Lily & Jenny in DMN-Writing Alert

[Guest guest]

Does it sound to anyone else like Gregg Hudson is grasping at straws in his meager criticism of The Elephant Sanctuary? Or, do you think he just doesn't like dogs?Please write a DMN Letter to the Editor today advocating for Jenny's retirement to The Elephant Sanctuary, a world class habitat for elephants. Please reference the DMN article by name (see below) to give yourself the best chance to get published.http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgiConsidering the tiny antiquated enclosure the Dallas Zoo has forced Jenny to live in for 22 years, I am amazed that Mr. Hudson has the hubris to criticize TES, which is widely regarded as the enlightened future of captive elephant management. Thanks especially to Lily Tomlin for her humor, compassion and grace under fire at today's Dallas City

Council. Thanks to all. Margaret Morinwww.concernedcitizensforjenny.nethttp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101608dnmettomlin.368a01e.htmlLily Tomlin tells Dallas council Jenny the elephant belongs in Tennessee sanctuary

09:07 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 15, 2008

By RUDOLPH BUSH / The Dallas Morning News rbush

 

Call it the Lily and Jenny

show if you must, but there were few laughs Wednesday when comedian

Lily Tomlin came to City Hall to persuade Mayor Tom Leppert and council

members to send the Dallas Zoo's last elephant to a sanctuary in

Tennessee. Ms. Tomlin's appearance was the latest volley

in a long-running campaign to persuade the council to reverse the

decision of zoo director Gregg Hudson to keep Jenny in Dallas.

"Imagine living your entire life locked in an empty closet standing

virtually in one place. ... For two decades, Jenny has eked out a

miserable existence at the zoo in an enclosure that is antiquated and

inadequate by modern elephant management standards," she said. She wrapped up her speech with a stark assessment of zoos.

"The word zoo is elephant-speak for Guantánamo," she said, referring to

the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Zoo

officials strongly dispute that characterization. The zoo is a place

where humane conservatorship of animals is the highest priority,

officials said. And Jenny, abused for years by her first

owner, has made significant strides under the care of Dallas

zookeepers, Park and Recreation director Paul Dyer said. Neither Mr. Dyer nor Mr. Hudson defends Jenny's current enclosure of about a quarter-acre, however.

Instead, they plan to fast-track construction of a new 4-acre elephant

habitat that is scheduled for completion in spring 2010.

Ms. Tomlin urged the council to bring another elephant from some worse

circumstance to the new habitat and to send the 32-year-old Jenny to

live out her life on a massive wildlife reserve known as the Elephant

Sanctuary in Tennessee. But zoo officials and many on the

council have decided that the sanctuary does not measure up to proper

standards of elephant care. Some have also expressed

private concerns that the push to send Jenny to the sanctuary is really

part of a larger movement against zoos. They fear that giving in to

that would give opponents of zoos momentum. But Mr.

Hudson has said that the decision to keep Jenny here boiled down to his

conclusion that she would not receive better care at the sanctuary.

For starters, the sanctuary lacks accreditation by the Association of

Zoos and Aquariums, a nonprofit agency that inspects zoos, he said.

AZA spokesman Steve Feldman said that among several concerns, his

organization is particularly worried there may be active cases of

tuberculosis among elephants at the sanctuary. "The

Dallas Zoo is certainly hesitant to send a healthy, tuberculosis-free

elephant into a situation where there are infected elephants," Mr.

Feldman said. Carol Buckley, founding director of the

Elephant Sanctuary, said that any suggestion there is active

tuberculosis at the sanctuary is "a lie." "There should

be no concern regarding cross-contamination of tuberculosis because

there are no elephants living at the sanctuary that have tuberculosis,"

she said. Under the direction of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, the sanctuary did accept two Asian elephants with active

tuberculosis about four years ago, she said. The

sanctuary followed USDA protocols in quarantining the animals. One died

and another was cured and ultimately reintroduced into a herd, Ms.

Buckley said. The sanctuary currently has no elephants under quarantine, she said.

Walter Cook, director of captive animal management for the Tennessee

Wildlife Resource Agency, confirmed that and said the sanctuary is

regularly inspected by the state under the same rigorous standards as

zoos. "If I was an elephant, and I could not roam free, I would want to be at the sanctuary," he said.

Mr. Cook strongly disputed any suggestion that the sanctuary does not

meet proper standards of animal care. His agency ensures that the

facility meets the highest standards, he said. "They have

the most regimented oversight of any elephants in the world. There is

no facility in the world that would tolerate this degree of intrusion.

We know everything," he said. Asked what oversight

standards the state employed, Mr. Cook said the TWRA adopted all AZA

standards and then added criteria. Tennessee's laws, protocols and procedures have been adopted by 27 other states, he said.

Mr. Hudson, who inspects zoos and sanctuaries for the AZA, said he

decided against sending Jenny to Tennessee after touring the sanctuary.

He was concerned about the lack of footbaths for

caretakers who went from quarantined areas to other parts of the

preserve, he said. He was also concerned that dogs roamed freely from a

300-acre quarantine area to a 2,200-acre Asian elephant preserve to the

300-acre African elephant preserve. "I don't have anything against the sanctuary, but there were concerns I have," he said.