, can be traversed by elephants in a matter of days - and is"
- Dr. Daphne Sheldrick D.V.M., M.B.E., M.B.S., 1992 UNEP Global 500 Laureate, has worked with elephants for 50 years, both in a wild and captive situations, and is considered one of the leading authorities on the African elephant

The National Zoo has acknowledged the deficiency of its current exhibit, and is planning to expand its facilities. But unless its plans include a large preserve of hundreds to thousands of acres in a climate suitable for elephants, it will be proceeding without scientific basis and ignoring the science that does exist about the vast spatial needs of this wide-ranging species.

CLAIM 2: THE NATIONAL ZOO’S ELEPHANT EXPANSION WILL MEET THE NEEDS OF ELEPHANTS.

National Zoo director John Berry has stated that original plans for a 2.6 acre elephant expansion have been sent back to the drawing board for a facility 2-3 times the size. This is an important first step. But the zoo needs far more than 6-9 acres for space sufficient to allow elephants to walk, exercise and socialize in the manner to which they have evolved. Furthermore, it is unlikely that Toni will live to see the benefits of an expansion to the exhibit. Toni’s situation is urgent and needs to be addressed immediately.

CLAIM 3: HAVING ASIAN ELEPHANTS AT THE NATIONAL ZOO IS IMPORTANT TO CONSERVATION.

Unfortunately, breeding elephants at the National Zoo has nothing to do with conserving the species in the wild. What threatens wild elephants is not inability to breed, but rather poaching and loss of habitat in Asia and Africa. No elephants bred at the National Zoo will be repatriated to the wild. True conservation involves habitat protection and support for anti-poaching patrols. Many conservationists in range countries believe that zoos exhibiting elephants actually have a negative impact on survival of the elephant species.

"Western zoos claim their breeding programs will save the endangered Asian elephant but nothing could be further from the truth. Captivity does not equal conservation. . . . The best way for these zoos . . . to assist with the future conservation of this species is to support field conservation programs in Asia."
        - Vivek Menon, executive director of the Wildlife Trust of India:

The National Zoo’s support for conservation programs in range countries is to be commended but not confused with its elephant exhibit, which does not promote conservation.

CLAIM 4: MOVING TONI FROM THE NATIONAL ZOO WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO HER HEALTH.

The National Zoo did good work in helping Toni recover from her early history as a lone elephant in a small Pennsylvania zoo. The Zoo is providing the best care it knows how for Toni, but the unfortunate truth is that it can only treat Toni’s symptoms. The Zoo can do nothing about the underlying cause of Toni’s illness unless it moves her to a sanctuary.

The Elephant Sanctuary (TES ) in Tennessee has experience in restoring quality of life to elephants debilitated from years of intense confinement in zoos or circuses. Rather than suffering damage to their physical and mental health, these elephants have enjoyed a second chance at life. Some examples:

· Bunny, 53, arrived in 1999 with foot problems; today her nickname is "Nature Girl" because she returns to the barn to sleep only in the coldest weather.

· Jenny, 33, came to TES in 1996 with a crippling leg injury, arthritis and chronic foot rot. Today there is no mountain too high, no terrain too rough for Jenny to master.

· TES expected to provide hospice care for Delhi, 59, who arrived in 2003 with osteomyelitis, a debilitating foot disease. Today Delhi explores TES like an elephant half her age.

TES is set on 2,700 lush green acres in southwestern Tennessee. There, Toni would be free to walk as much as she wants on hills, dirt and grasses. TES would treat her pain, but Toni's free-ranging movement would help ease her arthritis naturally. TES is USDA-approved and offers high-quality veterinary and keeper care. Unlike zoos, where staff clocks out at the end of the day, leaving elephants and other animals alone overnight, TES provides daily 24-hour, round—the—clock care and monitoring of elephants.

CLAIM 5: REMOVING TONI FROM HER ELEPHANT FAMILY WOULD BE DETRIMENTAL.

Toni is not integrated with all the elephants at the zoo; in fact, she shares space with only one of them: Ambika. If the National Zoo is concerned about separating this elephant pair, then it could send both to TES, thus giving Toni a second chance at life and pre-empting the zoo-induced afflictions that Ambika is sure to suffer as the years wear on at the Zoo.

CLAIM 6: TONI BENEFITS FROM HER CURRENT ENVIRONMENT WHERE VET TEAMS MONITOR HER THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

Toni’s current environment of compacted earth and concrete caused her original problems. No matter how good the veterinary care at the Zoo, keeping Toni in these conditions is a certain death sentence. It will be unconscionable for the zoo to continue to ignore
(continued on link above)

More Background info:

Rest In Peace, Toni
LOOK AT TONI RIGHT NOW
Toni at National Zoo

So many efforts:
Toni, at National Zoo. Pls send letters.

Sign IDA petition to move Toni
Vote for Toni to Go to Sanctuary - Poll
Toni at center of care debate
Protest at National Zoo for Toni
Toni at the National Zoo

NEWs LINKS
National Zoo Euthanizes Ailing Elephant - CBS News
National Zoo euthanizes ailing elephant - Monterey County Herald
National Zoo Euthanizes Ailing Elephant (San Francisco Chronicle)
National Zoo Euthanizes Ailing Elephant (ABC News)
National Zoo Euthanizes Ailing Elephant (AP via Yahoo! News)
National Zoo Euthanizes Ailing
Elephant Euthanization Wasn't Easy (WJLA-TV Washington D.C.)
Breaking News: National Zoo euthanizes Toni the elephant (Scranton Times-Tribune)
Zoo Euthanizes Toni The Elephant (NBC4 Washington, D.C.)
Zoo Euthanizes Ailing Elephant (Washington Post)
Zoo Euthanizes Toni The

And once again I ask you to PLEASE take the time to WATCH this video narrated by James Earl Jones and pass it on to friends and family to see! Its so very important!
http://circusspotlight.org/Videos/AnimalLifeboat_HS.wmv

<FONT%20CLASS=" BlueLink2?>eVideo: Elephant Euthanization Wasn't Easy

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:41:40 GMT

The Cincinnati Enquirer ran an article about the controversy surrounding keeping elephants in zoos. Please write a letter to the editor of the Enquirer about the suffering elephants endure in zoos. Send letters to the Enquirer via an online feedback form at http://www.enquirer.com/editor/letters.html.

Read "Elephant exhibit poses issues" online.

You can use the following points to help you in your letter or visit www.HelpElephants.com for more information.

* Elephants in zoos suffer from captivity-induced physical and psychological health problems due to lack of space. Health problems include debilitating foot and joint problems, arthritis, digestive disorders, stereotypic behaviors (neurotic behaviors resulting from severe confinement). Other problems include reproductive system shutdown, and high infant mortality rate.

* The AZA, a zoo industry trade organization, provides a set of standards that are insufficient for the proper maintenance of elephants. These standards include a minimum outdoor enclosure size of 1,800 square feet for one elephant, the equivalent of six parking lot spaces. The standards also allow the prolonged chaining of elephants.

* As the largest land mammal, elephants are genetically designed to move and forage most of the day; this constant movement is necessary for their psychological and physical well-being.

* Historically elephants have been managed through coercive force, such as chaining for prolonged periods and use of bullhooks and electrical hotshots; this abuse is unacceptable.

* Zoos routinely move elephants, and other animals, from one zoo to another with little to no consideration for their social bonds. In the wild female elephants never leave their mothers and male elephants have complex social structures with other bulls and females. No elephant in the wild lives in constant solitary confinement.

Letters should be less than 200 words. Please do not send attachments and please remember to include your full name, address, and phone number (for verification purposes--street names and phone numbers will not be published) as well as the title of the story and the date it ran and not to use any wording in this alert.

Thanks and good luck!

Sincerely,
Kristie Phelps
Program Coordinator

you can sign up for In Defense of Animals Action Center.

11/24/05--Rare Animals On The Menu At Thai Zoo

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:37:31 GMT

KINSHIP CIRCLE LETTER CAMPAIGN
http://www.kinshipcircle.org

SOURCE OF INFORMATION
Born Free, http://www.bornfree.org.uk/chiangmai/kenyalatest.shtml
The Nation (Thailand)
http://nationmultimedia.com/2005/11/17/national/index.php?news=national_19180026.html
NEWSDAY
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-thailand-safari-menu,0,5806785.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

PETITION: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/237795365

========================================
EMAIL BLOCK & SAMPLE LETTER
Full contact information follows sample letter
========================================

info@tourism.go.ke, minister@tourism.go.ke, mdzoro@tourism.go.ke,
president@statehousekenya.go.ke, contact@statehousekenya.go.ke,
info@e-government.go.ke, jodhoch@treasury.go.ke, info@kenyaembassy.com,
information@kenyaembassy.com, thaksin@thaigov.go.th, info@thaiembdc.org,
thai.wsn@thaiembdc.org

web email: http://www.communication.go.ke/comments.asp

FULL CONTACT INFORMATION
========================================

KENYA OFFICIALS
Ministry of Tourism & Wildlife, Headquarters
Utalii House, Off Uhuru Highway
P. O. Box 30027 NAIROBI
ph: 333555, 313010; fax: 318045; telegram: "UTALII"
email: info@tourism.go.ke

The Hon. Morris Dzoro, MP, Minister of Tourism and Wildlife
ph: 020 313010; email: minister@tourism.go.ke, mdzoro@tourism.go.ke

His Excellency The Hon. Mwai Kibaki C.G.H., M.P.
The Office of the President of Kenya
Harambee House, Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi
ph: (254-020) 227411; telegrams: "RAIS"
email: president@statehousekenya.go.ke, contact@statehousekenya.go.ke,
info@e-government.go.ke, jodhoch@treasury.go.ke

Mr. Cyrus T Gituai, Private Secretary to the President of Kenya
fax: +254 20 313600

Office of Public Communications (Office of Government Spokesperson, Kenya)
KICC Building, 3rd Floor, 8 Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 62345-00200; Nairobi, Kenya
ph: +254-020-240488, +254-020-223521; fax: +254-020-240600
email: comms@comms.go.ke
web email: http://www.communication.go.ke/comments.asp
SMS (Celtel/Safaricom): 2888

Minister for Environment and Natural Resources
Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, E.G.H., M.P.
Maji House, Ngong Road
P.O. Box 49720, Nairobi - Kenya
ph: (254-020) 716103/229261; telegrams: "MAJI"

Embassy of the Republic of Kenya in the United Sates
2249 R. Street, N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20008
ph: 202-387-6101; fax: 202-462-3829
email: info@kenyaembassy.com, information@kenyaembassy.com
URL: http://www.kenyaembassy.com/

**If you do not live in the USA, look up the Kenya Embassy in your country
at: http://www.embassyworld.com/

THAI OFFICIALS
The Hon. Thaksin Shinawatra, Office of the Prime Minister
Government House
Thanon Pissanulok Dusit, Bangkok 10300
ph: 0-2280-3000; fax: +66 2 282 8587; email: thaksin@thaigov.go.th

Royal Thai Embassy in the United States
1024 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Suite 401; Washington DC 20007
ph: 202-944-3600; fax: 202-944-3611
email: info@thaiembdc.org, thai.wsn@thaiembdc.org
URL: http://www.thaiembdc.org/

**If you do not live in the USA, look up the Thai Embassy in your country
at: http://www.embassyworld.com/

SOURCE OF INFORMATION FOR CONTACTS:
http://www.kenya.go.ke/
http://www.tourism.go.ke/
http://www.statehousekenya.go.ke/government/op.htm
http://www.officeofthepresident.go.ke
http://www.communication.go.ke/
http://www.thaigov.go.th/

Letter:

Honorable Officials of Thailand and Kenya:

I read with dismay about the fate of wild animals exported from Kenya to a
Thai zoo. When the Chiang Mai Night Safari opens on New Years Day, the
park's Vareekunchorn restaurant plans to serve lion, tiger, elephant,
giraffe, crocodile and zebra at an "Exotic Buffet." Meanwhile, the very same
species will be on display for visitors.

Certainly, Thai authorities will not use "conservation" or "education" as
justification for the import of 175 animals from Kenya. Thailand and Kenya's
arrangement does not promote conservation or enlightenment. There is nothing
to learn from confining wild animals in the Chiang Mai Night Safari park
alongside shopping zones, musical fountains and restaurants.

Captivity and slaughter do not lead to the renewal of depleted wild
populations. Yet Kenya has willingly handed over its rare and protected
animals for exhibition and consumption.

In press reports, Night Safari project director Plodprasop Suraswadi
described the daily import of animals "offering visitors the chance to
experience exotic foods such as horse, kangaroo, giraffe, snake, elephant,
tiger and lion meat. We will also provide domestic crocodile and dog meat
from Sakon Nakhon province."

While ingesting wildlife may not violate CITES [Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species], it is an ethical travesty that further
degrades Thailand's reputation regarding wildlife-trade issues. The area is
already reputed to be an international marketplace and hunting ground for
rare animals such as elephants and orangutans. Thailand is known for
smuggling tiger parts, bear claws and imperiled species for use as Chinese
cuisine, traditional remedies, and "pets."

Kenya should not have awarded 175 wild animals to a country with a reckless
history of wildlife management and conservation. The animal buffet is a bad
idea. Please cancel it and ensure safe, long-term sanctuary for these
animals.

Sincerely,

Maggie the Elephant

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:33:01 GMT

Read about Maggie at TES site

Sign Maggie's Petition!

adresses:

http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/mya2000/circus/maggie.htm

Sample Letter:

Dear ,

This letter is to ask you to consider moving Maggie, the African elephant, to a more hospitable climate for the remainder of her life. You know that the Alaskan climate is not suitable for her species.

While you have given her the best that you can, she has the chance to thrive with other female members of her species at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, instead of just existing at your zoo. She would have the companionship she desperately needs. She has been mislabeled an angry and mean animal. Her true nature as an African elephant is to be docile and loving. She witnessed the killing of her mother and family in Africa, how can she not harbor resentment towards humans? She is kept in a small yard, on hard dirt, which probably hurts her feet. Your other elephant, Annabelle, died by keeping her in unsatisfactory conditions. Most zoo elephants die by the age of 30 due to abscessed feet. Having already lost an elephant to a foot abscess, how can you in good consciousness, keep Maggie in the same conditions? You know she too, will die young from feet problems.

Vancouver Zoo in Canada just sent their Asian elephant, Tina, to the sanctuary on August 8, 2003. She too, has abscessed feet which would not recover being in a small yard. Thanks to the zoo truly wanting the best for Tina, they permanently retired her to the sanctuary. They predict her feet will heal in 6 months walking on natural substrate. The Evansville Zoo in Indiana, sent their ailing elephant, Bunny, to the sanctuary with chronic sore feet problems. She has since recovered. Why wait until Maggie gets sick to move her to better place?

Please, if you really love Maggie or even if you don't, let her go to her freedom at the Elephant Sanctuary. By fall, two zoo African elephants from Georgia and one from a California circus will be the first African elephant residents. Maggie could be the first if you release her now. These girls will begin to form the herd on 1000 acres. Just think of it, Maggie roaming free and protected for the rest of her life. I read that you are worried she will fight with others for dominance. With so much land, she doesn't have to mingle if she doesn't want to. That's the glory of the sanctuary, the girls choose to do want they want. Fighting only occurs in cramped spaces at zoos and circuses and never at the sanctuary.

Please visit their website at www.elephants.com to learn more.

Our group has offered to help raise the funds necessary to move Maggie and help pay for her retirement for the rest of her life. So, if financial issues are a setback for you regarding Maggie's retirement, you needn't worry about that. We will take care of everything, including her transportation to the Sanctuary.

Thank you for taking a moment to consider Maggie's health and well being. We hope you make an educated decision before her feet suffer the same fate as Annabelle's.

Sincerely,

NO THAI ELEPHANTS at TARONGA ZOO

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:28:54 GMT

Circus Elephant Retirement Village campaign
Taronga Zoo Action - 21/3/04
Detroit Zoo makes ethical decision to stop exhibiting elephants

Sample letters to Environment Minister Bob Debus:

Stop the import of Thai Elephansts
retire NSW circus elephants to Taronga Zoo

Send a letter to the Environment Minister today. Send us a copy. Ask us for some flyers.

Electorate Office: Shop 3, 107-109 Macquarie Street, Springwood NSW 2777
Phone (02) 4751 3298 Fax (02) 4751 1245
bluemountains@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Ministerial Office: Level 36 Governor Macquarie Tower 1 Farrer Place Sydney NSW 2000
PO Box: PO Box A290 Sydney South NSW 1232
Phone (02) 9228 3071 Fax (02) 9228 3166
bob.debus@debus.minister.nsw.gov.au

See a sample letter for ideas.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:25:10 GMT

Campaign Expiration Date:
March 11, 2006

What's At Stake:

Instructions:
Click here to take action on this issue or choose the "Reply to Sender" option on your email program.

Your help is needed to convince the Philadelphia City Council to take action to get Dulary, Petal, Kallie and Bette, the four elephants living at the Philadelphia Zoo, sent to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. The elephants currently spend the majority of their time in a dank, 1940's era concrete barn the size of three double car garages, surrounded by their own feces and urine for up to 14 hours a day, with sporadic access to a cramped, quarter-acre outdoor barren yard. The Zoo's Board of Directors recently voted not to expand the exhibit, citing lack of funds. Even if the Zoo had the money to expand, the Zoo's 42-acre property is physically unable to adequately provide for the world's largest mammals who need vast space to roam in order to keep healthy. In the wild, elephants can travel up to 30 miles per day and this freedom of movement is essential for good health. Captivity-induced health problems are the leading cause of death of elephants in zoos, causing elephants to die on average at roughly half their natural 70-year lifespan. Dulary, Petal, Kallie, and Bette, who were each stolen as babies from their families in the wild and have lived their entire lives in small, inadequae enclosures, deserve better - they deserve sanctuary.

http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=4100050

About ZOO

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:55:15 GMT

Zoo officials often consider profits ahead of the animals’ well-being. A former director of the Atlanta Zoo once remarked that he was "too far removed from the animals; they’re the last thing I worry about with all the other problems." Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals in captivity, bored, cramped, lonely, far from their natural homes, and at the mercy and whim of people.

Zoos claim to educate people, but most zoo enclosures are quite small, and labels provide little more information than the species’ name, diet, and natural range. The animals’ normal behavior is seldom discussed, much less observed, because their natural needs are seldom met in the zoo environment. The many animals who naturally live in large herds or family groups are often kept alone or, at most, in pairs. Natural hunting and mating behaviors are virtually eliminated by regulated feeding and breeding regimens. The animals are closely confined, lack privacy, and have little opportunity for mental stimulation or physical exercise, resulting in abnormal and self-destructive behavior, called zoochosis. Not only is this not educational, we believe a true desire to learn about animals should be motivated by and in keeping with a genuine interest in the animals’ well-being..

Disscuss about it on: ANIMAL RIGHTS FORUM

**It is an unfortunate fact that those people who are most eloquent in their demand for the conservation of animals are often those most eager to violate animal life at the first opportunity.

Andrew Linzey**

**The highest wisdom has but one science - the science of the whole – the science explaining the whole creation and man's place in it. ~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace ~

CONSERVATION

To claim that the zoo acts as a safety net for endangered species is to misrepresent the facts. Consider the following:

· Because of the limited number of animals that can be accommodated in any zoo, zoo animals lack genetic diversity

· Zoo animals usually cannot mate with a partner of their choice (if indeed they have a partner) which leads to unnatural selection as opposed to the natural selection that occurs in the wild – this results in the perpetuation of unfavourable genetic traits in succeeding generations

· Animals returned to the wild would have little chance of survival if the problems that led to their becoming endangered in the first place were not resolved

· Zoos have played a part in attempting to “conserve” only a minute fraction of the enormous variety of animal species in the world - for every endangered species that is part of a zoo breeding programme, there are many other animals in the zoo for entertainment only

· If the resources required to encourage animals to breed in the unnatural, restrictive conditions of zoos were utilised in protecting their natural environment, all the plants and animals and other natural features of that protected area, including the endangered species, would be conserved

click here for this story...

RESEARCH

Studies and research conducted in the artificial, restrictive confines of the zoo can teach us very little about the complex lives of wild, free-ranging animals. Most studies and research done in zoos serves merely to teach us more about wild animals in zoos. If zoos did not exist then such studies and research would not be necessary in the first place.

Zoos provide a convenient and available stock of animals for researchers and students whose academic curiosity and demands are their prime motivators. Their need to publish their “findings” has more to do with enhancing their professional status in the research and academic community than attempting to secure the future of an endangered or threatened species of animal.

It is possible to do morally acceptable, non-invasive research on captive wild animals in instances where such animals are unfit for survival in the wild (e.g. too tame for rehabilitation, injured or deformed) and therefore sanctuary life offers them a chance at life which would otherwise not be possible. Such research is limited in its scope and value and does not provide the justification for keeping “healthy” wild animals in captivity. It does however contribute to the knowledge required to do the best for wild animals in such sanctuaries.

Methods of field research relying on minimal interference with wild animals in their natural habitat have been pioneered and are becoming increasingly popular. Unlike zoo-based research, this research produces results directly applicable to the animal in it’s natural habitat.

Zoos are a relic of a bygone age. They divert funds from positive conservation.

The term 'zoo' was not used until the early 1800s when the Zoological Society of London was founded. At the end of World War II, the UK had only fourteen zoos, but in the late fifties and early sixties saw the number of zoos rise, reaching about 250 by the 1980s. Today zoos are a relic of a bygone age - a Victorian concept which, as our knowledge of the animal kingdom grows, becomes even less palatable.

To most people, it is self evident that keeping a rhinoceros in a small concrete enclosure in central London is hardly appropriate. So zoos claim they are on a greater mission: for conservation, education, research, and entertainment. Zoos now favour terms like wildlife park or even 'sanctuary'.

In a survey, undertaken by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, 80% of those questioned were concerned about the welfare of animals in zoos, three quarters believed that the alternative for many species was extinction. Over half said they would not visit a zoo if they knew that it had little impact on conservation. Yet zoos haven't really changed from the menageries of old.

Wild rhinos may travel for 12 kilometers or more a day. What is there for these captive rhinos?

The Captive Animals' Protection Society is totally opposed to the incarceration of animals for entertainment and believes that zoos do not educate, but misinform, and further, divert funds from positive conservation. Animals remain threatened or are even driven to extinction, whilst precious resources are drained away on expensive, high profile breeding projects with no serious hope of success.

THE CON IN CONSERVATION?

In the region of 6,000 species are either threatened or endangered, yet only a handful are in captive breeding programmes and only around twenty have actually been returned to wild with any degree of success. Out of an estimated 10,000 zoos worldwide, less than 500 register their animals on an international species database. Of these, it is estimated that only between five and ten per cent of space is devoted to endangered species.

Most animals in zoos, for example the African lions, elephants, and giraffes, are not threatened they are simply exhibits. Take a look at the way they keep those precious, rare species whose very future they claim to hold in their hands: At Southport Zoo, for example, a pair of highly endangered snow leopards live alongside a big dipper with cars hurtling past every few minutes.

Rhinos in their indoor (night) quarters. The foliage is for the benefit of the visitors since the rhinos probably can't reach it.

Even if zoos were working as hard for conservation as their publicity material would have you believe, the very nature of most would doom their efforts to failure. Captive breeding projects need to be as close as possible to the ultimate release site, certainly in terms of climate, habitat and fauna. The animals need space appropriate to their needs and populations large enough to provide a suitable gene pool and a natural social balance of the species, with minimal human contact.

Unfortunately, zoos and safari parks consistently fail to achieve any of the criteria necessary to succeed at their self-appointed task of maintaining viable groups of animals, ready to repopulate the wild. Instead they keep solitary, or unnaturally small groups of misplaced animals in substandard artificial habitats, permanently on show, thousands of miles from where the animals belong.

Animals don't need help breeding; they've been doing it successfully for a very long time. They become threatened because of a variety of environmental factors - all too often, the destruction of their habitat by humans. Protection of a habitat and its animals has been shown to be the swift and cost-effective way of reversing any decline in a species.

The solitary, the shy and the creatures of the night cannot spend a day away from prying eyes.

The Arabian oryx is often trumpeted as a success of captive breeding, having been hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972. Captive oryx in Arabia and the USA became the nucleus of a breeding programme and in the 1980s some were released in Oman at a cost of approximately $25 million. In 1999 it was reported that of 400 animals just 100 have survived; thirteen females have been taken into captivity for their own safety. The oryx may be a rare example of an animal that might be extinct but for captivity, but only serves to underline that effective conservation protects animals within their habitat.

The Golden lion tamarin is also regarded as being 'saved' by captive breeding, having been threatened primarily by habitat destruction, as well as capture for the pet and zoo industry. Of over 100 captive-bred tamarins released into the wild, only about 30 survived. Some were unable to cope with life in the wild; unused to climbing on natural springy branches, some fell off. Others refused to move whilst others did not settle to a natural diet. While their offspring fared somewhat better, the project highlighted an additional danger of re-introduction. In 1991, a lethal virus was identified in a captive-bred tamarin just three days before the animal was to be released into an area where the virus was unknown. The virus was thought to have crossed the species barrier from mice fed to the tamarins.

In the wild, species build an immunity to naturally occurring disease, but in a zoo animals might not develop resistance to the most commonplace of ailments. On the other hand they may be challenged by viruses from a species that they would never otherwise meet. Viruses can mutate, or be transferred across the globe, to devastate wildlife. During the 1980s, Gopher tortoises were released in California. A virus present in the tortoises resulted in the deaths of an estimated 40,000 wild desert tortoises.

Bison from this zoo were supplied to an exotic meat farm.

BSE (or mad cow) type disease has been reported in a wide range of species kept in zoos such as cheetah, kudu, nyala, eland, Arabian oryx, puma and ostrich.

WHAT HAPPENS TO SURPLUS ANIMALS?

Surplus animals are a problem for zoos. The sad truth is that in many cases, zoo animals are bred simply to attract visitors and pressure on space and resources means that some will be disposed of or killed at the end of the season. Newborn or young male animals are often culled. In the wild, male antelope would leave the family group and find their own territory and mates, but this is not possible in captivity.

Many zoos have killed their African lion cubs in the past because lions breed prolifically and homes are in short supply. In 1999 two adult lions were to be culled at Woburn Safari Park. A home was only found when the story appeared in the national media. Woburn has admitted that its culls surplus monkeys.

Animals may be shunted from one zoo to another because of pressure on space, commercial reasons, or to fit in with 'breeding projects'. Jimmy an orang-utan from Blackpool Zoo was sent to Tenerife Zoo, where he lived alone for four years, until his death.

Hardly the rainforest, parrots in a cage under a staircase.

Surplus stock of certain species are 'recycled' - fed to other animals. However, whilst zoos might argue that rearing animals for their carnivores is logical, supplying the exotic meat trade for humans is clearly questionable. Chester Zoo and Cotswold Wildlife Park have supplied bison and ostrich respectively to exotic meat farms.

Some zoos and safari parks have supplied animals for experiments. London Zoo has experimental facilities on site, and zoo experiments have included the decapitation of conscious wallabies in research attempting to understand 'winter depression' and jet lag in humans.

London Zoo once supplied the Wellcome Research Laboratories with owl monkeys; Banham Zoo supplied red bellied tamarins to the University of Wales; Prairie dogs were made available by Whipsnade for experiments at St Thomas' Hospital, London; Woburn Safari Park collaborated with lab animal dealer Shamrock Farms in the supply of monkeys for experiments, only stopping after a public outcry.

WHERE DO ZOO ANIMALS COME FROM?

Large birds in zoos are prone to bone disease because small cages prevent them from flying properly.

It is a myth to think that all zoo animals have been captive bred. All of the African elephants in UK zoos and most of the Asian have been imported from their country of origin.

Wild animals are still captured and supplied to animal collections. In 1998 some 30 infant wild elephants were taken from their mothers in Botswana to be sold to European zoos by an animal dealer. Animal protection groups stepped in to oppose the sale but were unable to prevent seven elephants going to zoos in Switzerland and Germany.

Although zoos may not take as many animals from the wild as they once did, once there, the animals are there for life. In 1996, of 138 Bornean orang-utans in 35 European collections, 38 were wild born, ranging from 7 to 41 years old.

It is also important to note that even after many generations of captive breeding, animals retain their natural instincts.

EDUCATION

Zoo elephants performing tricks. Note the elephant hook in the keeper's hand.

Zoos claim that seeing a live wild animal gives an unparalleled appreciation of the power and wonder of nature. But what are they really showing us?

The power and dignity of these animal is often stripped from them and instead of being at one with an environment for which they have evolved, they sit in a wasteland. They are often no more than caricatures of their wild counterparts.

The zoo world is one where the primates hide their faces, the predators never hunt and mothers eat their young rather than let them survive. Lonely, solitary beasts shuffle around concrete enclosures, their eyes sad and empty.

Television wildlife programmes have ensured that our understanding of these animals extends beyond these pathetic exhibits. Indeed CAPS believes school trips to zoos leave children with a distorted view of wildlife and how to care for animals.

Even worse, a study at a US zoo found that most visitors spent less than three minutes looking at each exhibit, and sometimes as little as eight seconds. A six month study at Edinburgh Zoo found that 80% of passing visitors were attracted to the guenon monkeys but only watched for an average of 33 seconds.

If the standards of the Zoo Licensing Act have any meaning, how can this enclosure for a leopard cat be legal?

Zoos claim that they afford people the opportunity to see something that many will never see in the wild. This is true; we will have to make do with books, magazines and television. But could a few minutes of entertainment ever justify the tragedy of the disturbed behaviours and suffering we have outlined?

RESEARCH

Some knowledge of animals may have come from research at zoos but, this is disproportionate to the number of facilities and most, including much of that relating to breeding and husbandry, is for the benefit of the industry rather than the animals.

Ultimately zoos and safari parks are simply entertainment. Some even present animals performing little more than circus tricks to keep the visitors amused. CAPS has filmed elephants performing tricks at Blackpool, Twycross, Woburn, Whipsnade and London; parrots at Blackpool, Flamingoland and Knowsley; and sealions at West Midlands and Knowsley Safari Parks. Zoos claim that this is stimulation for the animal, but surely this is an admission of the impoverished nature of the captive environment.

Whilst your pet dog might go into a frenzy of excitement at the prospect of a walk or play with a toy, there seems little such enthusiasm for these captive animals as they plod through their routine. Indeed keepers are on hand to give elephants a poke with an elephant hook to ensure they are lifting head and trunks high enough - would this really be necessary if the animals were having such a good time?

THE LAW HAS FAILED ZOO AMIMALS

Even some zoos are starting to admit that certain animals, like polar bears, simply shouldn't be there at all.

Zoos are governed by the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 which sets minimum standards for zoo management. Although these can be updated and improved without recourse to Parliament, the Captive Animals Protection Society feels that the 1981 Act is woefully inadequate and fails to effectively take in to consideration the psychological suffering of zoo animals. Thus we still see tiny impoverished cages with little or no environmental enrichment, and animals deprived of their most basic social needs.

In principle, the Act is policed by zoo inspectors, but these are often zoo directors, zoo vets and zoo architects. Roger Cawley, Mary Chipperfield's husband, was a zoo inspector until allegations of cruelty were made against him by the Animal Defenders; the group who had filmed Cawley hitting elephants and camels. Cawley only resigned after his conviction for cruelty to a sick elephant, who he had whipped to force her to move faster. Cawley had also kept several elephants in a barn with no bedding or environmental enrichment, for months. Cawley was filmed instructing his elephant keeper to leave the elephants chained by a front and back leg for days on end - only able to shuffle forwards or backwards.

CAPS believes that zoos should be outlawed - that keeping wild animals confined for our entertainment is not acceptable. We do not believe the law can adequately protect zoo animals from the inevitable suffering of imprisonment. In the short term a moratorium should be placed on new zoos in the UK - NO MORE ZOOS. For those animals stranded in captivity, the Zoo Licensing Act standards must be raised to provide the best possible lifestyle - not the minimum acceptable.

In the wild, animals react to their surroundings, avoiding predators, seeking food and interacting with others of their species - doing what they have evolved for. Consequently, even what might seem 'larger' or 'better' enclosures may be completely impoverished in terms of the animal's real needs.

Frustration and boredom are commonplace amongst zoo animals and can lead to obsessive and repetitive behaviours in the form of pacing, swaying, even self mutilation. This is known as stereotypic behaviour and such pointless, repetitive movements have also been noted in mentally ill people. With nothing to do, zoo animals go out of their minds.

An elephant whose herd and social structure are so important, imprisoned alone.

Caged big cats will often pace the same path again and again..

Animals in Zoos- Important Links

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:54:14 GMT

The cruel wild beast is not behind the bars of the cage. He stands in front of it. (Axel Munthe)

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