PETA seeking home for US elephants

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WASHINGTON - An animal rights group on Thursday appealed to the US

National Zoo in Washington to send its three remaining Asian

elephants to an animal sanctuary and close its elephant exhibit.

 

 

The appeal came a day after the zoo put down an arthritic Asian

elephant who was said to have been in worsening pain. The elephant

named Toni was 40. Elephants can live to be 60 or older.

" Toni was clearly in bad shape and had been suffering for a long

time. If she had been sent to a sanctuary years ago, her quality of

life and health would have vastly improved, " People for the Ethical

Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said in a letter to the director of

the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo.

 

PETA said elephants in zoos were dying decades short of their

expected lifespan from illnesses that were directly related to the

large animals' lack of spaces and their inability to walk great

distances each day.

 

The organization urged National Zoo Director John Berry to send the

park's three remaining elephants, four-year-old Kandula; his mother,

30-year-old Shanthi, and Ambika, 57, to an accredited sanctuary to

spare them from a life of misery.

 

" At either The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee or the Performing

Animal Welfare Society in California, the zoo's elephants would have

the opportunity to roam through hundreds of acres (hectares) of

natural habitat... and enjoy full, healthy and enriching lives, " the

letter said.

 

A spokesman for the National Zoo was not immediately available for

comment.

 

There has been a growing debate in the United States over whether it

is appropriate for zoos to keep elephants, which in the wild walk

miles a day and have home ranges of up to 200 square miles (500 sq

km).

 

Critics have said that zoo conditions, including small, concrete-

floored enclosures, make elephants miserable.

 

At a news conference on Wednesday, the National Zoo's elephant

curator, Tony Barthel, said Ambika, who is healthy and free of

arthritis, provided evidence that the zoo enclosure was not the

cause of Toni's health woes.

 

" She has been living in the current conditions at the National Zoo

for longer than Toni was alive, " he said.

 

Berry told reporters the zoo was building a larger exhibit and was

considering moving at least some elephants to a 100-acre (40.5-

hectare) to 200-acre (81-hectare) enclosure at its more rural

conservation facility in Virginia.

 

Some US zoos have closed their elephant exhibits in the past few

years in the light of concern over odd behavior and arthritis among

the animals.

 

In September zookeepers in Anchorage, Alaska said they were

installing a treadmill for their one elephant.