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Stop Zoo From Sending Jenny to Amusement Park in Mexico

June 27, 2008, 8:4AM MT

By Jennifer S Hayes

Lonely Dallas elephant is in jeopardy.

Lonely Dallas elephant is in jeopardy.

Provided courtesy of Margaret Morin, Chair, Concerned Citizens for Jenny

Today, the Dallas Morning News ran a story entitled "Dallas Zoo's lone elephant to be moved to wildlife refuge in Mexico" about the zoo's controversial decision to dump Jenny, a 31-year-old African elephant, at a safari amusement park in Mexico. Since the death of Jenny's elephant companion, Keke (39), in May, Concerned Citizens for Jenny and In Defense of Animals have urged the zoo to send Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

The Mexican park offers an unnatural, confining exhibit of only 4.9 acres -- a small fraction of the 2700-acre Elephant Sanctuary, where Jenny would share a spacious, 300-acre natural habitat with three other African elephants.

It is shocking that the Dallas Zoo is moving Jenny to a distant facility in a foreign country where she will not be protected by U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws, especially when there is a nearby facility with hundreds of acres that is prepared to take her.

After being torn from her mother's side in Africa at the age of two, she was forced into seven years of brutal training. Jenny has been at the Dallas Zoo for 22 years, where she has had a traumatic and troubled stay. Between 1996 and 2001, the Dallas Zoo medicated her with the tranquilizer Acepromazine because of aggression and self-mutilating behaviors. Federal regulators characterized Jenny's long-term treatment with this psychotropic drug as "highly unconventional."

While African elephants in the wild are known to reproduce into their 50s and live into their 60s, in zoos they commonly die decades short of their natural time. In short, the Dallas Zoo's decision is a matter of life and death for Jenny.

THE ZOO MAY SHIP JENNY TO MEXICO BEFORE THEY THINK WE CAN STOP THEM. PLEASE ACT FOR JENNY TODAY!

IMPORTANT! If you live in Dallas and will consent to your name being listed as a member of Concerned Citizens for Jenny, please email me your name, address, phone and in which Dallas district you live. The more Dallas Citizens, who are listed as members, the more influence we have for her. Here is a district map.

If you want to join Concerned Citizens for Jenny and work with me to save Jenny, please contact me ASAP by telephone.

Thank you,
Margaret Morin
Chair, Concerned Citizens for Jenny
Contact: dogs_good@yahoo.com or 972-578 0370

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. CONTACT THE DALLAS MAYOR AND THE DALLAS CITY COUNCIL BEFORE THEY RECESS ON JULY 1 (see talking points below)

Telephone Mayor Leppert and politely urge him to send Jenny to a sanctuary in the USA. Whether or not you live in Dallas, making one (or several) polite phone call is the most important thing you can do. Here is Mayor Leppert's contact information:

Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, Texas 75201-6390
Phone: 214-670-4054
Fax: 214-670-0646
E-mail: tom.leppert@dallascityhall.com

If you live in Dallas , telephone your city council representative. Please politely but firmly tell your council person, and everyone else to whom you speak in your council office, that you want your strong objection recorded to Jenny being transferred to Mexico and that you want her sent to a USA sanctuary instead. Do not consent to call the Zoo instead, because the City Council is the ultimate decision maker, not the Zoo. For council contact information, click here.

Whether or not you live in Dallas , email the Dallas Mayor and the City Council ALL at one time by copying and pasting the web address immediately below into your search field (if you click on it, you will email the mayor alone):
http://www.ci.dallas.tx.us/forms/mcc/MCC_Mail_Form.htm

2. CONTACT DALLAS PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR ON/AFTER JULY 1.
The Dallas Zoo is under Parks and Recreation. Please politely telephone and write Parks and Recreation Director (talking points below) as many times as you can:

Paul D. Dyer, Department Director
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 6FN
Dallas, Texas 75201
Phone: 214-670-4100
Fax: 214-670-3205
E-mail the City of Dallas Department of Park and Recreation.

3. WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Write a letter to the editor of the Dallas Morning News objecting to Jenny's transfer to an amusement park in Mexico and describing why Jenny's life would be better in a sanctuary than in a Mexican safari park that operates outside U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws.

Letters should be between 50 and 200 words. Letters are selected for publication based on their clarity and brevity. They require the writer’s name, city and telephone number.

Send your letter objecting to Jenny's transfer to Mexico to:

Letters From Readers
The Dallas Morning News
Box 655237
Dallas, Texas 75265
Or submit your letter online.

TALKING POINTS:
1. There will be NO U.S. Animal Welfare or Anti-Cruelty Laws covering Jenny in Mexico.

2. The sanctuaries who will accept Jenny have thousands of acres vs. 4.9 acres at the Safari Amusement Park. The 4.9 acres is subdivided so Jenny will actually have far less space than that. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee is a state of the art elephant sanctuary. It has 2,700 acres and it is the largest natural habitat refuge in the world. It has a four-star charity rating from Charity Navigator. The PAWS Sanctuary in California has hundreds of acres and is also a state of the art, internationally recognized facility. Both sanctuaries are excellent facilities and we want Jenny to retire to one of these. We owe her that.

3. Ask for a copy of the performance and quality of care standards the Dallas Zoo put in place for Jenny at the Safari Amusement Park. Note: We bet there are not any standards. The Zoo is claiming the Safari Park is Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited, which means very little. AZA is just a trade group and is not a guarantee. AZA facilities have been cited for breeches of USDA animal care standards.

For more information:
• Action for Jenny, Grieving Elephant at Dallas Zoo
• Dallas News.com: Dallas Zoo's elephant KeKe dies
• Dallas News.com: Dallas Zoo's lone elephant to be moved to wildlife refuge in Mexico

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

Comments

Posted July 05, 2008, 8:50PM by jhayes

Jenny was now featured in a DawnWatch alert, which stated that if you have already contacted the Mayor, please do so again. Their office is now counting the calls and e-mails to send Jenny to the Sanctuary, instead of the safari-type zoo in Mexico. You can still help to make a difference.

Posted July 01, 2008, 12:51PM by bogiedew

I dont understand why the zoo is so deadset on sending Jenny to Mexico. Why should they care where she goes? I sure hope people keep fighting for her.

Posted July 22, 2008, 8:52AM by Patiencetoday

s179q: Thanks for everything you have done. I hope people in the know will keep us posted. I wrote E mail to The Ellen DeGeneres Show and asked if they were do a blurb on Jenny. Never heard back, but that is okay, you never know. I hope that Jenny gets to go to Tennessee. Have you seen the blurb about Oakland Zoo in CA. Some people are overcoming their learning curve. It is heartening.

Posted July 24, 2008, 9:32AM by Patiencetoday

FYI, ABC 20/20 is going to do a blurb about Elephant PTSD 07/25/2008 (check listings). The Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary is going to be highlighted.

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

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

Posted July 01, 2008, 8:58AM by jhayes

No update, but the controversy has now hit the news:

• WFAA.com: Group fights Dallas Zoo's lone elephant relocation
• NBC5i.com: Activists Oppose Zoo's Decision To Move Elephant To Mexico
• Dallas Observer Blogs: Some Locals Are Very Concerned About Jenny As She Plans Move to Mexico
• Dallas Observer: Pack a Trunk
Despite efforts by animal welfare activists, the zoo decides to ship a problem elephant out of the country

Posted June 30, 2008, 11:15AM by bogiedew

This is so sad for Jenny!! If possible, please provide an update on where Jenny goes.

Posted August 20, 2008, 4:34PM by Patiencetoday

Jenny is staying in Dallas. See Dallas Morning News accounting.

Posted July 20, 2008, 3:55PM by s179g

I have sent all the messages requested. Even had the "permission to print" call from the newspaper. Now I'm just hoping, with fingers crossed, that the extensive NEGATIVE publicity the zoo's decision has brought upon themselves will help send Jenny to Tennessee.

Posted July 24, 2008, 2:48PM by Patiencetoday

FYI: There is going to be a protest rally at the Dallas Zoo this Sunday. Unfortunately, I do not know details, but this is reported in a story by KXAS-TV on Wed, 07/23/2008. Sorry I cant be there.