—–Original Message—–
From: In Defense of Animals (IDA) [mailto:eric@idausa.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 10:45 AM
To: KPAM News
Subject: News Release: In Defense Of Animals Calls On Oregon Zoo To End Breeding Program
From: In Defense of Animals (IDA) [mailto:eric@idausa.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 10:45 AM
To: KPAM News
Subject: News Release: In Defense Of Animals Calls On Oregon Zoo To End Breeding Program
Contact: Nicole Meyer, nicolem@idausa.org, 206-920-2819
In Defense Of Animals Calls On Oregon Zoo To End Breeding Program
Portland, Ore. (December 4, 2012) – Following the birth of an elephant at the Oregon Zoo on Friday and the groundbreaking expose published in the Seattle Times uncovering the failures of zoo elephant programs, In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization, is calling on the Oregon Zoo to end its harmful breeding practices.
The series “Elephants are dying out in America’s zoos” (Dec. 2, 2012) and “Elephant havens face zoo-industry backlash,” ”Portland’s baby belongs to traveling show” (Dec. 3, 2012), by Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Michael Berens, calls attention to the shortcomings of the zoo industry in its attempts to breed elephants, highlighting efforts at the Oregon Zoo in Portland and Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.
Berens’ series couldn’t have been more timely and disturbing. On Friday, Rose-Tu, an elephant at the Oregon Zoo gave birth to the 28th elephant born at the facility since 1962. Records show the new baby is technically “owned” by an elephant rental outfit in California called Have Trunk Will Travel (HTWT), which has been caught on video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50wBdPhBQGo] training baby elephants by hitting and shocking them. Under the terms by which her father was loaned to Oregon, once she is a month old, the calf can be torn from her mother, shipped to California, and trained to do tricks. In a press conference this morning, the zoo’s executive director could not guarantee that this baby elephant will not be claimed by HTWT, only relying on a mutual “vision.”
“With the Oregon Zoo’s history of prematurely separating elephants from their mothers and sending them into inadequate situations, IDA has great concern about what the future holds for Rose-Tu’s baby, and for the other elephants at the zoo who suffer from a range of captivity induced problems, including foot and joint disease,” said IDA spokesperson Nicole Meyer. “We urge the Oregon Zoo to end its breeding program and urge the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to adopt and enforce stronger measures that promote the welfare of captive zoo elephants, rather than continue current exploitive, harmful practices.”
Statistics show that elephants born at the Oregon Zoo face grim fates. Of 28 elephants born there, 16 are already dead. Seven died before they were two months old, five before they were even given a name. Furthermore, any elephant born at the Oregon Zoo faces an uncertain and often deadly future, with little to no follow up, once the zoo reaps the benefit of the calf’s high-profile birth. Of the twenty calves who survived past infancy only six remained at the zoo. The Oregon Zoo sent six elephants to a life of misery in the circus industry and dumped several others in roadside zoos, left to live lives of solitary confinement and physical suffering.