Home » News » Action for Jenny, Grieving Elephant at Dallas Zoo

News

Action for Jenny, Grieving Elephant at Dallas Zoo

May 21, 2008, 12:34PM MT

By Jennifer S Hayes

Please contact zoo officials to ask she be transferred to a sanctuary.

Please contact zoo officials to ask she be transferred to a sanctuary.

Provided courtesy of Margaret Morin, Vegetarian Network of Dallas

Please email, fax, or telephone to politely, but firmly advocate that Jenny, the lone and grieving elephant at the Dallas Zoo, be immediately sent to an elephant sanctuary.

Mr. Greg Hudson, Dallas Zoo Director
and
The Board of Directors, Dallas Zoo
650 South R.L. Thornton Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75203-3013

Telephone: 214-670-6826
Fax: 214-670-7450
E-mail: gregory.hudson2@dallascityhall.com

The Dallas Zoo Board of Directors will make a decision as to Jenny's fate later this month. Please urge them to send Jenny to an elephant sanctuary, where she will be able to roam at will and socialize with others of her sensitive species. Please be sure to include Mr. Hudson and the Dallas Zoo Board of Directors in your letter's inside address and salutation, so it will reach to both.

It is essential that the Dallas Zoo elephant exhibit be permanently closed (see details below). Also, I am sure everyone will keep in mind that we do not further Jenny's cause when we are impolite to those whom we wish to persuade. Thank you for speaking for Jenny.

Margaret Morin
Vegetarian Network of Dallas

You may wish to use some of the below talking points for your letter and telephone calls:

Background:
An African elephant named KeKe (prounounced Key Key) was euthanized at the Dallas Zoo on Monday, 5/12/08. She was 39 yrs. old. She was caught in the wild as a baby and had been at the San Antonio Zoo since 1962.

KeKe’s death leaves a solitary elephant at the zoo a 47-yr-old African elephant named Jenny who was captured as a baby in Africa and spent seven years with an elephant trainer before she was sent to the Dallas Zoo, where she has spent the last 22 years.

Our argument here is that Jenny is now alone. She has spent her entire life in a cramped zoo exhibit. She has done her time and now deserves to retire to a sanctuary.

Sound bites:
We call on the Dallas Zoo to retire Jenny to a sanctuary and permanently close the zoo’s elephant exhibit. No more elephants should suffer in substandard zoo enclosures.

Jenny is surely grieving KeKe’s death and being moved to a sanctuary, where she would have her choice of companions and an environment that more closely resembles life in the wild, would help her adjust to her loss.

Jenny was taken from her family and natural home as a baby and used to entertain the public. She now deserves to live under the best conditions possible, at a sanctuary with many other elephants and free access to hundreds of acres. [Note: Jenny was captured as a baby in Africa]

The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee or PAWS Sanctuary in California can offer Jenny hundreds of acres of natural habitat to roam, ponds to bathe in, fresh vegetation and foraging opportunities, and the company of many other elephants.

Elephants in the wild walk up to 30 miles a day. This activity is essential for their health and well-being. Life at a sanctuary more closely resembles life in the wild. At the zoo, it’s cramped, barren enclosures and boredom, day after day.

Zoos’ lack of space creates health problems in elephants, such as arthritis, foot and joint diseases, psychological distress (as is evidenced by repetitive swaying, head-bobbing, and pacing), reproductive problems, and high infant mortality rates.

Captivity-induced health problems are the leading cause of death in elephants in zoos, causing elephants to die on average at roughly half their natural 70-year lifespan.

More than half of the 58 elephants who died at AZA-accredited facilities since 2000 never reached their 40th birthday, dying far short of their 70-year life expectancy. (as of 5/12/08)

Because of space limitations, zoos—no matter how well intentioned they may be—simply cannot provide for elephants’ physical and social needs.

Association of Zoos and Aquariums standards for elephants are woefully inadequate and more than ½ of AZA zoos displaying elephants do not even meet these meager standards. [Indoors: A 20’x20’ stall can satisfy the AZA’s indoor space requirements. This means extreme confinement for elephants kept indoors overnight and during inclement weather. Outdoors: The AZA permits its members to provide elephants, who can weigh in excess of 13,000 pounds and walk 30 miles a day, with outdoor enclosures that measure only 40 feet by 45 feet—about the size of a three-car garage.]

Since 1991, 14 zoos in the United States have closed, or announced that they will phase out, their elephant exhibits, citing an inability to provide proper care. The San Antonio Zoo can become an important part of this progressive trend in the zoo community, which must hold itself accountable to the animals in its care and consider their welfare a priority, even if that means retiring them to a more capable facility.

If the zoo/media claims that KeKe died of “old age” and/or that she lived longer than she might have in the wild (due to poaching concerns, etc.)
Given that elephants can live to be 70 in the wild, and zoos claim to give elephants such exceptional care, you would expect their lifespan in captivity to exceed that in the wild and that’s just not the case.

Regardless of lifespan, the length of an animal's life cannot be equated with the quality of that life. A human prisoner may have access to medical care and a steady food supply, but no one would choose to spend our lives in prison in the hope of extending our lives.

If the zoo claims that it is expanding/improving its elephant exhibit:
A slight increase in exhibit size is an outrageous waste of resources. Just $100,000 per year could support an annual budget for a project in Africa that would benefit more than 1,500 elephants as well as Kenyan farmers who have conflicts with the elephants.

No zoo in the country can provide elephants with the space they need to be physically and psychologically healthy.

Elephants in captivity don't need a few more square feet; they need, at minimum, a few more square miles.

If the zoo/media claims that moving Jenny would “kill her”
The sanctuaries have extensive experience transporting elephants and every precaution is taken.

Elephant “conservation”
The tens of millions of dollars spent each year at zoos for a small number of elephants (approximately 300) would be much better spent directly on elephant conservation work in Asia and Africa.

If zoos truly cared about elephant conservation, its efforts and funds would be better directed towards helping the animals in their native habitats where legitimate conservation efforts struggle for funding.

Captive breeding does nothing to ensure the healthy survival of a species since none of the surviving offspring will ever be released to the wild. Money spent on breeding techniques for elephants in zoos is wasteful and should instead by responsibly directed toward conservation efforts in the wild to reduce one of the main factors of impending extinction—habitat loss.

Elephant breeding programs are notoriously cruel and ill-fated, yet zoos persist with their desperate attempts to impregnate elephants, often resorting to highly manipulative techniques, such as artificial insemination, even though the results are often dead babies or miscarriages.

Elephant breeding programs in zoos are useless because they serve no conservation purpose. No elephant born at a zoo will ever be introduced to the wild. The bottom line is that animals are bred primarily because their babies attract zoo visitors.

The zoo industry is running out of elephants. Elephants in captivity breed poorly and die prematurely.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Please politely contact both Greg Hudson, the Director of the Dallas Zoo, as well as the Dallas Zoo Board of Directors to request that Jenny be transferred to a sanctuary.

Mr. Greg Hudson, Dallas Zoo Director
Telephone: 214-670-6826
Fax: 214-670-7450
E-mail: gregory.hudson2@dallascityhall.com

Dallas Zoo Board of Directors
650 South R.L. Thornton Freeway
Dallas, Texas 75203-3013

For more information:
• Dallas News.com: Dallas Zoo's elephant KeKe dies

Posted by Jennifer Hayes, Best Friends Network
Photo credit: public domain photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Comments

Posted July 24, 2008, 2:52PM by Patiencetoday

Does anybody know about the "get together" at the Dallas Zoo this Sunday, 07/27, to speak out about Jenny's future as reported by KXAS-TV on 07/23? (found through MSNBC)?

Posted July 24, 2008, 5:3PM by jhayes

For more information on Sunday's rally for Jenny, please look here.

Posted August 08, 2008, 11:57AM by wyohorsepoor

I just called the Dallas zoo and got a long disertation on how this private Mexican sanctuary has been inspected and accredited using higher than USDA standards (oh, biggy!) and will be a fine place for Jenny! The zoo rep is e-mailing me their PR statement. I'll forward to Best Friends.

Posted August 08, 2008, 12:38PM by DJP

KeKe's official records state she died due to "colic". I wonder how many elephants in the wild die due to colic? Perhaps sharing a 5,000 sq ft barren yard w/ Jenny, another 10,000# elephant, w/ no natural foliage to graze & no space to roam had something to do w/ KeKe's tragic early death. Jenny to Tenny!!! the next Dallas city council meeting is WED, August 13. Please join us to advocate for Jenny! what zoo officials are not stating is that The Elephant Sanctuary IS accredited by The Association of Sanctuaries/TAOS. TAOS has much more rigorous standards than zoo accreditation thru the AZA/Assn of Zoos & Aquariums. Sanctuaries would not have AZA accreditation because they are not zoos. the zoo will also state The Elephant Sanctuary will not provide for "the total care" of Jenny. see councilwoman Angela Hunt's website (angelahunt.com/photos) & look @ the comparison photos of both facilities and visit The Elephant Sanctuaries' site @ elephants.com. THANKS!

Posted August 20, 2008, 4:4PM by Patiencetoday

Jenny is staying in Dallas to get ready for new African Savannah exhibit.

See Dallas Morning New article and memo.