Joined: 09 Mar 2003 Posts: 6019 Location: Just beyond your reach
Posted: May 21, 2004 3:18 am Post subject: Pack your trunk
I wholeheartedly applaud this decision.
DETROIT (Reuters) - The Detroit Zoo will become the first major zoo to stop exhibiting elephants on ethical grounds because they can develop arthritis and stress-related ailments in captivity, officials said on Thursday.
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The Detroit Zoo has one of the largest facilities in the country, but its Asian elephants Winky and Wanda still have recurring foot problems due to the cold weather, Director Ron Kagen told Reuters.
In the wild, elephants roam vast areas, live in large families, and exhibit some of the same social traits as humans such as forming friendships and mourning for their dead.
"Elephants seem to be intelligent and even social in ways that are similar to humans," Kagen said. "Elephants can suffer from similar things to what we suffer from when we're in difficult environments."
Confined to zoos and circuses, elephants develop physical problems and neurotic behaviors such as rocking back and forth and aggressive behavior, he said.
"If we don't feel like we can (keep elephants), then the question is, who can and how?," he said. "For us, there really is a big question about whether elephants should be in captivity at all."
Kagen likens the change to the decision to stop performances by elephants and chimpanzees years ago at the zoo because of the stress it placed on the animals.
The zoo expects to send Winky and Wanda to an animal sanctuary this summer where they can roam with other elephants.
"I think it is an enormously important precedent," Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States, told Reuters. "It should trigger the examination of the treatment of elephants in other zoos and in circuses throughout the country."
Other zoos have also given away their elephants because they had health problems due to inadequate faculties, Pacelle said. But the Detroit Zoo is the first with sizable grounds and adequate care to end its elephant exhibit on ethical grounds, he said. _________________ Advocate for the Devil
Elephants are malicious. _________________ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
As much as I love taking my kids to the zoo, it is a rather out-dated idea. With television you can experience almost the same thing, with better access. I don't know how necessary and beneficial research done at zoos is, compared to those done in the wild, or with temporary confinement. If most zoo research is done to find out better ways of keeping zoos around (by finding ways to 'simulate' natural habitats) it seems that is a waste of money. _________________ JABbers do it online.
Posted: May 21, 2004 10:30 pm Post subject: Re: Pack your trunk
Sneeral wrote:
I wholeheartedly applaud this decision.
Indeed !...This, and the restoration of Detroit's Central Depot R.R. station *gonna' be a HUGE police headquarters* is some of the best news we've had around here lately...Our young Mayor is doing some great things for this city........Let's hope this opens eyes for other zoos, and helps put an end to the pure selfishness zoo owners have for such exibits.
Joined: 26 Nov 2003 Posts: 1569 Location: Near the cut line
Posted: May 22, 2004 2:16 pm Post subject:
I was just thinking about going to the zoo next weekend. I haven't been in years. Imagine that.
I saw a TV show on Discovery this morning about how well kept the elephants and other animals are by circus workers. Yeah, right.
I do have fond memories of the zoo though. A giraffe licked my thumb one time after eating my peanuts at the Cincinnatti zoo in 1973. That was my last encounter with a giraffe.
I was at another zoo the day that Daffy Duck played music to lure The Tasmanian Devil into a cage for reward money.
It sure was funny when one of the dollar bills fell into the cage. Daffy wasted no time in kicking ass until he got his dollar back. That is one greedy duck. _________________ www.southpawsugar.blogspot.com
Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 2829 Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Posted: May 22, 2004 2:45 pm Post subject:
I think it's a grand idea until I stop to think.
I've been reading about how they are having such little success in protecting the elephants from ivory poachers.
Also, how the elephants are being pushed into smaller and smaller habitats by agricultural interests.
Considering these two factors, isn't the future of the elephants, in the wild,
a bit insecure?
Zoos, and the like, may be their only salvation in the long term. _________________ The Boxes of Freedom: Soap Box, Ballot Box, Jury Box & Ammo Box
Please Use in that Order.
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