HUGE TURNOUT FOR ELEPHANT RALLY!!!!
Read more about it and watch video and see
more photos here.
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LETTERS AND OP-EDS - Click *HERE*
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Article: Group wants answers in death of Petal the elephant
What is the Philadelphia Zoo hiding? Read articles about the request for investigation into Petal's death here:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Daily News
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Article: Phila. Lawyer Opposes Elephants' Move - Daily American, November 2, 2007 - click here for article
A member of the Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants is opposed to those elephants being moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium’s International Conservation Center near Fairhope...
“The Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in California has offered to take Kallie, Bette and Petal free of charge,” she said. “This sanctuary would give the elephants free access to more than 75 acres, and does not use an ankus (bullhook) to dominate the elephants. In addition, the elephants would not be subject to breeding attempts, which in many cases in captivity has resulted in harm or even death to the mother, particularly for elephants bred for the first time at age 25 or over — like Kallie and Bette. And the largest U.S. zoo elephant exhibit is less than eight acres, woefully inadequate for the world’s largest land mammal, who roam up to 30 miles a day in their native habitat.”
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Article: Elephants are Good for Zoos, but are Zoos Good for Elephants? -
Nuvo, December 6, 2006 - click here to read article
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Article: Philly Zoo Unequipped to Handle Elephants - UD Review, November 14, 2006 - click here for article
...Marianne Bessey, founder of the Friends for Philly Zoo Elephants, helped organize a petition last year for the release of the four animals to the elephant sanctuary. Bessey said the petition was signed by 7,000 supporters and may have influenced the zoo's decision.
She said the organization was founded in 2005 after she, along with other activists, grew increasingly concerned for the welfare of the Philadelphia elephants.
Bessey said many group members witnessed the problems at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, where three elephants died over the course eight months.
"I vowed it wouldn't happen to the Philadelphia elephants without a fight," she said.
Zoos cannot accommodate the elephants, Bessey said. As the world's largest land mammals, elephants require space to roam and familial herds to support them psychologically.
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The NEW YORK TIMES (November 6, 2006) weighs in on the Philly Zoo elephants - for story, click here - and Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants' efforts are acknowledged:
A group calling itself Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants had started a campaign to persuade the zoo to send its elephants to a sanctuary, claiming that the zoo was making them stand on hard surfaces, not letting them roam enough and allowing them to fight.
When the lone Asian elephant, Dulary, now 42, got into a fight with one of the three African elephants last year and the zoo put her in isolation, the group demanded to see her. When it was rebuffed, its members picketed and handed out pamphlets denouncing what it called the mistreatment of elephants in Philadelphia and at other zoos.
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Column: John Grogan. Pack them off, but never forget. October 16, 2006, Philadelphia Inquirer - click here to read it
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Column: Stu Bykofsky. Dulary not forgotten, but soon to be gone. September 25 2006, Philadelphia Daily News- click here to read it
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Column: John Grogan. Zoo hysteria as high as an elephant's eye. February 16, 2006, Philadelphia Inquirer - click here to read it
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The first national story on the Philly Zoo elephant controversy was in the Washington Post, December 2005 - read the story here.
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Philadelphia Daily News Podcast: "Our 70th podcast looks at the decision by the Philadelphia Zoo last week to close their elephant exhibit, sending one elephant to a sanctuary and three to another zoo. We talk to Dr. Andrew Baker of the Zoo as well as to Marianne Bessey, an activist with Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants."
Click Here to Download Podcast
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http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061008/OPINION11/610080306/1112/OPINION
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15602012.htm
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Podcast of Penn State Delaware Valley class program on elephants
Scroll down to "Honors, Elephants, and MathOptions" to listen
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Lancaster Intelligencer, May 26, 2006
Raising concerns about zoo exhibits
TO THE EDITOR:
In the article "What's new, pussycat?" (Intell, May 19), Maryclaire Dale reported on the new $20 million big-cat exhibit set to open at the Philadelphia zoo this week. As an animal friend and zoo visitor, I was especially interested in the article.
Senior vice president of animal programs for the zoo, Andrew Baker, says, "It's (the exhibit's) intent is really gut level, for people to look at how beautiful and intense and amazing these animals really are, so they'll want to do something to save big cats."
Wonderful. Keep in mind, however, the organization Save Wild Elephants (
www.savewildelephants.com)is currently asking the Philadelphia Zoo, to "make the compassionate decision to send (their elephants) Petal, Kallie, Bette, and
Dulary to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee" because the zoo does not have adequate facilities.
So, be mindful this summer when planning your family day trips. Are you willing to pay admission costs that allow zoos to continue to neglect the current trends in animal welfare?
It's worth noting the Philadelphia zoo, in October 2005, decided against installing a new, $22 million elephant exhibit that would have provided more room to the elephants but not enough for these magnificent creatures, which need miles of space to roam.
Now is a good time to let the city know you think their elephants should be relocated to the sanctuary in Tennessee. Contact the Honorable Anna C. Verna, President, Philadelphia City Council, City Hall, Rm. 405, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107-3290, or
anna.verna@phila.gov.
Carolyn J. Hollinger, Denver
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15714048.htm
Stu Bykofsky | 'Bittersweet' elephant tale with a twist
THE BEST word is "bittersweet."
Philadelphia Zoo president Vikram Dewan used the word to express how he feels about sending the zoo's four elephants to new homes, a move that will be made sometime next spring.
The word expresses how Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants leader Marianne Bessey feels about the fate of Petal, 50; Kallie, 23, and Bette, 22, who will go to quarters that are being expanded to six acres at Baltimore's Maryland Zoo. "They are relocating the problem, not removing it," she says.
For Dulary, the fourth elephant, the resolution is all sweet, not bitter at all. The 42-year-old Asian elephant will be moved to the 11-year-old, 2,700-acre Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., home to 19 elephants - 16 Asians and three Africans. The Asians and Africans live in separate herds.
Elephant Sanctuary Executive Director Carol Buckley is awaiting Dulary with open arms and predicts Dulary will be well-received by her peers.
"Dulary will be introduced into a group of eight Asian elephants. This group is a very established group and they have a history of being quite receptive to newcomers," says Buckley.
Back in Philadelphia, there will be no layoffs and Dewan says the zoo's three elephant keepers most likely will "stay with us and and will continue to provide care and affection for other animals. Right now they are focused on the next six or seven months and making sure they do the best possible job for the elephants."
When Philly's pachyderms depart, it will be the first time America's First Zoo will be without elephants since it opened in 1874. In explaining the elephants' departure, the zoo has emphasized a lack of money to upgrade the elephants' habitat. The improvements would have included physical expansion, which strikes me as a tacit admission the mammals could use more space. Philadelphia joins 11 cities that have closed or plan to close elephant exhibits.
The zoo says it meets space standards set by the American Zoo & Aquarium Association, but elephant advocates, and zoo officials, admit no organization has ever scientifically determined how much (or how little) space elephants need.
No human can say with certainty what elephants want or need, but we can agree more space = happier life, and the ½ acre in Philly for four elephants is like squeezing a size-10 foot into a size-8 shoe.
I know some people think you can't have a zoo without elephants. Many people used to think you can't have a circus without elephants, but Cirque du Soleil proved otherwise.
Elephants are crowd-pleasers and their loss might hurt the gate at the zoo. Their announced departure could be marketed like Barbra Streisand's Last Tour, or Cher's.
"We think it's really important to be able to provide an opportunity for our members and our guests and our extended zoo family to be able to have the opportunity to say goodbye in the proper way," says Dewan.
But just like Barbra and Cher, "farewell" may not mean what it says.
Dewan surprises me when he says someday down the road, "As we look at re-doing the back end of the zoo, and how we would go about that, we will certainly consider how and in what way the elephants could be re-introduced."
Bessey sadly shakes her head. "It is a shame that Mr. Dewan has learned nothing about the devastating impact of keeping elephants in zoos, or he would realize the entire 42-acre Philly Zoo doesn't have the space or the climate to meet the needs of elephants."
The elephants' tale may not yet be ended.
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