Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to send its elephants to another zoo

Today Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo announced they will be shutting down their elephant program, which means they will be sending their two remaining Asian elephants, 35 year old Chai and 47 year old Bamboo, to another zoo. They had been planning to expand the program, and add elephants, but after hearing from The Elephant Task Force, panel of local community representatives and internationally-distinguished scientists and animal care professionals, they went the opposite direction.

“One thing has become clear: our two female elephants, Chai and Bamboo, need to be part of a larger social herd to ensure that their social welfare is best met,” said the zoo’s CEO Deborah Jensen at a press conference today. “Now, if you’ve paid attention to this issue, you know we’ve been thinking about this a long time. It’s not an easy decision, this is not one we’ve made with happiness. We’re actually disappointed that we’re not able to grow the elephant herd here in Woodland Park Zoo. But the welfare of our animals is actually our top priority.”

This seems like it would be good news for Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, the advocacy group who has been fighting for eight years to free these elephants. But it’s not exactly what they were looking for.

“They’re just going to go to another zoo and it’s more of the same,” says the group’s founder, Alyne Fortgang. “And we don’t know which zoo it is and we don’t know what the climate is. So we’re a long way away. What we want is the elephants sent to a sanctuary where they’re guaranteed a lifelong place to stay. They’ll never be moved again, they’ll be in a warm climate. We’re targeting PAWS in California where they’ll have a mountain top, wooded hills, in a sunny, warm climate. That’s what we owe these two.”

At the press conference, zoo officials said the country’s two sanctuaries aren’t an option because PAWS isn’t an accredited zoo and the Tennessee sanctuary does not meet their criteria because some elephants there have diseases. In the past, zoo officials have been opposed to sending the elephants to a sanctuary because they say the elephants are used to educate the community about conservation.

“One thing that they don’t have to experience here at the zoo, that they would in the wild, is running for their lives. Constantly being aware of poachers,” says Woodland Park Zoo’s animal curator, Martin Ramirez. “So I would say their life here is much better than in the wild.”

But Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants say the elephants have no room to roam at the zoo, they’re kept in a small pen more than half the day, they can feel the street traffic through their feet which gives them anxiety. They’re simply too smart to be in captivity.

“Science has shown now that elephants are not good candidates for captivity,” says Seattle elephant activist, Lisa Kane. “Zoos all sit on small footprints. Even if you gave over the entire Woodland Park Zoo to elephants, that would still be an incredibly small space. They’ve given up their families which mean more to elephants than human families. Female elephants never leave their mothers. This was research done by Iain Douglas-Hamilton in northern Kenya. I think it’s hard for us to imagine the suffering we’ve inflicted on them.”

Alyne says she is not done fighting.

“15.3 of the operating agreement does give the city council say over the disposition of the animal. We’re going to ask the city council and the mayor to say, ‘Enough. No more zoo. The elephants are going to go to a sanctuary now.’ They’ve paid their dues. They’ve been on display in a tiny display their entire lives since they were taken from their mothers.”

Woodland Park Zoo hopes to send Chai and Bamboo to a new zoo in about six months.