Elephant Captivity Raises Concerns
Note: I worked on this story for many months, one of the rare chances to spend that kind of time chipping away at what I hoped would be a great story. What I found was that a local park, in Vallejo, had more elephant deaths than any other during a specific period.
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 17, 2003
More elephants have died at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo than at any other accredited zoo in the country since 1996, according to records reviewed by the Times.
Six elephants died at the 140-acre theme park between 1996 and 2002, including two euthanized for chronic arthritis and one for a crippling leg deformity. The other deaths were one from a viral infection, and a stillborn baby and its mother from birth-related complications.
Park officials say they exhausted all alternatives in each case but were unable to spare the animals.
Over the same period, five elephants died at the Oakland Zoo -- two stillborns, one from a viral infection, an infant trampled by its mother and a bull from a mysterious illness.
The deaths at the two dissimilar zoos and other accredited institutions raises difficult questions about the general welfare of captive elephants in North America.
In the past six years, 55 elephants died at member institutions of the American Zoological and Aquarium Association. More than half, or 58 percent, did not have a listed cause of death.
Critics say captivity causes unnecessary pain and misery for the world's largest land animals.
Elephants are dying young, they say, and are often depressed, bored, cramped and lonely -- swaying neurotically because of their natural need to roam.
Zoo leaders say new care standards and progressive management philosophies are leading to treatment that is better than ever.
Also, they argue, captive elephants play a key role in promoting public education as well as inciting U.S.-led advances in science, biology and veterinary medicine that also benefit wild animals.
The 208-member zoo association, the world's largest, has had discussions in recent years about whether to phase elephants out of its collections -- ending a 200-year history of public captivity.
"But we decided that we could not do as good a job with education, conservation or science if we did not have them in our collections," said Michael Hutchins, association director of conservation and science.
Instead, in March 2001 they rolled out strict policies of elephant care that each member institution is urged to follow.
The standards, which are being phased in over several years, include everything from improving the size and design of barns and exhibits to ensuring access to fresh water.
The ethical wrangling occurs as the mammals fight for survival. Their numbers have steadily declined because of poaching and a ballooning human population in their native ranges.
An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 African elephants are left in the wild and 35,000 to 45,000 of the Asian species remain.
Elephants are sensitive and highly intelligent creatures that travel in large herds, led by an older female, with a distinct social order that focuses on caring for their young.
"I think we have a lot of work to do in terms of doing a good job of keeping elephants in captivity," said Colleen Kinzley, the Oakland Zoo's elephant manager and animal curator.
"They don't live as long in captivity as they do in the wild," she said. "We clearly struggle with reproducing elephants and that affects our ability to provide them with a natural social group."
In Vallejo, the six deaths represent 11 percent of all the elephants that died in association-accredited zoos since 1996. Marine World is an accredited zoo as well as a theme park.
Animal rights activists, who sued the theme park last year to prevent it from acquiring a pair of baby Asian pachyderms from India, have called on the park to scuttle its elephant exhibit.
Park officials say the activists are stirring up "media campaigns" to smear their reputation, and say they have done nothing wrong.
None of the deaths was avoidable, they say, including that of Tika, an African elephant who died at age 24 in November from an untreatable infection when a calf died in her womb.
"Not one of them was lost due to anything that any human had done or could have prevented," said park spokesman Jeff Jouett.
Misha, another park elephant, is pregnant and due to give birth this month.
Critics say Marine World is a noisy, stressful environment unfair to exotic animals like elephants. The park re-opened Saturday with its sixth roller coaster, Zonga.
"It really shouldn't be an AZA-accredited facility," said Pat Derby, a former Hollywood animal trainer who co-founded the Performing Animal Welfare Society in Galt, a sanctuary near Stockton.
"It's really an embarrassment to the AZA. (Marine World) is a roller coaster park, not an institution for higher learning."
Jouett said the park, which is closed 209 days a year, is not stressful and that the rides are designed far from the animal exhibits.
About 600 elephants are featured in U.S. zoos, theme parks, circuses and private preserves, including 13 in the Bay Area.
Oversight of the animal exhibition industry is limited.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates the industry but has only 99 inspectors -- its largest team ever -- to monitor 2,549 animal exhibitors.
An arm of the department, the Animal and Plant Inspection Service, conducts thousands of routine inspections a year.
But the service does not always pay annual visits to exhibitors, which are not required to notify the agency when an animal dies.
"They do have to note the death in their vet medical records, which we have access to upon inspection," said Jim Rogers, agency spokesman. "We can ask, 'Hey, we noticed Jo Jo is missing -- what's the story on that?'"
At Marine World, three park elephants were euthanized between 1996 and 1999. None of the cases included a specific cause of death in zoo association records.
Jouett, who did not know why a cause of death was omitted, said the records had been forwarded to the zoo association.
Each animal had been "humanely euthanized" at UC Davis, he said, to prevent further suffering.
The three elephants were:
Bandula, or "Bandi," euthanized in 1996 after suffering chronic arthritis and severe joint pain stemming from a front leg being shorter than the other, Jouett said. She was 27 or 30.
Ginny, euthanized in 1998 after suffering from "chronic deteriorating arthritis," according to medical records. She was 58, the oldest zoo elephant in North America at the time.
Judy, euthanized in 1999 because of deformities in her rear legs, which limited her ability to move. She was 33.
Asked whether captivity had spurred the arthritis and joint problems, David Blasko, Marine World's veteran director of animal operations, said no.
The animals were hobbled by the problems for years, he said, and the pain worsened as they grew older.
In November, the park surrendered its federal permits to import a pair of endangered young Asian elephants because it had not completed arrangements to transport the animals from India.
Animal rights groups say the park backed down because of their federal lawsuit, filed in October to block the move.
In the aftermath of Tika's death, In Defense of Animals, a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, called on Marine World to scuttle its elephant exhibit.
Park employees were devastated by the loss; officials said they had no choice but to end Tika's suffering.
"We didn't want her to live and suffer until the bacterial infection actually killed her," said Jouett, who said the activist group lacked compassion.
When Kala died, more criticism was heaped on Marine World.
Kala, a baby elephant on loan from a Missouri zoo, died of a herpes virus infection in November 2000 -- six months after arriving at Marine World.
Jane Garrison, an elephant specialist formerly with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was particularly outraged. She had warned the park about taking the 2-year-old animal from its mother and into a stressful, unfamiliar environment.
Jouett said Kala died of the virus, not from stress over the transfer. He said Kala was happy with his new elephant family, especially Taj, the park's oldest pachyderm.
The captive elephant controversy has swirled even as the zoo industry embraces change.
More than half of association members -- including Oakland, an early pioneer -- now use a management program called "protected contact," in which barriers are used to separate animals from their keepers.
By comparison, the traditional zoos allow free interaction and, some say, abuse.
Zoo leaders say they remain committed to their vision of creating a self-sustaining population of elephants in North America, which they see as critical for the species' survival.
A leading zoo director said the beasts are not self-sustaining here because of low birth rates, not high death rates.
"Most animals are not in a breeding situation," said Bob Wiese, director of animal operations at the Fort Worth Zoo.
Critics say they worry about all the sacrifices and years of poor care.
"We've had 200 years of elephants in captivity. In that time period, we haven't learned much," said Richard Farinato, director of the captive wildlife program for the U.S. Humane Society.
"If we haven't figured it out yet, what makes you think we ever will?"
Oakland zookeepers have wrestled with the issue after a string of elephant deaths.
In September 2001, Dohani, a 10-day-old calf who had bonded with his mother, was found dead in his stall. The baby had died of a single, crushing blow from its mother, Lisa.
Six months earlier, Smokey, a wildly successful breeding bull, died at age 29 of a mysterious illness.
In trying to create a more natural setting, Oakland is tripling the size of its elephant exhibit, giving the animals more room to browse and socialize.
Derby, of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, said she is encouraged by zoos like Oakland.
She said her expanded 100-acre elephant sanctuary in San Andreas is one of the two largest enclosures for the animals in the country.
"Our African elephants are in a really good place," she said. "But we hold our breath every day."
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
March 17, 2003
More elephants have died at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo than at any other accredited zoo in the country since 1996, according to records reviewed by the Times.
Six elephants died at the 140-acre theme park between 1996 and 2002, including two euthanized for chronic arthritis and one for a crippling leg deformity. The other deaths were one from a viral infection, and a stillborn baby and its mother from birth-related complications.
Park officials say they exhausted all alternatives in each case but were unable to spare the animals.
Over the same period, five elephants died at the Oakland Zoo -- two stillborns, one from a viral infection, an infant trampled by its mother and a bull from a mysterious illness.
The deaths at the two dissimilar zoos and other accredited institutions raises difficult questions about the general welfare of captive elephants in North America.
In the past six years, 55 elephants died at member institutions of the American Zoological and Aquarium Association. More than half, or 58 percent, did not have a listed cause of death.
Critics say captivity causes unnecessary pain and misery for the world's largest land animals.
Elephants are dying young, they say, and are often depressed, bored, cramped and lonely -- swaying neurotically because of their natural need to roam.
Zoo leaders say new care standards and progressive management philosophies are leading to treatment that is better than ever.
Also, they argue, captive elephants play a key role in promoting public education as well as inciting U.S.-led advances in science, biology and veterinary medicine that also benefit wild animals.
The 208-member zoo association, the world's largest, has had discussions in recent years about whether to phase elephants out of its collections -- ending a 200-year history of public captivity.
"But we decided that we could not do as good a job with education, conservation or science if we did not have them in our collections," said Michael Hutchins, association director of conservation and science.
Instead, in March 2001 they rolled out strict policies of elephant care that each member institution is urged to follow.
The standards, which are being phased in over several years, include everything from improving the size and design of barns and exhibits to ensuring access to fresh water.
The ethical wrangling occurs as the mammals fight for survival. Their numbers have steadily declined because of poaching and a ballooning human population in their native ranges.
An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 African elephants are left in the wild and 35,000 to 45,000 of the Asian species remain.
Elephants are sensitive and highly intelligent creatures that travel in large herds, led by an older female, with a distinct social order that focuses on caring for their young.
"I think we have a lot of work to do in terms of doing a good job of keeping elephants in captivity," said Colleen Kinzley, the Oakland Zoo's elephant manager and animal curator.
"They don't live as long in captivity as they do in the wild," she said. "We clearly struggle with reproducing elephants and that affects our ability to provide them with a natural social group."
In Vallejo, the six deaths represent 11 percent of all the elephants that died in association-accredited zoos since 1996. Marine World is an accredited zoo as well as a theme park.
Animal rights activists, who sued the theme park last year to prevent it from acquiring a pair of baby Asian pachyderms from India, have called on the park to scuttle its elephant exhibit.
Park officials say the activists are stirring up "media campaigns" to smear their reputation, and say they have done nothing wrong.
None of the deaths was avoidable, they say, including that of Tika, an African elephant who died at age 24 in November from an untreatable infection when a calf died in her womb.
"Not one of them was lost due to anything that any human had done or could have prevented," said park spokesman Jeff Jouett.
Misha, another park elephant, is pregnant and due to give birth this month.
Critics say Marine World is a noisy, stressful environment unfair to exotic animals like elephants. The park re-opened Saturday with its sixth roller coaster, Zonga.
"It really shouldn't be an AZA-accredited facility," said Pat Derby, a former Hollywood animal trainer who co-founded the Performing Animal Welfare Society in Galt, a sanctuary near Stockton.
"It's really an embarrassment to the AZA. (Marine World) is a roller coaster park, not an institution for higher learning."
Jouett said the park, which is closed 209 days a year, is not stressful and that the rides are designed far from the animal exhibits.
About 600 elephants are featured in U.S. zoos, theme parks, circuses and private preserves, including 13 in the Bay Area.
Oversight of the animal exhibition industry is limited.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates the industry but has only 99 inspectors -- its largest team ever -- to monitor 2,549 animal exhibitors.
An arm of the department, the Animal and Plant Inspection Service, conducts thousands of routine inspections a year.
But the service does not always pay annual visits to exhibitors, which are not required to notify the agency when an animal dies.
"They do have to note the death in their vet medical records, which we have access to upon inspection," said Jim Rogers, agency spokesman. "We can ask, 'Hey, we noticed Jo Jo is missing -- what's the story on that?'"
At Marine World, three park elephants were euthanized between 1996 and 1999. None of the cases included a specific cause of death in zoo association records.
Jouett, who did not know why a cause of death was omitted, said the records had been forwarded to the zoo association.
Each animal had been "humanely euthanized" at UC Davis, he said, to prevent further suffering.
The three elephants were:
Bandula, or "Bandi," euthanized in 1996 after suffering chronic arthritis and severe joint pain stemming from a front leg being shorter than the other, Jouett said. She was 27 or 30.
Ginny, euthanized in 1998 after suffering from "chronic deteriorating arthritis," according to medical records. She was 58, the oldest zoo elephant in North America at the time.
Judy, euthanized in 1999 because of deformities in her rear legs, which limited her ability to move. She was 33.
Asked whether captivity had spurred the arthritis and joint problems, David Blasko, Marine World's veteran director of animal operations, said no.
The animals were hobbled by the problems for years, he said, and the pain worsened as they grew older.
In November, the park surrendered its federal permits to import a pair of endangered young Asian elephants because it had not completed arrangements to transport the animals from India.
Animal rights groups say the park backed down because of their federal lawsuit, filed in October to block the move.
In the aftermath of Tika's death, In Defense of Animals, a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, called on Marine World to scuttle its elephant exhibit.
Park employees were devastated by the loss; officials said they had no choice but to end Tika's suffering.
"We didn't want her to live and suffer until the bacterial infection actually killed her," said Jouett, who said the activist group lacked compassion.
When Kala died, more criticism was heaped on Marine World.
Kala, a baby elephant on loan from a Missouri zoo, died of a herpes virus infection in November 2000 -- six months after arriving at Marine World.
Jane Garrison, an elephant specialist formerly with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was particularly outraged. She had warned the park about taking the 2-year-old animal from its mother and into a stressful, unfamiliar environment.
Jouett said Kala died of the virus, not from stress over the transfer. He said Kala was happy with his new elephant family, especially Taj, the park's oldest pachyderm.
The captive elephant controversy has swirled even as the zoo industry embraces change.
More than half of association members -- including Oakland, an early pioneer -- now use a management program called "protected contact," in which barriers are used to separate animals from their keepers.
By comparison, the traditional zoos allow free interaction and, some say, abuse.
Zoo leaders say they remain committed to their vision of creating a self-sustaining population of elephants in North America, which they see as critical for the species' survival.
A leading zoo director said the beasts are not self-sustaining here because of low birth rates, not high death rates.
"Most animals are not in a breeding situation," said Bob Wiese, director of animal operations at the Fort Worth Zoo.
Critics say they worry about all the sacrifices and years of poor care.
"We've had 200 years of elephants in captivity. In that time period, we haven't learned much," said Richard Farinato, director of the captive wildlife program for the U.S. Humane Society.
"If we haven't figured it out yet, what makes you think we ever will?"
Oakland zookeepers have wrestled with the issue after a string of elephant deaths.
In September 2001, Dohani, a 10-day-old calf who had bonded with his mother, was found dead in his stall. The baby had died of a single, crushing blow from its mother, Lisa.
Six months earlier, Smokey, a wildly successful breeding bull, died at age 29 of a mysterious illness.
In trying to create a more natural setting, Oakland is tripling the size of its elephant exhibit, giving the animals more room to browse and socialize.
Derby, of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, said she is encouraged by zoos like Oakland.
She said her expanded 100-acre elephant sanctuary in San Andreas is one of the two largest enclosures for the animals in the country.
"Our African elephants are in a really good place," she said. "But we hold our breath every day."
posted by Corey at 4:17 PM
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