Lily Tomlin's Visit to Dallas to Speak for Jenny. Cross Post Widely, Please

[Guest guest]

Last week, Ms. Lily Tomlin traveled to Dallas to meet

with Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and individual city council persons to

urge that elephant Jenny be immediately retired to The Elephant

Sanctuary, a 2,700 acre habitat renowned for rehabilitating and healing

troubled and ailing elephants like Jenny. Jenny has a history of chronic foot abscesses from standing in one place for years on end. She is subject to bouts of severe depression, during which has self-mutilated and broken steel cables with her head. Jenny sways for hours on end, a sign of great stress in captive elephants. While Ms.Tomlin was in Dallas, she and Margaret

Morin, Concerned Citizens for Jenny founder also proposed a

ground-breaking plan. They

asked Dallas to not only immediately retire Jenny but also to reach out and bring two or three elephants

currently in dire straights into the Dallas Zoo¢s proposed habitat

planned for completion in two years.

The award winning actress pointed out that there are many such suffering elephants in the U.S. who are currently

living in misery, chained in road side zoos, traveling circuses, and in

the hands of private owners unable to meet the elephant's basic

needs. Such elephants, could have their life

bettered in Zoo¢s proposed new four-acre habitat, whereas this habitat, which will not be built for two years,

does not currently benefit the Zoo¢s long suffering resident

elephant, Jenny.

Lily Tomlin spoke at Dallas City Council where she petitioned the City to retire Jenny now

to The Elephant Sanctuary and to not to make her wait two years for a

larger habitat to be built in Dallas. Even the Dallas Zoo does not

defend the antiquated 1/4 acre barren exhibit where Jenny has

languished away her life for twenty two years. Elephants in Zoos

live only to 34 and Jenny is 32, so waiting two years for more space wastes Jenny's last chance. As the life span of an elephant in the

wild is 70 + years, Jenny could have many years of happy life if she

was relocated soon to the more natural environment of the sanctuary.

"If you know anything about elephants... you

would just ache for her (Jenny). We'd like her to go the sanctuary now," said the beloved actress.

 

Concerned Citizens for Jenny asks those who love elephants to contact

the Dallas Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and Parks and Recreation

director and urge that Jenny be retired to the Sanctuary immediately. For details and contact information, go to: www.concernedcitizensforjenny.net

 

Thousands of broadcast and media articles have been published on

Jenny's plight since May, 2008 and this continues even today. Here are

just a few links to media covering Ms. Tomlin¢s recent visit to Dallas

to advocate for Jenny:

 

10/16/08 Good Morning Texas (updated link of excellent video):

http://www.wfaa.com/video/gmtgeneral-index.html?nvid=293528

 

10/16/08 USA Today (published in hard copy daily and on-line): http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/10/elephants-pligh.html

 

10/15/08 Dallas Morning News (published in hard copy daily and

on-line):

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101608dnmettomlin.368a01e.html