Elephant Necropsy Results Raise More Questions than Answers

Report Confirms that Elephant Petal's Premature Death was Due to Captivity

August 27, 2008, Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Zoo's release late yesterday of the elephant Petal's necropsy report provided little new information on her death but confirmed she had been suffering from arthritis, the number one cause of death for captive elephants and never found in wild elephants.  Local concerned citizens renew their call for the Zoo to do the right thing and send the surviving elephants to a sanctuary.

The necropsy results showed that Petal had been suffering from chronic heart disease and arthritis in her hips, knees and elbows.   Members of local grassroots group Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants (FPZE) had often expressed concern after seeing Petal repeatedly show signs of arthritis, but Philadelphia Zoo officials always responded that Petal was in "perfect health."  Suspecting Petal was suffering from arthritis or other captivity-induced problems, FPZE repeatedly asked the Zoo over the last three years to release her medical records, but the Zoo refused.

Yesterday Philadelphia Zoo officials confirmed Petal had been suffering from arthritis so severe that it prevented her from getting back up after her leg collapsed during the night.   Previously, Zoo officials had admitted that Petal had not lain down to sleep for years.  Because elephants naturally lie down to sleep, Petal's apparent inability to do so also suggests underlying health problems. 

"Petal is yet another casualty of the inhumane zoo conditions that cause arthritis and other life-threatening ailments in elephants," said Marianne Bessey, FPZE spokesperson.  "Although the Zoo continues to mislead the public by claiming Petal's health problems were 'age-related,' the fact is wild elephants are not dying of heart disease or arthritis.  To the contrary, wild elephants protected from poaching often live into their 70's, when their sixth set of teeth wears out.  Premature deaths like Petal's  await Kallie and Bette unless the Zoo does the right thing for them and sends them to a sanctuary where they can freely roam on hundreds of acres."

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.  The Philadelphia Zoo plans to send Kallie and Bette to a breeding facility outside Pittsburgh where animals including elephants, rhinos, and African wild dogs will be confined in pens and bred for display in zoos around the country.   The Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in California offered all three African elephants a lifetime home at no charge to the Zoo almost two years ago.

The Philadelphia Zoo, like other urban zoos, is physically incapable of providing the vast acreage necessary to accommodate elephants' social, spatial and psychological needs. This lack of space leads to psychological and physical health problems including degenerative foot and joint disorders, digestive and reproductive problems.  Because of these captivity-induced conditions, elephants in zoos on average die at half their natural lifespan of 70 years.

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