NEW REPORT REVEALS DEPRIVATION AND SUFFERING OF MANILA ZOO'S ELEPHANT
PETA Calls On Thai Officials to Halt Plans to Transfer Other Elephants to the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Japan
For Immediate Release:
4 November 2009
Bangkok -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia -- an affiliate of PETA US, the largest animal rights group in the world, which has more than 2 million members and supporters -- has released a new report on Vishwamali ("Mali" for short), an elephant at the Manila Zoo. Mali was born in Sri Lanka in 1974 and was 3 years old when she was torn from her family and shipped to the zoo. The report concludes that Mali is suffering because she's deprived of adequate space and everything else that's important to elephants.
The report's release comes shortly after plans were announced to transfer elephants from Thailand to Japan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. PETA has sent copies of the report to Thai officials -- including Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suwit Khunkitti -- along with letters asking them to immediately halt all plans to transfer elephants, including those destined for the Philippines.
Confined to a barren, concrete enclosure where she lives alone, Mali exhibits all the classic signs of depression and psychological stress -- conditions that are often seen in captive elephants. PETA's report concludes that Mali will likely succumb to the life-threatening physical ailments that are common to elephants who are held in similar environments. PETA is calling on the zoo to immediately relocate Mali to an accredited sanctuary, where she will enjoy the vital companionship of other elephants and roam and forage amid lush, natural vegetation.
In the wild, elephants such as Mali live and travel in close-knit matriarchal herds of related females, who roam up to 80 kilometres a day. Asian elephants have home ranges of between 25,000 and 60,000 hectares, but the entire Manila Zoo measures only 5.5 hectares. During the investigation that PETA conducted to gather information for the report, a zoo worker revealed that when Mali is not on display, the elephant spends most of her time in the small, dark concrete enclosure where she sleeps. In the wild, Mali would browse and graze; pluck fruit, leaves, and shoots from trees; take mud baths; and swim and play in the water. The Manila Zoo provides Mali with no opportunity to engage in any of the activities that elephants need for their physical, mental and emotional health.
The report includes a letter from Carol Buckley, who has more than 35 years of professional experience in the care and management of Asian elephants and who operates The Elephant Sanctuary, the largest rehabilitation and living centre for former zoo and circus elephants in the world. (The sanctuary occupies a space measuring more than 1,000 hectares in area.) Writes Buckley, "There can be no doubt that Mali's undersized living space and isolation has had, and will continue to have, a severe negative impact on her physical and psychological health. More often than not, captive elephants are afflicted with painful and crippling illnesses that are directly related to lack of space and lead to drastically shortened life spans. It is likely that Mali is or will ultimately be afflicted with muscular-skeletal ailments, arthritis, and/or foot and joint diseases".
Like all elephants who are confined alone and denied everything that's natural and important to them, Mali is also suffering psychologically. The frustrations that captive elephants endure often lead to abnormal, neurotic and even self-destructive behaviour called "zoochosis" or "stereotypy". Mali paces incessantly and has been observed standing for long periods in one spot with her trunk to the ground. She has also been seen walking to the edge of her tiny enclosure and reaching out her foot in the futile hope of going farther.
A growing number of progressive zoos -- including several in the US and the UK -- have realised that they cannot possibly fulfil the complex needs of elephants and have closed their elephant exhibits. According to David Hancocks, former director of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, "[Elephants] are actually very poor candidates for life in captivity. ... Their requirements are so substantial -- it is probably beyond the capabilities of most zoos to even begin to resolve them".
"Elephants in zoos everywhere suffer, but Mali's situation at the Manila Zoo is one of the worst in the world", says PETA Asia Director Jason Baker. "Instead of forcing her to live in misery -- and likely condemning her to an early death -- the Manila Zoo should immediately send Mali to a sanctuary where she can be with other elephants and live out her life in peace, health and dignity. We're asking Thai officials to reconsider sending another elephant to a life of misery, confinement and boredom at the Manila Zoo."
For more information, please visit PETAAsiaPacific.com.
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