http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/05/08/news/inland/23_13_355_7_05.txt

Elephant's death sparks outcry

By: ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer

A week after the death of an African elephant in Salt Lake City, animal advocates and zoo officials remain upset about the incident.

Exactly why the 36-year-old female elephant became ill is still unknown. Several investigations are under way, however, and San Diego Councilwoman Donna Frye has asked City Attorney Mike Aguirre to look into the matter as well.

A spokesman for Aguirre said Friday that he had yet to make a decision on the matter.

The elephant, Wankie, was moved from Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo to Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo by truck last weekend when she collapsed. Unable to help her recover, zoo officials euthanized the animal.

Wankie was the last of three female African elephants that the San Diego Wild Animal Park had loaned to the Chicago zoo in 2003, over the protest of animal advocate groups. The two other animals died in October and January.

Their deaths left Wankie alone in Chicago, prompting officials to move her to Utah, where she was to join an African elephant herd at Hogle Zoo. But Wankie never met her future companions.

Zoo officials have said they are awaiting the results of a necropsy that may reveal why she collapsed. Activists opposed to the elephant's move, however, say her death came as no surprise.

Advocates call for director to resign

Animal welfare advocates blame the deaths on the Zoological Society of San Diego, which runs the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park and that owned the three dead elephants. They called last week for an independent investigation into the deaths, and sought the resignation of the organization's executive director, Doug Myers.

"This is the third elephant they've lost since October," said Florence Lambert, director of The Elephant Alliance in San Diego.

"They're obviously doing something wrong in the way they care for their elephants," she said Thursday, her voice breaking. "We certainly don't want (the elephants') stories to be in vain. So we are asking for these two things: the resignation and the investigation."

Myers was unavailable for comment last week. Zoological society officials released a statement defending Myers, and noted the organization's successes with conservation programs that have boosted the number of California condors and other endangered animals.

"With this long list of successes in mind, we do not foresee any significant changes to our governance," the statement said.

Zoos followed 'precise standards' of care

Larry Killmar, the society's deputy director of collections, said Friday that Wankie's death hit zoo officials just as hard as it did animal advocates. The transfer of any animal is stressful enough that it is impossible to predict the outcome, he said.

Those involved in Wankie's move approached it with extreme care, Killmar said, and he personally maintained phone contact with veterinarians and animal keepers who accompanied the elephant to Salt Lake City.

"There is a certain point at which the animal reaches a threshold, and you know you can't bring the animal back from that," said Killmar. "Your heart wants you to keep going, to try everything. But you know that's not what you need to do."

He dismissed the contention that the elephant deaths indicate an overall problem at the zoological society.

"That's Monday morning quarterbacking, that's what it is," Killmar said. "We're very careful, very precise about (animal) management. And when it comes to elephants, there are very precise standards in how you maintain those animals. In all these cases, those animals were maintained to those standards."

Arguments raised before

Which viewpoint is more accurate probably won't be known for several weeks.

While the Chicago zoo awaits the results of an independent necropsy of Wankie, The Zoological Society, The American Zoo and Aquarium Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have all said they are conducting investigations into the death.

Those efforts did not stop zoo critics from staging demonstrations several times last week outside the San Diego, Lincoln Park and Hogle zoos.

Many of the protesters' arguments mirrored those made when the San Diego Wild Animal Park in Escondido decided to send Wankie and her fellow herd members ---- who had lived at the Escondido park for more than 30 years ---- out of state in 2003.

Before the move, animal welfare advocates said they feared the elephants would be unable to adjust to the cold Chicago climate. Many objected to elephants being kept in zoos at all.

The relocation of the older elephants ---- one bull was sent to Texas, the three females were shipped to Chicago ---- was designed to make room for seven young African elephants imported from a Swaziland preserve to Escondido later that year. In addition to protesting the older elephants' moves, animal welfare advocates launched an unsuccessful court battle to try to stop the importation of the young herd.

Critics want changes

Those speaking out in the wake of Wankie's death include former Los Angeles Zoo animal curator Les Schobert and former Wild Animal Park employee Alan Roocroft, who joined Lambert at a news conference Thursday in San Diego. Elaborating on his position during a phone interview from his Palm Springs home Friday morning, Schobert said that his 30 years in the zoo business persuaded him that North American zoos are doing a poor job of taking care of their elephants.

He now focuses on educating the public about the need for change, he said. That includes making people aware that 37 elephants have died in captivity in the United States since 2000, Schobert said.

More than half those animals were less than 40 years old, compared with the 60 or more years elephants can live in the wild, the former curator said.

"That screams ---- it just screams ---- that we have to change the way that we're taking care of elephants in this country," Schobert said.

He includes in his tally the three elephants sent to Chicago from the Wild Animal Park. The youngest, 35-year-old Tatima, died at the Lincoln Park Zoo after she contracted a rare bacteria. Zoo officials have attributed the January death of the third animal, 55-year-old Peaches, to old age.

Schobert said he believes that the animals' relocations, the cold climate and the conditions in which they were kept were factors in their deaths. Conditions he cited include being kept in close indoor quarters during the winter.

Animal advocates unsuccessfully lobbied zoo officials to send Wankie to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee before the animal was sent to Chicago, and again when her relocation to Salt Lake City was proposed. Critics say Wankie's death makes it obvious the animal was not handled or monitored appropriately.

Zoo official: Judgment premature'

Lambert became interested in the welfare of elephants after spending two months in 1989 studying the animals in the wild in Africa. She is now trying to raise money to create a sanctuary for the animals in San Diego County.

She and other critics hold Myers responsible for Wankie's death, Lambert said, because of the zoological society's track record with elephants.

"He has not shown any compassion for animals," she said. "He has not shown any understanding or desire to understand animals or their needs. And you can't progress if the leader of the organization isn't willing to make any kind of change for the better."

Killmar said zoo officials believe those running the Tennessee sanctuary lack the expertise to care for elephants. He also noted the Zoological Society has carried out numerous animal transfers without a hitch.

The outcry from the animal advocates over Wankie's death shows they are eager to rush to judgment before the facts are known, Killmar said.

"It's very convenient for them to slam all three of these (elephant deaths) together," he said. "I completely disagree with that analysis. You had one animal die of flat-out old age, which the necropsy verified. Another died of an extremely rare microbacteria that no one with any experience in the field can say where it came from. And now we don't know the results of (Wankie's) necropsy."

Demanding Myers' resignation is uncalled for, Killmar said.

"It makes no sense here," Killmar said. "He has a very good staff that has managed the elephant program. This has nothing to do with Doug Myers."