TINA to be sent to another animal-abusing zoo in Bowmanville, Ontario

Animal Advocates Watchdog

In Response To: TINA the elephant - you can help her (links to many photos) *LINK* ()

Tina's transfer to Ontario irks supporters
Tennessee facility offers better treatment for ailing elephant, animal activists contend

Nicholas Read
Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun Files / Tina undergoes foot treatment from staff member at Aldergrove facility in 2000.

In a move that has outraged animal-welfare groups, the Greater Vancouver Zoo has decided to send Tina -- its ailing Asian elephant -- to the Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario, a place that trains elephants for use in circuses and movies.

Jamie Dorgan, the zoo's animal-care manager, announced Tuesday it had chosen the Bowmanville Zoo, a 17-hectare facility about 70 km east of Toronto, instead of the 1,200-hectare Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, because it would take too long to complete the necessary paperwork to move Tina to the U.S., and the wait could further jeopardize the animal's already bad health.

Tina is suffering from chronic foot problems, and the zoo says the condition is worsening each day.

Dorgan said it could take up to a year to complete the documents needed to send Tina to Tennessee, but the move to Bowmanville could happen in two to three months.

"If we wait another six months, we're worried about what Tina's health will be like."

Bowmanville has the expertise necessary to look after Tina, Dorgan said, and is confident of receive good care there. However, he said while ownership of Tina is being transferred to Bowmanville, the Vancouver zoo retains the right to send the animal to Tennessee in 18 months if it is not satisfied with the treatment in Ontario.

He also said the zoo will receive no money from Bowmanville for Tina.

Carol Buckley, director of the Tennessee Sanctuary, an exclusive refuge for abused female Asian elephants, was shocked by the zoo's decision to send Tina to Bowmanville.

At Bowmanville, she said, African and Asian elephants are kept together, which intimidates the smaller Asian animals. Males and females are also kept together, she said, which is unnatural. In the wild, she says, only females and suckling males live together, while males live solitary lives.

She says if elephants are introduced too suddenly to a strange group of animals, they can be traumatized by the experience. She also says Dorgan is wrong about the time it would take to obtain the permits necessary to move Tina across the border. She says her experience is that it takes only six weeks.

Cecile Benoit at the Canadian office the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, the agency responsible for issuing the permit, also confirmed it would take six weeks.

Michael Hackenberger, owner of the Bowmanville zoo, was not available for comment, but the Web site of the Humane Society of the U.S. indicates that fear and pain can be a fact of life for circus elephants.

"Circus training methods include beating animals with clubs and other objects [even during performances] and depriving them of food," HSUS says. "Trainers sometimes strike elephants with sharpened hooks, which can result in physical injury. Trainers resort to brutal methods to maintain a position of dominance."

Dorgan said he has received assurances from Bowmanville that Tina will not be used in circus performances, but Buckley said once ownership of Tina is transferred to Bowmanville, she doubts such assurances will mean much.

The Bowmanville zoo's Web site confirms its animals are used in an amphitheatre and are loaned routinely to film and entertainment companies for many purposes.

Last year, a Bowmanville elephant was loaned to the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg and it attacked a trainer. According to a news release issued at the time by the Winnipeg Humane Society, a Bowmanville representative flew to Winnipeg, where he purchased a whip and an electric prod from a local livestock supply company and beat the elephant in reprisal.

Buckley said even if Tina is not used in circuses, the animal would be better off staying in Aldergrove than going to Ontario.

That's because, Buckley says, the enclosures at Bowmanville are no bigger than her pen in Aldergrove, their surface is just as hard on her feet as her current surface, and the weather in Aldergrove is better than it is in Ontario.

"In the winter, it gets knee-deep in mud, so the elephants are confined indoors for weeks at a time. If they are put outside, it's freezing cold."

Canadian animal-welfare groups also reacted with dismay.

"This decision is a disaster for Tina," said Peter Fricker of the Vancouver Humane Society. "It will only prolong her suffering. It's unbelievable the zoo has defied public opinion and put Tina's health at risk."

Julie Woodyer of ZooCheck Canada said: "We're concerned about the husbandry and training methods used at the zoo. We're concerned its animals are continually rented out for entertainment and commercial use, and we worry Tina could be slotted into that category."

Dorgan said he knew the zoo was risking public ire by deciding to move Tina to Bowmanville instead of Tennessee, but stood by the decision.

"All we're worried about is Tina," he said. "If I were worried about public backlash, I'd send her to Tennessee."