The San Antonio Zoo in Texas was keeping one elephant elephant, Lucky, with hardly enough room- and to make matters worse, they added a second elephant, Queenie, forcing the two elephants to coexist in a less than half-acre exhibit.
Lucky and Queenie are victims of an outdated system that allows zoos to keep two elephants weighing more than four tons each in a space smaller than many backyards.
SOURCE
and ADDITIONAL PETITION- In Defense of Animals
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1707&autologin=true
Dr. Joyce Poole, who has been studying elephant behavior in Africa and Asia for more than 30 years, warned of dire consequences should Lucky and Queenie continue to be held in the zoo’s outdated exhibit. In behavioral observations, Dr. Poole observed aggressive behavior by Queenie toward Lucky. The information was provided to the USDA.
“Lucky is being terrorized by Boo [Queenie]. This kind of persistent bullying is not seen in the wild, because elephants have other activities with which to occupy themselves, and because they can remove themselves from conflict, if need be. In my opinion, the primary cause of this undesirable situation is that the elephants have too little space.”
Send the elephants to a sanctuary rather than a captive zoo confinement where they have appropriate space and can form social relationships with elephants of their choosing.
Kevin Shea
Associate APHIS Administrator at the USDA
Chief Operating Officer
United States Department of Agriculture- USDA
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service- APHIS
14th & Independence Ave., SW
Washington DC 20250
phone: (202) 720-3668
fax: (202) 690-0686
e-mail: kevin.a.shea@aphis.usda.gov
Cindy Smith, APHIS Administrator
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service- APHIS
Legislative and Public Affairs
4700 River Road
Riverdale, MD, 20737-1232
phone: 301- 734-7799
email: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/
