Back last June, I took a rather lonely stand on this blog calling for the relocation of the Reid Park Zoo elephants to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee where they could stand a chance of a longer, happier life among other freed elephants.

At the time, that was like taking a stand against Mom and apple pie. Fred Ronstadt seemed to be staking his whole campaign on soliciting kids’ drawings in support of a slightly enlarged (though woefully inadequate) pen so we could keep and breed Connie and Shaba an visit them in that pen once a year.

Times do change! We all know what happened to Fred. And now, the kids are writing letters to the Star begging the Council to send Connie and Shaba to a happier home in Tennessee. Jim Kiser wrote a long Sunday opinion calling for their release, the Weekly this week devotes a cover story to the issue, and even Fitz did a cartoon invoking Free Willy.

The right thing to do has finally acquired the momentum it needs to be done. I hate to channel the spirit of Sting, but on this he had it right: If we love our Connie and Shaba, we should let them go. It’s time to urge your councilmembers to send the Reid Park elephants to The Elephant Sanctuary.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 17th, 2006 at 8:05 am and is filed under 3rd Rail of the Week, Media Watch, Protecting the Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.