Philly Zoo Elephants Suffer Like Dallas Jenny, Cross Post Okay

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http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090402_Another_side_of_the_story_at_the_Philadelphia_Zoo.html

Another side of the story at the Philadelphia Zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHARON GEKOSKI-KIMMEL

 

 

Officials hope to breed Bette (left) and Kallie. At their age, it could be life-threatening.

 

Animals are kept in cramped, outdated spaces.

Marianne Bessey

heads the Philadelphia chapter

of the League of Humane Voters

As the Philadelphia Zoo celebrated its 150-year anniversary recently,

dozens of local citizens gathered outside to call attention to

long-standing animal-welfare problems and wasteful spending at the zoo.

For the most part, the media provided only partial coverage of the

day's events, ignoring the other side of the zoo story.

Criticizing a childhood tradition such as the zoo is about as popular

as a root canal, but it's just as necessary. Questions and calls for

change are the only way we move forward.

Just a few months ago, the zoo spent $800,000 to import a spanking-new

"Rainforest" carousel from the Netherlands, an executive told Fairmount

Park commissioners. At the same time, many of the zoo's animal

inhabitants remain confined to crumbling, Depression-era enclosures.

Too many of the zoo's animals are forced to sleep and eat in the same

small spaces where they urinate and defecate. Based on my observations,

examples of animals kept in inadequate enclosures include:

A lone rhino confined to a dinky, barren exhibit lacking shade.

Two hippos that spend most of November through March crammed in a tiny indoor stall due to chilly outdoor temperatures.

An okapi (an African herd animal) stuck alone in a yard more suitable for a poodle.

Lemurs, which are arboreal in nature (spending most of their time in

trees and bushes), housed in small stalls where the only foliage is

painted on the cement walls.

The lone Asian bear is often seen neurotically bobbing and weaving, an

indication that zoo conditions are negatively impacting his well-being.

Even in the "state-of-the-art" Big Cat Falls exhibit, the big cats take

turns in the outdoor display, so they, too, spend hours confined to

indoor cages every day.

What do such artificial settings and unnatural animal behaviors really teach visitors, except that animals are display objects?

Finally, there are the elephants. Based on the average costs of keeping

the animals, the zoo has probably spent close to a million dollars over

the past few years keeping its elephants in conditions that zoo

officials themselves have admitted are inadequate, awaiting the

construction of a breeding facility outside Pittsburgh. It's

unconscionable that the zoo refused to send the elephants to a

wonderful sanctuary that offered to take them in at no charge years ago.

Arguably even worse is the zoo's life-threatening plan to attempt to

breed the 27-year-old elephants Kallie and Bette. Zoo industry data

underscore the dangers associated with the first-time breeding of

elephants over the age of 25.

It's time for the zoo to be held accountable. The zoo leases its city

property for a dollar a year. In addition, millions of our city tax

dollars are given to the zoo every year in the form of water, garbage,

and capital-improvement subsidies. The zoo must stop wasting money on

new animals, added visitor amenities, and high executive salaries while

the animals already there are left to languish in cramped, outdated

enclosures.

Conservation expenditures, which currently account for less than 1

percent of the zoo's annual budget, also need to increase

substantially. And they should support true conservation of endangered

species - that is, saving animals' native habitat, not breeding them in

captivity.

It's time for animal welfare to become the top priority at the zoo. And

city officials must stop blindly funding the zoo with tax dollars until

the zoo does what is best for the elephants and other animals. Since

zoo management isn't willing to make animal welfare a priority, we need

to demand that city officials take a more active role.