The Elephant Man
I’m happy to see that Fred Ronstadt has finally found a cause he can get excited about–raising $8.5 million to build a slightly expanded shelter for Connie and Shaba, the beloved elephants at the Reid Park Zoo. At least he will have something to occupy his time once we vote him out of office in November.
But seriously, Fred, couldn’t you have found another cause to help meet some of our more urgent needs here in Tucson? $8.5 million would build another police substation to fight our nation’s-highest property crime rate. $8.5 million would provide afterschool programs for a year to more than 4,000 children to keep them safe and engaged during the time of day when kids are most likely to get into trouble.
Last year, Fred decided to kill a successful nationally recognized $600,000-a-year program to build safer pedestrian crossings all over the city to save our children’s lives. He said that the city just couldn’t afford it. $8.5 million would extend that program to save more kids’ (and all our citizens’) lives for more than 14 years! But did Fred decide to start a fundraising effort to help that program?
Since we do love Connie and Shaba, shouldn’t we ask if building a new, slightly larger shelter is actually the best we can do for their well-being? City zoos in San Francisco, Detroit, and Georgia have recognized in the past year that elephants suffer greatly in a zoo environment both mentally and physically, living dramatically shorter lives and suffering from severe stress. Wild elephants are very social animals who walk 30-50 miles each day; even a three-acre enclosure for two elephants will not help in that regard.
That’s why those three zoos, and many more, have sent their elephants to nonprofit elephant sanctuaries which cover hundreds of acres and host many happy elephants in one herd. One of these amazing places, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, contains 2700 acres and houses 14 former zoo and circus elephants. Phil Snyder, regional director of the Humane Society of the United States has stated, “The Elephant Sanctuary represents the future of enlightened captive elephant management.”
We do all love Connie and Shaba. For that very reason, let’s explore options that might actually help them lead happier and healthier lives, while at the same time freeing up our financial resources for other very real community needs.
June 18th, 2005 at 8:50 pm
I think most people would agree with you on this one, Steve. There are many other much higher priorities for 8.5 million of city revenue. Why don’t you see what the terms would be for a reputable refuge to actually take Connie and Shaba and send that info to the press?
June 19th, 2005 at 1:09 am
Having done a little research I think the best approach might be to find out from Reid Park Zoo why the Asian elephant cannot be found a suitable companion from another zoo.
The AZA issued a directive that all suitable African elephants in US facilities should be bred in order to assist with species preservation efforts. The larger elephant facility is needed only if the African elephant is going to be bred in situ at RPZ. A male would have to be brought in (or artificial insemination used) and the new baby would require more privacy and more space than existing facilities provide. RPZ’s concern seems to be that if the African elephant must be transfered to another zoo to breed, due to RPZ not having appropriate facilities, the Asian elephant at RPZ will be left alone (contrary to AZA guidelines for social animals such as elephants) and will have to be transfered elsewhere, leaving RPZ without elephants indefinitely. That is why they are pushing hard to fund the new facilities: they want to breed elephants, and they want to avoid any risk of losing elephants as part of their collection.
Possibly a compromise would be to send the African to another facility to breed and find a suitable companion for the Asain elephant from another facility so that Tucson doesn’t lose it’s elephants, but also doesn’t have to splash out 8.5 million for a new elephant breeding habitat. I don’t know if it is possible to obtain another elephant who needs a home, but it seems that RPZ is discounting the possibility quite heavily and seems quite sure that if they transfer the African to breed that they will almost certainly lose the Asian as well. They may know all too well the odds of finding our Asian a suitable companion, or they could have a developed institutional tunnel vision focused on the exciting possibility of expanding the elephant habitat and breeding our African here. If it is the latter, then there may be a way for Tucson to save the money and keep elephants at RPZ, an outcome which all parties would likely accept.
June 19th, 2005 at 8:28 am
Good thoughts, Michael, as usual. And this all points out that we have not had any type of public discussion on alternatives for this issue, in large part because certain other candidates see this as a sure-fire way to pander rather than create the best possible solution…