Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to shut down elephant exhibit

After years of controversy and criticism, the Woodland Park Zoo announced Wednesday it’s closing the elephant program and will move its two remaining pachyderms. But animal rights advocates say that’s not enough.

The zoo said it’s beginning the process of relocating 47-year-old Bamboo and 35-year-old Chai, both female Asian elephants. But the process could take six months or longer.

“It is in the best interest of Bamboo and Chai to live in a social, multi-animal herd in a healthy environment,” said Woodland Park Zoo’s President and CEO Dr. Deborah Jensen. “This can best be accomplished by relocating them to another accredited Association of Zoos & Aquariums facility that is held to exemplary standards of care. Having only one or two elephants at the zoo for the long term would work against the broader social welfare of Chai and Bamboo and we are committed to following the recommendations of elephant health and welfare experts.”

The announcement follows the death of 45-year-old Watoto, an African elephant that was euthanized in August after falling ill.

“They’re just going to go to another zoo and it’ll be just more of the same … so we’re a long ways away,” Alyne Fortgang, founder of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

What they really want is for the elephants to be sent to a sanctuary.

Fortgang said ‘Friends’ is targeting a PAWS sanctuary in Southern California, where “they’d have a mountain top, wooded hills, and a warm climate.”

“That’s what we owe these two,” Fortgang said.

But zoo officials said the sanctuary and several others aren’t accredited and fail to meet the strict criteria they’ll use to determine the best possible new home for the elephants.

That criteria includes keeping the elephants together in a stable social situation with other elephants. And officials are seeking a zoo or facility that promotes conservation, said COO Bruce Bohmke.

“Elephants are highly endangered in the wild and continue to face significant challenge, and our mission is to tell that story. And we’d like to relocate them to a location where that story can be told,” Bohmke said.

The zoo had hoped to keep the elephants and grow the herd in Seattle, but after months of trying it determined there were no suitable animals available to move to Woodland Park Zoo.

“It’s not reasonable to believe that we can grow our herd here. We’ve reached that conclusion fairly recently but we have the entire time felt the thing we should do is what’s best for the two animals in our care,” Bohmke said.

Officials insist the elephants are in good health and continue to receive excellent care, and no changes need to be made in their remaining time in Seattle.