News Release - Philadelphia Zoo Misleads Public About Elephants: Complaint Filed with Pennsylvania Attorney General

For Immediate Release: February 26, 2009 Contact: Marianne Bessey (610) 733-1248

Philadelphia Zoo Misleads Public About Elephants: Complaint Filed With Pennsylvania Attorney General

Local Group Charges Zoo with Intentionally Misleading Public about Elephants’ Future

February 26, 2009, Philadelphia: This week the Pennsylvania Attorney General received a complaint regarding the Philadelphia Zoo’s intentional communication of inaccurate information to the public about the elephants at the Zoo. Marianne Bessey on behalf of Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants filed the complaint under the state’s consumer protection law, citing numerous occasions where Zoo management misled the public about the ages and planned future of the two surviving elephants confined at the Zoo.

Local group Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants notified the Philadelphia Zoo of the misstatements at issue in the complaint, but received no response. False statements made by the Zoo about the elephants include:

1. Understating the ages of elephants Kallie and Bette. Age matters when it comes to breeding captive elephants. Zoo management has repeatedly understated the elephants’ ages as anywhere from 23 years to 26 years, and the Zoo’s website currently states the ages as “Kallie (24) and Bette (23)”. According to official records, both Kallie and Bette are 27 years old this year. By understating their ages, the Zoo is misleading the public as to the great health risks inherent in the Zoo’s plans to attempt to breed the elephants. Zoo elephant experts have stated captive elephants over the age of 25 at the time of their first pregnancy face great odds against getting pregnant at all, and studies show that if they do get pregnant, over 70 percent suffer life-threatening conditions and calf mortality.

2. Calling the breeding facility a “sanctuary.” The public supports sending elephants to a sanctuary. Philadelphia Zoo management has repeatedly claimed that the Zoo plans to send the elephants to a “sanctuary” when in fact they are sending them to a temporary breeding facility near Pittsburgh - the International Conservation Center (ICC). The ICC is an off-site breeding facility designed to supply baby exotic animals to zoos across the nation for display. Sanctuaries exist to provide a permanent home where no instruments are used on the animals that can inflict pain, such as bullhooks used at the ICC (a bullhook resembles a fireplace poker and is used in circuses and some zoos to dominate elephants through fear and violence). In addition, sanctuaries do not breed animals. Instead, they support the preservation of habitat in range countries - the only way to save a specie from extinction.

"It’s outrageous the Zoo is lying to the public about their plans for our elephants,” said Marianne Bessey, organizer of Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants. "If the Philadelphia Zoo is afraid to tell the public the truth about where Kallie and Bette are going, we suggest they reconsider their plans and send the elephants to a true sanctuary like PAWS instead of misleading the public about it."

Nearly two years ago, the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a 2,300-acre refuge in California with the space and natural conditions necessary for elephants to thrive, offered to take the then-three African elephants at no charge (52-year-old elephant Petal has since died, collapsing in her cement stall last June). Zoo Director Vik Dewan refuses to send the elephants to the spacious sanctuary, opting instead to keep them here in Philadelphia in conditions that zoo officials themselves admit are inadequate while the breeding facility is built. At the breeding facility, plans are to first attempt to breed Kallie and Bette with a bull elephant, and then use artificial insemination – an extremely invasive and painful procedure for elephants.

Friends of Philly Zoo Elephants is a group of local residents concerned about the elephants at the Philadelphia Zoo. For more information, please visit http://www.helpphillyzooelephants.com
or call 610-733-1248.

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