Elephant-Sized News: With Bamboo and Chai in San Diego We Have Another Chance to SAVE them!
Elephant Justice Project (EJP), an ally of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, has succeeded in getting a partial ruling in the federal law suit against Woodland Park Zoo. The Honorable Judge Coughenour stated that EJP will likely win on the merits of its case! Now EJP is requesting an injunction to keep Bamboo and Chai in California so their next move will be to PAWS sanctuary! Then we believe that the judge is poised to establish an important precedent!
Strong litigation opportunities like this don’t come often!
We need your help with funding this ground breaking effort. EJP has a highly respected judge who is sympathetic and will hopefully reach the merits of this case.
Please donate Tuesday, May 5th during Seattle Foundation’s one-day GiveBIG. Your donation will go farther because it is matched!
Please donate HERE to Northwest Animal Rights Network/Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants.
This may be the best chance we’ll ever have—not only for Chai & Bamboo—but to help elephants nationwide based on the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
- Judge Coughenour indicated that if the sanctuary was ready to receive Seattle’s elephants, he might well have ordered that they be retired to a sanctuary. Now we have a declaration stating that PAWS will commit to providing lifetime sanctuary for Bamboo and Chai in a wooded habitat in an elephant-friendly climate.
- The court also expressed deep concerns for the elephants’ well-being over the deaths of other elephants at the hands of zoos, and over zoo industry experts who defend inhumane treatment of elephants. Now we have the reckless move of Bamboo and Chai out of Seattle despite hazardous weather forecasts. This endangered their lives and caused them to be rerouted to San Diego.
- Most legal cases trying to enforce the ESA fail because the plaintiff lacks standing to bring the case. Here, EJP’s standing is so strong it has gone unchallenged. With clear standing, our case might be one of the very first that can expose the private dealings of zoos and amusement parks with endangered species.
EJP’s lawyers are working hard putting together the expert testimony that the judge needs to do the right thing.
We need your help to fund this critical legal battle for sanctuary!
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I herald the legal case here that acknowledges the reckless move of Bamboo and Chai out of Seattle despite hazardous weather forecasts. Their lives have been endangered unnecessarily, and they should now be allowed to be moved ethically to a sanctuary such as PAWS. We hope and trust that the private dealing of such zoos and amusement parks with endangered species will continue to be exposed and brought to justice.
This organization is horrible. You make it sound like you have the welfare of elephants in mind, but your actions say otherwise. We are in the middle of a major world wide extinction event caused by humans. The black Rhino has just been declared extinct in the wild, and elephants are on fast track to extinction as well.
If you truly cared about Elephants and animal welfare worldwide you would focus on habitat preservation, worldwide education, and the ongoing need for captive breeding programs, of which zoos are the cornerstone of. Instead, you focus on destroying one truly good organization in the Seattle who is actually doing something about preventing animal extinction.
I feel your actions are at the least misguided, and honestly now that the Elephants are moved to their new home, I hope you disband this organization or refocus it on something that helps solve the real issue. Extinction.
Ken I agree with you that habitat preservation and programs that allow elephants to live with humans collaboratively in their natural environment need to be supported for elephants to survive. I am encouraged that high profile people such as Prince William have used their voices to speak out against ivory. I see more and more celebrities championing the cause for elephants. Locally we even have a group of children that are determined to help elephants and I am sure that you are very impressed by their efforts as am I. Where we strongly disagree is for a need for elephants to exist in captivity. Zoo’s do not breed elephants to reintroduce them to the ‘wild’ they breed them so they have something to exhibit to their customers. Elephants born in captivity are from a limited gene pool, and have no opportunity to learn or contribute to a culture that would support and further the survival of elephants in Africa. Captive born elephants will never have the opportunity to develop relationships as part of an evolving and hopefully surviving community. Elephants in captivity essentially have nothing to contribute to their struggling peers. I am sure you are aware of the ongoing debate of the risks of reintroducing captive orcas and dolphins into wild populations and potentially exposing at risk populations to disease, well this is no different for elephants. Elephants in captivity are exposed to various illnesses, hence the necessary ongoing screening zoo’s must do. In captivity humans select from a small gene pool, nature is never given the opportunity for natural selection. Just look at Chai, 112 AI attempts? We are doing elephants no favor from an evolutionary standpoint by breeding them in captivity, we are not god. There are many groups that are doing amazing work in the field to support the elephants and they deserve 100% of our support. I don’t hear one of them asking zoo’s to keep breeding elephants in captivity as a way to support them. They are asking for money, political support, boycotting of ivory and support for habitat. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is one of these groups. Clearly you are passionate about extinction, contact them.