For Immediate Release: February 12, 2008 Contact: Marianne Bessey (610) 733-1248
Local Residents Ask Public to Urge Zoo Director to Have a Heart
“Give Elephants A Valentine of a Lifetime: A Forever Home at a Sanctuary”
February 12, 2008 – Philadelphia, PA –On Thursday, concerned citizens and members of local grassroots group Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants are calling on Philadelphians to have a heart and send Valentine's messages to the Philly Zoo asking the Zoo to send the three remaining elephants to a sanctuary in California where they have been offered a forever home at no charge.
Zoo director Vik Dewan has stated uncertainty about the elephants’ future, stating they will first be shipped off to a breeding center in Somerset County, Pennsylvania and that their future after that is unknown. The Performing Animal Welfare Society, a 2,300-acre sanctuary in California, , has offered a lifetime home to Petal, Kallie and Bette at no charge. To bring attention to the elephants’ plight, demonstrators will hand out heart-shaped candy and flyers detailing the elephants' situation.
What: Demonstration
Who: Concerned citizens and members of Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants
When: Thursday, February 14, 2008, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Where: Public Sidewalk in front of Philadelphia Zoo, 34th Street and Girard Ave.
A long and heated controversy has raged at the Philadelphia Zoo since its financially-based decision in October 2005 not to build a new enclosure for its elephants - estimated to cost more than $22 million. In April of this year, the Philadelphia Zoo announced plans to send the remaining African elephants to the Pittsburgh Zoo’s “International Conservation Center,” where animals including elephants, rhinos, and African wild dogs are to be bred for display in zoos around the country. In July, Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants visited the location of the breeding facility. The breeding facility continues the zoo-industry’s business interest for the display of elephants in zoos and is fundamentally flawed with the following concerns:
• Social problems (shifting of animals in and out; separating bonded elephants)
• Management style (use of negative stimuli such as the bullhook)
• Breeding factory (breeding elephants to be put on display in various zoos)
• Lack of transparency and public accountability
• Diverts funds from TRUE conservation such as habitat protection and anti-poaching efforts in range countries
Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants is a group of local advocates who are concerned about the elephants at the Philadelphia Zoo. For more information, please visit www.helpphillyzooelephants.com.
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