National Zoo to Euthanize Ailing Elephant?

Toni, an elephant at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., suffers from debilitating arthritis as a result of decades spent confined in tiny zoo enclosures. The popular 39-year-old Asian elephant is a favorite among the public, well liked for her winning personality. Keepers at the National Zoo say they are trying to come up with ways to keep her condition from declining, but they have failed to consider the one option with a real chance of helping Toni: transfer to a sanctuary with the space and environment necessary for her to heal.

Toni lives with four other Asian elephants, and has access to only about one acre of land. An elephant's natural range is more than 1,000 miles, which is 640,000 times the amount of space she has now. Elephants in the wild spend most of their waking hours walking, but Toni spends most of her time standing in one spot. Lack of exercise and standing on hard, unyielding surfaces has wreaked havoc on her joints and feet, forcing the Zoo to give her two massive doses of ibuprofen every day. Each 9,000 milligrams helps to mitigate her pain and mask her symptoms, but leaves the underlying causes untreated. Elephants need vast acreage in order to meet their need to walk many miles a day on soft soil and varied terrains to maintain good health.
 
Toni's arthritis is so severe that the National Zoo admits they may have to euthanize her if it gets much worse. Five years ago, the Zoo euthanized Nancy because of foot infections so serious that standing was difficult. Both deadly ailments are a direct result of the inadequate conditions the elephants lived in for decades.

If Toni remains where she is, she will not heal. Rather, she will live out the rest of her numbered days with decreasing mobility and increasing pain. Fortunately, there is an alternative. The Elephant Sanctuary (TES ) has the facilities to meet elephants' needs much better than any zoo, and has offered to take Toni in at no charge to the National Zoo. Set on 2,700 lush green acres in southwestern Tennessee, TES enables elephants to walk as much as they want on hills, dirt and grasses. TES caretakers live on the premises, and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They would provide treatment for Toni's pain, but her free-ranging movement would also help ease her arthritis naturally.  TES has a proven track record of restoring quality of life to elephants debilitated by life in zoos and circuses.

Toni the elephant is 39 years old - young for an animal that can live to be 60 or 70 years old in the wild. But she has crippling arthritis and the National Zoo has announced it may euthanize her if her condition doesn't improve. Countless zoo elephants have died prematurely because they were confined on unnaturally hard surfaces; chances are that Toni will not improve if she remains in a zoo. Her only hope is to be moved to a facility -- The Elephant Sanctuary (TES) in Hohenwald, Tennessee -- that can offer her access to natural substrate to halt the debilitating impact hard surfaces have on her feet and bones. TES, the nation's largest natural-habitat refuge developed exclusively for elephants, has extensive experience in restoring quality of life to elephants debilitated by years of confinement in zoos.

Editorial: Let the Zoo's Elephants Go!

Eye Witness Comments (oct. 24, 2005)

"Toni's spine is showing like Barbara but is not as emaciated as Barabara.  I have her photo from 2 years ago and and she looks about say, 400 lbs thinner.  The keepers say she has regained 100 pounds.  She has been given a shot of Legend for a week now and they said it has helped.  (Will research Legend)  .  They did a disgusting show and tell with Ambeka and Toni.  They made Ambeka do circus tricks like standing on 2 feet and walking a log and balancing on it. They made her lay down on command. Truely disgusting.  They didn't make Toni do anything except take a bow with her trunk.  Poor Toni was leaing against a tree or the the building alot and she did some minor swaying. She crossed her legs in a position I;ve never seen an ele do before. "Please click here to ask your federal Representative to order the National Zoo to send Toni and the other three elephants at the National Zoo to TES. You can also get contact information for your elected officials by clicking http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/home.html and entering your zip code.

The National Zoo simply cannot provide for the vast physical and psychological needs of elephants. The National Zoo is funded by federal dollars, so all taxpayers should have a say in these elephants' future.