According to Jessica Shuman, a local Tucson animal activist, Tucson elephants Connie & Shaba going to the San Diego Zoo’s Elephant Odyssey is not a good idea. Other people who commented in my previous post also agree.

Shuman says that this move is a calculated smokescreen that most of the public cannot critically see through unless it is spelled out. She spells it out below:

“This plan allows the AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) to move forward in separating Africans and Asians in all the AZA facilities that still house them together and maintain control of all the elephants in their system.

To the many folks offering their congratulations with the announcement that Connie and Shaba will be going to San Diego together…this is not a victory. This move essentially guarantees that Connie and Shaba WILL be separated. It is predetermined and the AZA and their members will see that it happens.

For those of you who don’t know, as a point of reference…, When San Diego was forming a new herd in 2009, combining two small herds of Asians together, they chose to include African elephant Tembo with her 2 bonded Asian herd mates of 27 years. Their reasons were the same for why we want Connie and Shaba to remain together.

Long ago, prior to the PAWS (Performing Animal Welfare Society) proposal, when my co-organizer and I met with the director of the Reid Park Zoo, Susan Basford, we questioned this mixed herd. Could Shaba join Connie there? Could they be integrated together in Tucson and get a waiver like San Diego? She informed us that San Diego was planning on transferring Tembo out and was actively looking for another zoo for her. We were told the same thing by Reid Park Zoo’s Education Coordinator Jed Dodds. We were shocked by this and felt terrible for Tembo and her bonded herd mates.

In our correspondence with San Diego when asked if Shaba could join Connie we were told that “even though animals of other species are known to form bonds, they quickly abandon their former comrades to be with their own kind.”

NOW, on the heels of this announcement to send Connie and Shaba to San Diego, in the City of Tucson memorandum from Parks and Rec director Fred Gray it states:

San Diego remains confident that when given the opportunity to socialize with members of her own species Connie will bond well with fellow elderly Asian elephants. Similarly, they expect Shaba will find companionship with their single African “Tembo.” Experts will continue to evaluate individual animal behavior and relationships, as well as the needs of the entire Species Survival Plan, as future placement decisions are made for Shaba and Tembo together.

That’s not a typo! It says “as future placement decisions are made for Shaba and Tembo”! The African elephants will be transferred meaning an ultimate separation for Connie and Shaba.

They may be leaving together and living in the same exhibit for awhile, but once the heat is off and some time passes they will do exactly what they want–which is to isolate them with their own species. This can happen with no oversight, but if concerns were raised , the zoo “experts” will find any way to justify it–despite what every expert outside of zoo culture knows about elephants.

Zoos inherently create unnatural situations. Connie and Shaba–nor Tembo–should not be victims of humanities slow learning curve.

Nothing can replace Connie and Shaba’s bond.

We plan to keep moving towards what will guarantee the preservation of Connie and Shaba’s bond, prevent future transfers and in giving them the best quality of life possible. PAWS is a real solution.

We feel as longtime Citizens of Tucson and with all they have already been through in life, Connie and Shaba deserve this.”

Shuman also has an opinion piece in this week’s Tucson Weekly which discusses her contact with Bob Barker (Price is Right/animal lover) and his willingness to match funds if the elephants are sent to an elephant sanctuary where they will be together — no compromises. A zoo is not a sanctuary.

To weigh in on this still brewing controversy, contact the City Council
.

from the City of Tucson press release

City of Tucson Parks and Recreation officials and staff from the Reid Park Zoo have been re-evaluating a decision to separate Connie and Shaba from one another. Today, after conferring with experts from San Diego Zoo Global, Reid Park Zoo staff, Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the African Elephant Taxon Advisory Group (TAG), both Connie and Shaba will be relocated to Elephant Odyssey in San Diego.

The decision to move Shaba to San Diego along with Connie allows Reid Park Zoo to continue to meet the long-established objectives of its elephant program:

• Provide both Connie and Shaba with additional space, superior whole-life care, and expertly trained staff at AZA institutions.

• Introduce both Connie and Shaba to additional herd members, as two-animal “herds” do not provide for long term social needs for elephants.

• Continue to participate actively in the African Elephant Species Survival Plan and breeding program.

• Partner with fellow elephant experts for the future of elephants at AZA zoos.

• Provide an accredited Zoo in Tucson where guests have the opportunity to learn from elephants and are encouraged to form personal and meaningful connections with wildlife.

Following a conference call with San Diego Zoo officials, City of Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild said “I am glad we found a solution that will keep Connie and Shaba together and provide them both with excellent care. This is a really good result for Connie, Shaba and the Tucsonans of all ages who love them.”

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Maybe being recently listed #2 on the top worst zoos had some positive effect on Reid Park zoo and City personnel.

Hopefully this is good news for Connie & Shaba!

10 Worst Zoos For Elephants – Reid Park #2 – Thank you Tucson! (not)

To for some background, please read Elephants Never Forget.

from the press release

Tucson, Ariz. (January 16, 2012) ­ The 2011 list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants, released today by In Defense of Animals (IDA), once again exposes the hidden suffering of elephants in zoos, where lack of space, unsuitably cold climates and unnatural conditions condemn Earth’s largest land mammals to lifetimes of deprivation, disease and early death. The list is in its eighth year.

A promising trend toward the closure of inadequate elephant displays continued in 2011 and includes zoos that have appeared on IDA’s annual list.

The most recent are the Central Florida Zoo and Southwick’s Zoo in Massachusetts. The Toronto Zoo’s appearance on the 2009 list sparked a campaign that led to the closure of that exhibit in 2012. This brings the number of zoos that have closed or will close their elephant exhibits to 22, and zoo experts expect that number to rise.

The Reid Park Zoo appears for the second time on IDA’s list with the following entry:

Reid Park Zoo (Tucson, Arizona) ­ You can’t get more cold hearted than this.

This zoo has a cruel plan to separate Connie and Shaba, who have been tightly bonded for 30 years. Why? Because Connie, who is Asian, does not fit into the zoo’s new African-themed attraction. African Shaba will remain, but if she doesn’t integrate with the breeding group coming from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, she’ll be sent to another zoo. Zoos often separate bonded elephants, causing profound suffering, and ship them between zoos like furniture. The Reid Park Zoo prefers to ignore the reams of scientific research attesting to the deep and often life-long connections that female elephants form in favor of driving up attendance and revenue.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park (California) earns yet another dishonorable mention, and the San Antonio Zoo (Texas) becomes the newest inductee into the Worst Zoos for Elephants Hall of Shame, a special honor reserved for the worst repeat offenders.

Another result of IDA’s relentless advocacy for elephants in zoos has been the creation of an historic management policy by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The new policy calls for an end to handling that requires keepers to share the same unrestricted space with elephants. If the AZA is serious about enforcing this policy, it will facilitate an end to the use of the bullhook, a weapon used by keepers to threaten and often inflict painful physical punishment.

“IDA’s Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list illustrates the many serious problems that condemn elephants to lives of misery in zoos,” said IDA Elephant Campaign Director Catherine Doyle. “These include abnormal repetitive behaviors, hyper-aggression, social isolation, and deadly conditions such as foot and joint disease caused by lack of space and movement.”

“Scientific research has shown what elephants need: space to walk miles every day, large families with whom to spend their lives, and rich natural environments,” said Doyle. “Caging elephants in zoo displays is not humane and it is not conservation.”

For more information, please visit the website HelpElephants.

Here’s a list of the 10 worst zoos for elephants.

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In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi.

Tucson: Elephants never forget

What a sad story and once again the Tucson City Council has no heart. Why am I not surprised?

The Reid Park Zoo is splitting long time companions Shaba and Connie after 30 years. Do elephants have feelings? Hell, yes. According to the Nature website — elephants feel joy, anger, grief, compassion, love, and attachment that rival our own.

“While there is a great deal more to learn about what elephants feel, such accounts are astonishing. They reveal a creature that weeps, revels, rages and grieves. They lead us to believe that the depth of elephant emotional capacity knows no limit. They are striking for they suggest that elephants act on feelings and not solely for survival.”

I have to wonder why the elephants are being separated when the original plan of expanding the habitat was to keep them together.

As with every encounter and endeavor, should we follow the money?

First the giraffes eat poisonous oleander and now the Zoo administrators are separating the elephants. According to a previous Tucson Citizen blog post in 2010, The Reid Park Zoo made the worst zoos for elephants list. Nothing’s changed.

A private citizen started a petition to keep the elephants together. Please consider signing it.