Elephants Desperately Need YOU!
Get a FREE elephant lapel pin*
Jungle Party is Woodland Parks Zoo’s largest fund raiser of the year.
One of 5 posters for Jungle Party
Hundreds of wealthy, influential donors will be attending. The elephants need LOTS of us to open the eyes of these donors as well as get the media out which is the best way to spread the message: out of the zoo and into the sanctuary!
Most of the year Chai, Bamboo, and Watoto are locked up in a tiny, barren room for 18 – 20 hours a day! This is especially cruel to these intelligent, migratory animals who are born with bodies that need to move, and who only sleep 4 hours a day.
Please spend a little time after work on Friday and join in asking donors NOT to donate to the zoo until the elephants are freed to the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary. Choose the sign you want:
Elephants locked daily in 18’ X 23’ room
Elephants locked up for 18 – 20 hours a day
Lack of space is inhumane
From Cruel confinement to Humane Sanctuary
Don’t give $$$$ while elephants suffer
WHEN: Friday, July 11, 2008
TIME: 5 PM to 7 – come anytime: stay a little or stay a lot!
WHERE: Woodland Park Zoo NORTH entrance at N59th and Evanston Ave. N.
INFO: www.freewpzelephants.org, 206-595-7770
*The first 50 people to come will get a free elephant lapel pin. We are not asking for donations – just your body – to get the media out!
Subscribe
Okay, before you print up something like this that’s supposed to go into wide circulation, check your facts!!! Let’s look at them, one by one.
It might be true that one room in the elephant barn is 18×23. I don’t know, I’ve never measured, and I’m curious as to where you got those numbers from. But if you’ve ever actually BEEN to the barn you’d know that there are several rooms, and that they are kept inside only when it’s too cold out for them to be in the yard, when they’re having baths or getting their feet cleaned, when they’re getting health checkups, or (in the case of the two older elephants) because they need respite from middle-age sore feet by standing on the rubber floors.
Lack of space? Again, if you’ve ever actually been to the zoo, you’d know that with the elephant exhibit, as with pretty much all other exhibits at the zoo, what visitors see is only part of what’s really there. There’s a reason that the Woodland Park Zoo’s elephant exhibit has received a major exhibit award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums- because it’s GOOD.
Cruel confinement? Sending Bamboo away would be the cruel thing. She was hand raised. She’s been around the keepers here at the zoo for decades. Sending her away to live in a no-contact ‘sanctuary’ would be like taking you suddenly from your home and family and placing you out in the wilderness. I mean, humans used to live off the land, right? Go ahead! Besides, the sanctuary you want to send the elephants to isn’t set up for elephants like these. I quote from their website:
“The Elephant Sanctuary exists for two reasons:
To provide a haven for old, sick or needy elephants in a setting of green pastures, old-growth forests, spring-fed ponds and a heated barn for cold winter nights.
To provide education about the crisis facing these social, sensitive, passionately intense, playful, complex, exceedingly intelligent and endangered creatures.”
Chai, Bamboo, and Watoto are not old, Chai is fairly young while Bamboo and Watoto are middle aged. None of them are sick, they’re all in excellent health. And they’re certainly not needy, they’re at a zoo called one of the best in the world.
Why are you asking people to not give money? Aren’t you supposed to be supportive of all animals? So why punish the other animals here at the zoo by trying to deny them the money needed for their care? That just seems like you’re being rash and not thinking anything through, or like you don’t expect anyone to actually listen to you. Which, judging by the fact that the zoo raised nearly $2 million at Jungle Party (the second highest amount ever), no one did.
Oh- and the thing about the free elephant lapel pins? Do you really have to bribe people to support you?
Checking facts is something that we ALL can benefit from – you as well. The Elephant Sanctuary does not take human-raised elephants and dump them out into the wild. TES has 24-hour staff on hand to give the elephants everything they need at any time – including human companionship. That is significantly more than WPZ can claim since their staff goes home in the afternoon and has many other animals to care for aside from just the elephants.
The measurements of the barn were gathered from the zoo’s records. While the barn does have a few rooms, Watoto is typically confined to only one, or two of those rooms. The elephants at WPZ cannot be left together because Bamboo and Watoto do not get along. The elephants are allowed to stay outside for most nights through the summer, but for the rest of the year, they often are allowed only 4-6 hours outside per day. On some days, our volunteers have observed the elephants given only 2 hours of time outdoors. This is entirely unacceptable.
That’s very nice that the AZA gave WPZ an award for it’s elephant exhibit. However, the entire argument here is over whether the AZA standards for elephant care are adequate. You are entitled to your opinion that they are, but we respectfully disagree. We advocate following the standards set out by The Association of Sanctuaries (TAOS) which follows a much higher standard for elephant care – including significantly more space, no relocation of elephants, and absolutely no physical punishment under any circumstances.
Rachelle, Uh yeah check the facts. Did you know that Bamboo was taken from her birth family when she was one? Did you know that only elephants kept in captivity develop the foot problems you described above? They dont have rubber floors to stand on in the wild. Did you know that WPZ shipped Bamboo off to Tacoma where they supposedly help unruly elephants? That didn’t work so they sent her back. WPZ may be one of the best zoos, but that doesnt make it good for the animals. Did you know that past caregivers have admitted after leaving the zoo that she shouldnt be there? Did you know that elephants dont “dance” in the wild as caregivers try to cutely describe her unnatural stressed behavior? And no Rachelle I dont need a pin to stand up for what is the right thing to do.