http://www.elephants.com/media/el_PasoTimes_7_27_05.htm

Elephants Will Remain at the El Paso Zoo

July 27, 2005

elpasotimes.com

The El Paso city council voted Wednesday not to send the two elephants at the El Paso Zoo to a sanctuary in Tennessee.

Following intense debate from advocates on both sides of the issue, the council decided to keep the elephants, Juno and Savanah, right where they are.

Some animal rights groups have been lobbying for months to have the animals sent to the Tennessee location where they say they'll have plenty of room to roam.

Earlier this week, East Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin said he hoped the elephants would remain at the zoo.

"I prefer for the elephants to be here in El Paso, and I hope people turn out to tell their city representatives if they want the elephants to stay here," he said. "Savannah and Juno belong in El Paso ... If we move the elephants to Tennessee, there's even less of a draw to go to the El Paso Zoo."

He said taxpayers have already made a large investment in the animals, paying for their daily care.

"The people of El Paso a few years ago voted on the bond election for the El Paso Zoo. If they knew we were going to send the elephants away, I don't think they would have voted the same way," Holguin said. "I can't go against the wishes of El Pasoans."

http://www.elephants.com/media/elPasoTimes_7_30_05.htm

City Council Seems to be Missing Insight

Charlie Edgren
El Paso Times
July 30, 2005

Let's see, it was the Tin Man looking for a heart, the Cowardly Lion looking for courage, the Scarecrow looking for a brain, and who was that fourth one?

Oh, yeah, it was the El Paso City Council looking for compassionate insight.

Had you been at the special meeting on Wednesday, you would know that council is still looking. The reps were there to decide whether to send Savannah and Juno to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee or to keep them incarcerated at the El Paso Zoo.

Of course, they withered in the face of money and voted unanimously to keep the elephants in their restrictive and unnatural habitat.

Money?

Oh, yes, money.

The bottom line is the bottom line and if the elephants had been sent to live out their lives peacefully and healthily at a sanctuary, it would have cut into the money taken in by the zoo.

When you pit money against animal welfare, guess what wins.

As a council meeting, it was kind of interesting and instructive in a depressing sort of way.

It was apparent that each city rep's mind was made up before the meeting ever started. That a meeting was even held was just a sop thrown to those who wished to place the elephants in a sanctuary. So at least in that sense the meeting was a sham.

A sham and a convenient stage.

Once and present East Side city Rep. Presi Ortega delivered himself of a worthy rant. He appeared to be highly affronted by the amount of e-mail he'd gotten from outside El Paso concerning the welfare of Savannah and Juno, and hotly maintained that this was El Paso's business and should be kept in El Paso.

Accelerating into high dudgeon, he decried the bad reputation El Paso was getting because of the negative news about Savannah and Juno.

The fact that El Paso earned this worldwide concern was somehow overlooked.

And apologies go to Carol Buckley, founder of the Tennessee elephant sanctuary, who was shabbily treated by East-Central city Rep. José Alexandro Lozano. Ms. Buckley, not all of our lawmakers are like Rep. Lozano.

There was a semi-clever attempt made to deflect attention from the main issue when an amendment was made requiring a study of how conditions at the zoo could be improved for the elephants.

Now, those of a suspicious bent might see this as a tacit admission that things aren't precisely elephant heaven at the zoo.

And the zoo director presented a number of ways the zoo could be made more elephant-friendly. Those of a suspicious bent might see this as a ... well, you know.

Facts presented by the "sanctuary" side were irrefutable, everything from the constant medical problems the elephants are suffering to their unnatural habitat.

It certainly wasn't council's best day and the reps have nothing in which to take pride. As one speaker pointed out, the sanctuary method of taking care of animals is the new thing, the cutting edge. On Wednesday, El Paso chose to remain stagnated in the past instead of setting an example and leading the way. We are content to be followers.

And Savannah and Juno will suffer for that weakness.

But, they're only animals.

Please write El Paso Mayor and Council and express your views about this decision.

mayor@elpasotexas.gov
district#1@elpasotexas.gov
district#2@elpasotexas.gov
district#3@elpasotexas.gov
district#4@elpasotexas.gov
district#5@elpasotexas.gov
district#6@elpasotexas.gov
district#7@elpasotexas.gov
district#8@elpasotexas.gov

Please take a moment to write Texas State Governor Rick Perry, and let him know if this decision by El Paso will affect your plans to spend tourism dollars in his state

http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact