Tell Dallas Zoo: Send Surviving Elephant to a U.S. Sanctuary, Not Mexico
The Dallas Zoo recently announced its decision to send Jenny, the sole remaining elephant at the zoo, to the Africam Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico instead of the nearby Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee which offers hundreds of acres of naturalistic habitat and the highest quality care. Please Take Action to urge Dallas City Council to override the zoo's decision to send Jenny to the Africam Safari Park and instead transfer her to The Elephant Sanctuary.
Dear Dallas City Council ,
I am writing to express my strong disapproval of the Dallas Zoo's intention to send Jenny, a 31-year-old African elephant, to the Africam Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico on August 1, when The Elephant Sanctuary in nearby Tennessee is ready to accept and care for her. I respectfully urge members of the Dallas City Council to direct the zoo to reverse the move.
At the 2700-acre Elephant Sanctuary, Jenny would share a spacious, 300-acre natural habitat with three other African elephants. By contrast, the Mexican park offers an unnatural, confining exhibit of less than five acres to be shared with other elephants, who are not even members of Jenny's species.
Ample space is essential to the well-being of captive elephants, and Jenny will enjoy a much higher quality of life at the sanctuary than at a facility where she will not even be protected by U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws. Further, the fact that the Mexican park houses Asian elephants and Jenny is an African elephant means that she will either live in isolation or with the other elephants in violation of industry guidelines warning against housing the two species together.
Jenny's companion, 39-year-old Keke, died prematurely at the Dallas Zoo in May 2008 from health complications related to captivity. While African elephants in the wild are known to reproduce into their 50s and live into their 60s, in zoos they commonly die decades before their natural time. Please do all you can to ensure she has the best chance for health and happiness by urging her transfer to The Elephant Sanctuary.
For More Information : http://ga0.org/campaign/jenny
The Dallas Zoo recently announced its decision to send Jenny, the sole remaining elephant at the zoo, to the Africam Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico instead of the nearby Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee which offers hundreds of acres of naturalistic habitat and the highest quality care. Please Take Action to urge Dallas City Council to override the zoo's decision to send Jenny to the Africam Safari Park and instead transfer her to The Elephant Sanctuary.
Dear Dallas City Council ,
I am writing to express my strong disapproval of the Dallas Zoo's intention to send Jenny, a 31-year-old African elephant, to the Africam Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico on August 1, when The Elephant Sanctuary in nearby Tennessee is ready to accept and care for her. I respectfully urge members of the Dallas City Council to direct the zoo to reverse the move.
At the 2700-acre Elephant Sanctuary, Jenny would share a spacious, 300-acre natural habitat with three other African elephants. By contrast, the Mexican park offers an unnatural, confining exhibit of less than five acres to be shared with other elephants, who are not even members of Jenny's species.
Ample space is essential to the well-being of captive elephants, and Jenny will enjoy a much higher quality of life at the sanctuary than at a facility where she will not even be protected by U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws. Further, the fact that the Mexican park houses Asian elephants and Jenny is an African elephant means that she will either live in isolation or with the other elephants in violation of industry guidelines warning against housing the two species together.
Jenny's companion, 39-year-old Keke, died prematurely at the Dallas Zoo in May 2008 from health complications related to captivity. While African elephants in the wild are known to reproduce into their 50s and live into their 60s, in zoos they commonly die decades before their natural time. Please do all you can to ensure she has the best chance for health and happiness by urging her transfer to The Elephant Sanctuary.
For More Information : http://ga0.org/campaign/jenny
Be nice to Jenny, please.
Namaste & Kia Ora to you from NZ. Tonight my friends from India and I stumbled upon Ms Tomlin's very compassionate article about "Jenny" at the Dallas Zoo. With great empathy for the many citizens who would surely hold memories of Jenny dear to them as children visiting the zoo, we implore your city and the zoo to honor your people, and this poor animals life by providing " a retirement package of sorts ", for Jenny asap. She has earned her keep 22 fold, and a graceful and dignified exit of all public and zoological services. Thank you for reading this.
Let Jenny have known quality care in Tennessee rather then unknown care in Mexico
The Dallas zoo is a department of the City of Dallas and paid for and run by the residents of Dallas, not the AZA. It's already been stated that Jenny (the elephant) in question has problems, i.e., age, temperment, etc. Why not let her stay in the United States at the Tenn. facility. I feel what is best for the animal should be taken into consideration and not the AZA's buddy system of shipping animals. Dallas' mayor and city council should do what's right and tell the zoo that Jenny is going to Tenn. period.
For the health of the animal Jenny should be transferred to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and not Mexico. It only makes sense to send Jenny to an environment closest to her natural habitat. It's time humans take on a higher responsibility in the care of the four-footed creatures whose lands we are crowding them out of.... and a zoo should take on an even higher responsibility and do what is best for the animal.
As a zoo you should be choosing what is in the best interest of an animal. Sending Jenny to Mexico over Tennessee will just show you are NOT committed to animal safety and care, and you will lose much patronage and respect.
Please do the right thing and send Jenny to the elephant sanctuary. Thank you
Please override the zoo's decision ... send Jenny to Tennessee, not Mexico.
What is best for Jenny is to be in Tennessee! How could anyone NOT understand that! Very simple! Think of Jenny and her health and happiness not your selfish motives Dallas Zoo! AMERICA is watching you NOW Dallas Zoo!
Please allow Jenny to spend the balance of her precious life at the Sanctuary in Tennessee, where she will receive top notch care 24 hours of the day. Although Mexican people are friendly, their attitude regarding animals is quite different than those of North Americans, which I find very worrysome for Jenny's future. Please do what is right for Jenny and send her to TES.
Jenny has lived a horrible life, and she deserves to live that life out at the nearby Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Save the animals; save the Earth.
Please do the right thing, the common sense and humane thing - let special needs elephant Jenny go to the retirement home in Tennessee instead of to Mexico where we all know nothing is better in Mexico related to healthcare or human rights. Please do the right thing and the empathic and compassionate thing!
The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee is obviously the best choice for Jenny!
Please, put Jenny's welfare above your organizational politics. It is simply the right -- if not politically expedient -- thing to do.
Jenny deserves to stay in the United States in a sanctuary devoted to misplaced/abused elephants, not to be shipped to Mexico to be in a 5 acre enclosure. Too bad politics seems to be driving this action, rather than what is really in the best interest of Jenny.
Send this elephant to a sanctuary! It has a soul and deserves better. Be humane and do the right thing!
Please consider sending Jenny to a home that can offer her a more natural life. I can't believe that the people who have worked with her all these years would want her to end up in such a stressful environment. Thanks.
The experts agree that what is best for this elephant is the Tennessee sanctuary. Then why is this not the zoo and city's first choice?
There are so many things that our out of our control in this world. Why not let something that we do have control over, such as Jenny who has had a rough life and let her go to Tennessee and live out her life with others like her. They have a staff that is dedicated and devoted to troubled elephants needs, besides the fact of the vast land for these elephants to roam in. Dallas needs to do the humane thing and let Jenny go to the sanctuary. It would be cruel to send her to Mexico and I would not have any respect for Dallas if they don't respect this poor animals remaining quality of life.
It's time for Jenny to enjoy the rest of her life.
I am not one to jump on every eco-political bandwagon. After hearing of Jenny's plight, I did a significant amount of Internet research on the subject. I found records of Jenny's history at the Dallas Zoo that show she is obviously negatively affected by vehicles, construction and other loud noises. Why is sending her to a drive-through safari even an option? I also researched elephant behaviors. Jenny definitely exhibits behavior characteristics of an unhappy elephant. I understand the zoo director's desire to remain faithful to the AZA, but isn't Jenny's well-being the main issue? Sending her to a sanctuary where she will be untroubled by gawking tourists and loud vehicles is the most benevolent action that the Zoo, as her caretakers, can bestow upon her. The AZA would not be adversely affected by allowing one old, non-reproductive, sometimes volatile elephant to retire elsewhere in peace.
Jenny deserves better than what the City of Dallas wants to give her. Let her have the freedom that all American people enjoy. Sending her to Mexico would be a grave mistake.
Please, reconsider your idea of Jenny's retiring location. Animals, just like humans, deserve the best care possible as they age, and as it is, Elephants are social animals and they need their freedom to move about in an open space with other companions of their species (not the tiny confines of a Zoo). Please don't condemn this poor aging elephant to living the last years of her life, lonely, in another enclosure. I've seen plenty of old and sad elephants INCARCERATED in little (compared to their natural habitats) Zoo enclosures, and you can SEE how miserable they are. I know many humans consider animals to be beneath them, so much so that they think of them as mere property, but like it or not, realize that animals are living beings sharing this world with us, humans, and therefore, they deserve as much respect, consideration, AND love as us. Hoping you will change your mind, and with all my heart, -Katerina Aguilar
This is a no-brainer. This elephant can retire to a peaceful life in Tenn. Texans like things bigger and better and Jenny can have a bigger place and better life at the Tenn. sanctuary. Shame on those selfish people that want politics to enter this.
I am personally familiar with the staff and facilities of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and feel that this would be the ideal retirement home for Jenny.
You have a responsibility to do what is best for Jenny. Please send her to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where she may spend her remaining days with her own kind in a nice environment. It would be cruel to send her to Mexico. After her many years of service at the Dallas Zoo she deserves to be treated fairly and humanely.
Please let Jenny go live in the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. She needs to be cared for here in the U.S. it is our responsibility to see she is well cared for. PLEASE don't send her to mexico!
Do the right thing. Send her to Tennessee.
We don't usually expect or get the right thing done by the Dallas bunch, but please this time, just for once. GET IT RIGHT, DO THE RIGHT THING BY THIS DEAR ANIMAL. Don't let this issue go the way of city planning and the crime rate... Send Jenny to the elephant sanctuary to live out the rest of her days. Send the Dallas city council to Mexico if they think its such a great place:)
Please put Jenny's needs first and send her to the Elephant Sanctuary. It's actually two-fer, a win-win for Jenny and our nation's children also. With the Sanctuary's outstanding educational outreach program, Jenny will teach more people everywhere about natural elephant behavior than can be learned in even the best modern zoo while she lives a life close to the one that nature intended.
Please consider the welfare of Jenny, an elephant who desperately needs the specialized care of The Elephant Sanctuary.. Thank you.
This elephant deserves sanctuary. While the animal welfare laws in this country are pitifully inadequate, they're still way better than Mexico's. Don't doom this elephant to death - send her to the Elephant Sanctuary in TN.
Please make this decision based on what is best for Jenny. She has given 22 years of her life to entertaining the people of Dallas, and she has suffered from fears of vehicles resulting in self injury and psychological disorders. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee has the experience and the expertise to help her heal in mind and body. She would also have three other African elephants as friends. Jenny has nearly reached the typical life expectancy of a captive elephant. Please let her retire and live out the remainder of her life in this beautiful and healthful sanctuary.
Jenny has already given the majority of her life for human entertainment. Please allow her to live the rest in sanctuary.
Jenny needs a specific type of treatment for her problems. Under the care of Dr. Susan Mikota, Dr.S. Scott and the very experienced caregivers, she would have that chance to heal and live very happily only at The Elephant Sanctuary TN.
Jenny has served your zoo and it's clients for many years of her life. Give her a life back for herself now, do the right thing and send her to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennesse.
Jenny needs to heal, the Sanctuary is the perfect place
please send jenny to the elepahnt sanctuary. Please...
Jenny needs to be sent to TN, not to some safari where she is going to be put on display. Let her be in peace, let her go to a sanctuary where she can live out the rest of her life peacefully. Don't send Jenny to Mexico, do the right thing, think of her, not yourselves.
Jenny deserves to be sent to Tennessee. She has done her job serving the public at the Dallas Zoo, now we must let her retire to a facility where she will be repaid with the best care possible. PLEASE PLEASE SEND HER TO TENNESSEE.
Please send Jenny to Tennessee, elephants are so very much like humans, I can't imagine how devastating it would be for her to be sent to another country and put in a so different enviroment. Please do the right thing.
Send Jenny somewhere to Tennessee where she may retire in peace; not yet another zoo. Let her remain in 'her' country where she may be cared for by our standards and join a real troupe of other elephants.
