Elephant's death sparks inquiry

Analysis: Elephant's death sparks inquiry


By Al Swanson
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL


Chicago, IL, May. 3 (UPI) -- A Chicago City Council committee postponed
a hearing on whether elephants should be banned at zoos in cold
climates following the death of the third Lincoln Park Zoo elephant.


The weekend death of Wankie, a 36-year-old female elephant, has
triggered a public outcry from animal-rights activists angry over the
treatment of wild animals in captivity.

Wankie was euthanized Sunday after being transported from Chicago's
landmark lakefront zoo to a new home 1,400 miles away at the Hogle Zoo
in Salt Lake City.

The elephant died two days after being loaded into a metal crate on a
truck.

Reports said Wankie was in good shape when she left Lincoln Park. The
elephant suffered respiratory problems early Saturday morning, laid
down while in transit, and may have suffered damage to her internal
organs, legs and respiratory system.

Wankie was being moved for only the third time in her life. Her first
trip in 1976 was from Africa to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park,
where she lived for 30 years.

Several dozen protesters gathered outside the Lincoln Park Zoo's
administrative offices at noon Tuesday carrying signs saying: "Animals
Belong in the Wild, Not Behind Bars," and "Lincoln Park Zoo = Death
Sentence."

They believe the elephant's death could have been prevented.

"We think that Lincoln Park Zoo moved too quickly to get the elephant
out of Chicago to circumvent any public hearing on the debate," said
RaeLeann Smith of In Defense of Animals. "Elephants are not used to
transport and it takes a long time to get an elephant used to a crate."

Preliminary results of a necropsy were inconclusive and it may be six
weeks before the cause of death is determined.

Wankie, the last elephant at the zoo, became a lightning rod for
animal-rights protesters after the deaths of the zoo's two other
elephants -- Peaches, 55, and Tatima, 35 -- within three months.

Peaches died Jan 17 of old age. Tatima died of Mycobacterium szulgai, a
rare lung disease, last Oct. 16. Activists said the elephants should
not have been living in a 4,000-square-foot indoor enclosure in the
first place.

Elephant expert Cynthia Moss, founder of the Amboseli Trust for
Elephants, questions whether elephants can be kept in any northern
zoos. Elephants roam up to 40 miles a day in the wild.

The Lincoln Park Zoo's elephants had problems with weight loss,
lameness and had shown other signs of distress since their arrival from
San Diego in April 2003, protesters said.

Earlier this month, the Detroit Zoo closed its elephant exhibit and
sent two aging female Asian elephants to the PAWS sanctuary in
California. Detroit officials said zoos could not provide for an
elephant's physical, social and psychological needs.

The San Francisco Zoo announced it would close its elephant exhibit
after the city council adopted an ordinance requiring the zoo to
provide no less than 15 acres of habitat for elephants.

Between 1999 and 2004, zoos in Georgia, Wisconsin, Louisiana and
Indiana retired their elephants and relocated the animals to other zoos
or The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn.

In Defense of Animals, People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals and
other animal-rights organizations called for the resignation of Lincoln
Park Zoo President Kevin Bell and for an independent investigation of
Wankie's death.

"Lincoln Park Zoo failed these elephants by bringing them from sunny
California to a cramped concrete slab in cold and windy Chicago," said
PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "With three premature deaths in six months,
Kevin Bell must step down now."

Elephants live into their 40's in the wild and PETA thinks Tatima died
from a lack of living space.

PETA said Wankie may have been tranquilized and sneaked out of town
before the City Council's Parks & Recreation Committee could debate a
resolution to permanently close the zoo's elephant exhibit and send
Wankie to a free-roaming sanctuary in California or Tennessee.

The group said keeping elephants in concrete enclosures with less than
1 acre to move around in was inhumane and possibly fatal for the 4-ton
creatures.

Ray Ryan, the former handler of the three elephants at the San Diego
Zoo, said Wankie and the others had no problems in California.

"They were on 2 1/2 acres in 72-degree temperatures for 30 straight
years. You know, they got up in the morning and walked outside." Ryan
told WMAQ-TV.

PETA said the U.S. Department of Agriculture should pursue charges
against the zoo if negligence or inadequate care in transit was
responsible for Wankie's death.

Activists called on Bell to publicly release medical and necropsy
records on all three dead elephants.

Zoo officials did not announce Wankie's departure date fearing possible
disruption by extremist animal-rights protesters.

A scheduled hearing next week on a Chicago City Council resolution
proposed by Alderman George Cardenas to permanently bar the Lincoln
Park Zoo from keeping elephants was postponed pending necropsy results
for Wankie.

"Now that Wankie the elephant has died, then obviously we want to wait
for the necropsy report to come back so that we can see what happened.
Did the elephant have a prior existing condition? Or was if just a
freak accident and it died on the way ... to Utah," Cardenas said in an
interview with WFLD-TV.

Officials said there are no plans to house elephants at the zoo in the
future, but the zoo faces a political backlash.

Bell opened the zoo to USDA investigators and an independent probe by
the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. He said the zoo would
participate in a nationwide, long-term scientific study on the effects
of housing elephants in cold-weather climates.

"Unless you have an extraordinary habitat, you shouldn't have the
animals," Alderman Mary Ann Smith, chairwoman of the council's parks
and recreation committee, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "My heart is with
the animal-rights people but I also think you can have animal habitats
that are good for animals."

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