According to the PI, animal rights groups are pushing for Bamboo, a Woodland Park Zoo elephant recently moved to Point Defiance, to be moved to a Tennessee elephant sanctuary. The group would eventually like to see all elephants in zoos moved to large sanctuaries. Apparently this push hasn’t been as unsuccessful as you’d think, with San Francisco and Detroit zoos both doing just that.

However, our own Woodland Park and Point Defiance elephant keepers are opposing the move, saying that the elephants are fine and although they might show signs of stress, it’s just the same as the stress you or I would show in a long meeting, where we jiggle our foot from stress/boredom. The keepers also talk about their plans to continue breeding elephants in captivity, something many people feel is necessary to prevent elephants from going extinct.

Personally, I’m torn - on the one hand, I love seeing the elephants up close (I love elephants, to the point that I’m considering going to Thailand over the summer to work at a sanctuary) and the interaction possible. On the other hand, the enclosure at both of our local zoos does seem awfully small… if they could rework the elephant habitat to be more like the bear and wolf habitat, I can’t help but thinking it would be better for everyone, human and elephant.

Related posts:

1. Bamboo Rally
2. Zoo news
3. Department of potential cute baby animals: Elephant inseminated
4. Cool fun in the hot summer sun
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