Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants

From Lily Tomlin:

My heartfelt thanks to everyone for their contribution—large and small—in the effort for Bamboo, Chai and Watoto to have a better life. Let’s hope 2012 brings them peace and finds them in a sanctuary where they can heal and reclaim being an elephant.

Lily Tomlin with FOWPZE coordinators

Every e-mail you write, every donation you make to Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants and every person to whom you explain the plight of Bamboo, Chai and Watoto helps bring their freedom a little closer.

Thanks and a happy, healthy New Year to all,
Nancy and Alyne

Seattle, WA – Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) artificially inseminated Chai, a female Asian elephant, for the 59^th time on December 5, 2011.  The previous 58 artificial inseminations over 20 years have all failed to produce a live birth.

Hansa, the only calf born at WPZ, was conceived when Chai was shipped to Missouri to be bred with a bull.  Hansa died of Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV) which is almost always fatal to young Asian elephants and horrifically painful. The zoo industry’s own expert, Dr. Laura Richman, a pathologist with the Smithsonian National Zoo, said that Hansa would have gotten it from one of the zoo’s other elephants. Chai could transmit the virus through the birthing process. There is no cure for EEHV and WPZ has no infection control in place.

Elephants have evolved over 40 million years to become the animal they are today: highly intelligent, highly social, and genetically wired to move great distances.  WPZ’s elephant display, designed in 1986, is woefully inadequate resulting in the elephants’ worsening physical and psychological conditions.  The elephants are locked in a 2,500 sq. ft. barn for 16-17 hours every day for about 7 months of the year.  Incompatilbility forces one of them to be in solitary confinement.  The 1 acre yard is divided into 5 tiny pens in order to keep the incompatible elephants separated.

WPZ claims having a calf aids the conservation of elephants.  No calf born at WPZ will ever be released into the wild—the accepted measure of ex-situ wildlife conservation.

Furthermore, if a fraction of the $400,000.00 it costs to keep elephants in Seattle each year was used to fund anti-poaching teams or fund organizations working to control habitat loss, real elephant conservation would be advanced.

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants continues to appeal to WPZ and the Seattle City Council to allow the elephants retire to the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary in TN; it’s a win all the way around:

• Seattle gets out of a law suit.
• WPZ saves about $400,000.000 annually.
• Our children learn a valuable lesson in science and compassion.
• Chai, Bamboo, and Watoto can heal from the traumas of zoo captivity.

Check out this story on Komo News about tomorrow’s exciting event. (Excerpt below)
Banner protesting treatment of zoo’s elephants hitting Seattle skies

The local group crusading for the release of the Woodland Park Zoo’s three elephants will be receiving a little air support in their fight tomorrow when an airplane trailing a banner reading, “Zoo elephants suffer,” will take to the Seattle skies.

Alyne Fortgang, of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, said the aerial message –flying above the zoo and I-5 during rush-hour traffic – will help the group reach tens of thousands of eyes.

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants has been advocating for the release of the elephants to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, claiming the small space of captivity at the zoo is causing the animals physical and mental ailments.

Read the full story here

It is incomprehensible that doing this to a highly intelligent, social being is considered educational by the zoo industry.  Please join Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants in bringing awareness to the consequences of keeping Bamboo, Chai and Watoto in tiny, impoverished conditions.

Jungle Party is the Woodland Park Zoo’s largest fund raiser of the year and all the donors must drive right by us.  Please come to show your support for the release of Bamboo, Chai and Watoto to the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary in TN.

When: Friday, July 15, 2011
Time: 4pm – 6:00
Where: NEW location from previous years: Woodland Park Zoo’s WEST entrance – on Phinney Ave N. at N. 55th, Seattle, WA  98103

Some great news: ALDF law suit refiled.  The first attempt at making the City of Seattle and Woodland Park Zoo accountable for the mistreatment of elephants in violation of Washington State and Seattle animal cruelty laws was dismissed on the technicality of standing.  The zoo was not exonerated from causing harm and suffering – hopefully this time they will have to release the elephants.

The International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos was a huge success. Supporters took over the three overpasses adjacent to Woodland Park Zoo. Six banners brought awareness of the suffering of Bamboo, Chai and Watoto as thousands of drivers drove by – many of them honking in support! Please join us the next time we do this.

International Day of Action for Elephants

The Ballard News-Tribune this week reported on an appeal filed by concerned citizens and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, after their lawsuit against the zoo and the City of Seattle was dismissed on a technicality. Here is an excerpt:

Today, concerned citizens represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund are filing an appeal in the Washington State Court of Appeals in their lawsuit against the City of Seattle and Woodland Park Zoo. The Animal Legal Defense Fund intends to stop the City’s unlawful use of taxpayer dollars to support the Woodland Park Zoo’s treatment of elephants in violation of Washington State and Seattle animal cruelty laws.

On May 27, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Heavey dismissed the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s lawsuit against the City of Seattle and Woodland Zoo citing a technicality.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2010, by plaintiffs Mary Sebek and Nancy Farnam, accused the City of Seattle of acting illegally in providing support for the Woodland Park Zoo and its ill treatment of elephants.

Read the full story here at ballardnewstribune.com

Seattle, WA – On the 4th anniversary of Hansa’s death from the deadly herpesvirus, Chai, the Asian elephant at Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) was artificially inseminated (AI) for the 61st time.  Six year old Hansa, Chai’s daughter, died of the deadly herpesvirus.

WPZ is a herpes-infected environment.  WPZ’s records for Watoto dated May 5, 2008 state Watoto tested “positive for EEHV3a virus in her blood.”

Dr. Jennifer Conrad, DVM, an expert elephant veterinarian said:  “Woodland Park Zoo is a herpes exposed facility and therefore the zoo should no longer engage in an Asian elephant breeding program.  The simple truth is the risk of death for the offspring is too great.”

There is no cure for EEHV and WPZ has no infection control in place. Chai could pass the herpesvirus to her own fetus.

Elephant herpesvirus attacks the internal organs causing massive hemorrhaging and a painful, gruesome death.  “To even take a chance of causing another defenseless calf such a horrific death is unconscionable and unethical” says Nancy Pennington, co-founder of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants.

WPZ enjoyed a huge spike in attendance and revenue when Hansa was born.

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants will join IDA (In Defense of Animals) for the International Day of Action for Zoo Elephants to expose the plight of elephants suffering in zoos worldwide.

This year we will “take over” the three Highway 99 overpasses by Woodland Park Zoo. We will be a live billboard for the elephants!

Where: Picnic Shelter #4 in Lower Woodland Park.
Across the street from the Green Lake Aquatic Center on Greenlake Way N, you will see a Seattle Parks Dept. sign for the off leash dog park, tennis courts, and picnic shelters.  Go up that (unnamed) road to the parking area for Shelter #4.  See maps: Demo street map | Demo location map
Date: Saturday, June 11, 2011
Time: Noon to 2pm

In Seattle, Bamboo, Chai and Watoto, spend 16 – 17 hours a day locked in a tiny barn stall – the human equivalent of about a 4’ x 4’ cell.  This lock-up lasts about 7 months each year with one of the elephants being in solitary confinement.  Outdoors they are caged in less than 1 acre.  This confinement and traumas throughout their lives have caused serious captivity-induced ailments and psychological distress.

“Teaching our children that suffering is entertainment is just plain wrong,” says Nancy Pennington, co-founder of FOWPZE “getting our elephants to the 2,700 acre Elephant would be such a valuable lesson in compassion and selflessness”.

May 27, 2011

Seattle, WA – Judge Michael Heavy dismissed a lawsuit filed by local animal activists against the City of Seattle and Woodland Zoo, citing a technicality. After hearing 10-minute arguments from both sides in King County Superior Court on Friday, the judge granted the City and Zoo’s motion to dismiss the case.

The court ruled that the plaintiffs lack standing to bring the suit. The suit alleges that the manner in which WPZ manages its three elephants violates Washington anti-cruelty statutes.  The court’s ruling did not reach the merits of the plaintiffs’ contentions.  Nevertheless, as Judge Heavy ruled from the bench, he twice stated his personal belief that the zoo’s elephant exhibit is objectionable, stating at one point, “…to confine animals in small habitats, take away their freedom in grossly confined spaces, outweighs children seeing (wild and rare) animals.”

The plaintiffs have a number of options available in response to the court’s order, including appealing the court’s dismissal or refilling their complaint. Their decision will likely come within the next few weeks.

Closing the elephant exhibit at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium is within sight but what about the two elephants living there?

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (PDZA) is holding a public comment meeting to discuss their 10-year plan which includes closing their tiny elephant exhibit – but not until poor Hanako and Suki die.

WHY WAIT for them to die? Why force them to continue to live in this physically and psychologically harmful environment?

Please come to ask (or write) that the humane decision be made. Ask for Hanako and Suki to be retired to an elephant sanctuary.

When: THIS Monday, April 25^th from 4:30 – 6pm. Come anytime!

Location:
Metro Parks Headquarters Board Room
4702 South 19^th Street
Tacoma, WA

If you can’t come: Please e-mail the zoo at:  strategicplan@pdza.org

Or snail mail: Attention Strategic Plan, 5400 North Pearl St. Tacoma, WA 98407
You can also join their facebook page and leave comments supporting the end to the elephant exhibit. https://www.facebook.com/PtDefianceZoo

To be most effective, be polite and thoughtful.