http://www.elephants.com/media/Seattle_Pi_3_21_06.htm

March 21, 2006
SeattlePi.Com
by Kathy Mulady, P-I Reporter
Original Article

Anti-social elephant couldn't make friends with herd in Tacoma.

Seven months after transferring a beloved but lately anti-social elephant from Seattle to Tacoma, zoo officials in both cities acknowledge the arrangement hasn't worked and will be terminated soon.

What that means in the short term is that Bamboo is coming home. However, the tug of war over whether the 39-year-old female Asian elephant belongs in a zoo or a spacious Southern sanctuary continues.

Bamboo was sent to Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma in August, partly because she wasn't getting along with another elephant at Woodland Park Zoo.

Tacoma wanted another elephant to add to their family, but the two female Asian elephants there haven't welcomed Bamboo into their circle, and caretakers at Point Defiance are giving up.

Bamboo will return to Seattle in the next couple of months.

"On one hand, she has been doing well here," said John Houck, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium deputy director. "She is a good-natured elephant and is doing well interacting with the staff.

"On the other hand, her interactions with the other two elephants are not at all what we had hoped for. They have rejected each other," he said. "There is some overt behavior; it is pretty clear."

When around the other two elephants, Bamboo makes noise, kicks up dirt and flags her ears out, all typical behavior when an elephant wants to look intimidating.

Woodland Park is evaluating what to do long term with Bamboo.

"She may continue to live indefinitely at Woodland Park Zoo. Or, if we find a suitable zoo that serves the best interest of Bamboo. We will consider that option. Once she arrives, our focus will be to reintegrate her into our herd," said Woodland Park Deputy Director Bruce Bohmke.

Bamboo definitely won't be going to the sprawling elephant sanctuary deep in Tennessee as some animal-rights activists were hoping.

The news dismayed members of the Northwest Animal Rights Network who want Bamboo to retire at the 2,400-acre elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald.

Last week, the group protested outside "Thrive," Woodland Park Zoo's annual fund-raising gala, to raise awareness that Bamboo wasn't adjusting in Tacoma.

"We have been down there at least once a month and she has been by herself the whole time she's been there," said Diana Kantor, president of the animal rights group.

"She paces constantly in circles, shaking her head," she said. "I am glad they acknowledge that she isn't doing well at Point Defiance, but bringing her back to Woodland Park, where her problems started, isn't going to help."

Nationwide, animal rights groups have been pushing zoos to send their elephants to sanctuaries, saying the animals kept in close confines show signs of psychological and physical stress.

There are 214 American Zoo and Aquarium Association-accredited facilities in North America. Of those, 80 have elephants. The AZA recommends that zoos have a minimum of three elephants. In their natural environments, female elephants live in fairly large, close-knit groups, while males live alone.

Woodland Park Zoo, which will again have four elephants when Bamboo comes home, is working to become one of the leading elephant breeding zoos in the country.

Five years ago, the breeding program was off to a good start in Seattle with the birth of Hansa, the first elephant born in Washington state.

That's when elephant caretakers discovered Bamboo's lack of patience with babies and very young calves. Now that Hansa is a little older, the elephants are expected to get along better.

But Bamboo doesn't get along with a female African elephant at the zoo, Watoto.

Zoo officials hope Hansa's mother will become pregnant again, but it has been slow going. Two tries at artificial insemination haven't taken. Even if the next try takes, gestation is about 22 months, giving elephant keepers some time to finding another home for Bamboo.

"With elephants, you have to look far enough out into the future," said Bohmke.

Bamboo is expected to do fine when she returns to Seattle, he said, but added there are no guarantees.

However, Bohmke is sure Bamboo won't be going to an elephant sanctuary.

"We want to get her back here," he said. "The elephant sanctuary isn't accredited. It has space, but this problem at Point Defiance has nothing to do with space."

He said while a sanctuary might be right for a former circus animal, it isn't right for an elephant in care of an accredited zoo where conservation and education are key elements.

"We have our standards, and they aren't willing to meet them" Bohmke said.

Bohmke's stance frustrates Carol Buckley, executive director of the elephant sanctuary.

"We have no intention of ever operating as a zoo," she said.

"We have wanted to bring Bamboo here since the baby, Hansa, was born," she said. "They just don't have the space or the options when an elephant isn't integrating well.

"Bamboo is not a problem elephant. She is smart and sociable. She developed neurotic behavior because of the way she was managed. If she had space to leave when she didn't want to be around the other elephants, it would be different."

Others want the elephant sent to the sanctuary rather than returned to Woodland Park, too.

Sally Gannett has a special relationship with Bamboo. In 1967, she was the little girl who won the baby elephant-naming contest. For several years after that, she was often invited to zoo events to pose with Bamboo.

Gannett said she was stunned recently to read in the zoo's online history that the elephant she named died within the year and was replaced with another, unknown to her.

Since Bamboo moved to Tacoma, Gannett has gone there to visit her.

"When I saw her, she was pacing and going around and shaking her head back and forth. I was going to go back this last weekend, but it was too sad. Even people who were just visiting her at the zoo said she looked sad."

The Tennessee sanctuary has offered to transport Bamboo and cover all the costs of her care. Gannett is convinced it's the best place for the elephant.

"I hope I can get enough interest going in the community to make it happen," she said.