Philadelphia Zoo Considers Costly Upgrade to Elephant Habitat

Article from Philadelphia Enquirer
May 4 , 2005

Posted on Wed, May. 04, 2005

R E L A T E D C O N T E N T
DAVID SWANSON / Inquirer Staff Photographer
The Philadelphia Zoo has plans for a $20 million, 2.5-acre spread for its pachyderms, but funding is a concern. Zoos nationwide must reexamine their elephant habitats; some are closing them.

By Julie Stoiber
Inquirer Staff Writer

The board of the Philadelphia Zoo faced a massive matter at its retreat last month: the future of its four elephants, who provide the cash-strapped institution with 32,000 pounds of star power - and whose care will cost increasingly more as the zoo world launches a landmark national effort to breed captive elephants and improve their lives.

"This is a very complex set of issues," zoo board chairman Peter Gould said in an interview. "We have not finished gathering the facts, both what we need to commit to and what our commitment would mean financially."

By midsummer, zoos must detail to the American Zoo & Aquarium Association their plans for breeding elephants and updating their habitats. The 295 elephants in AZA-accredited zoos are likely to be consolidated at larger institutions, and Philadelphia hopes to be among them.

Critics say no zoo can meet the conflicting needs of elephants, who need room to roam, and spectators who want close-up viewing opportunities.

Zoo operators are determined to try.

"There's genuine concern that we could be doing better for elephants," said Mike Keele, deputy director of the Oregon Zoo and an AZA spokesman on elephants.

That means providing the smart, gregarious creatures with larger social groups and diverse, foot-friendly space in which to roam. And better breeding plans, not just here and there through artificial insemination, but as nature intended.

"There's nothing better for elephants than to go through the full range of life experiences," Keele said. "That's how they are in the wild."

More important for zoos, a master plan will ensure a steady supply of the magnificent megafauna, a big impetus for the national movement.

"If elephants aren't breeding in captivity, they're going to be gone," Philadelphia Zoo director Alexander L. Hoskins said.

The local zoo - America's first - has plans to replace its 1940s-era elephant house and grounds with a $20 million, 2.5-acre habitat, with room for six females and a bull, Hoskins said. Construction is pegged to start around 2008.

But a shortfall in private donations funding both operations and capital projects forced layoffs at the zoo late last year, and raised concern over the elephant savanna as well as a planned bird habitat and new children's zoo. The board retreat was called to tackle a range of fund-raising issues.

"It is enormously complicated to have four major capital projects in four years and pull it off financially," Hoskins said.

One zoo board member, in an e-mail circulated to friends before the retreat, hinted that the elephants might go.

"I am doing a very informal survey among my friends to see how you would feel about visiting the zoo if it did NOT have elephants on view," wrote Kimberly C. Oxholm, who declined to talk on the record about the e-mail.

Said Hoskins: "It was her own way of exploring blue-sky issues." He said the zoo had no plans to send the pachyderms packing.

Some zoos, unable to keep up with elephant care, are doing that. The Detroit Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo have closed their elephant exhibits. Others, including zoos in Nashville; Tampa, Fla.; and San Diego, have invested millions in new habitats.

"This is a major project for the zoo world," said Gould, the local zoo's board chairman. "The role we will play is in the hands of the zoo board."

Fund-raising foots the bill for 20 percent, or about $5 million, of the Philadelphia Zoo's $25 million annual operations budget, and all its capital budget of about $10 million a year.

"Every month, we've got to raise over a million dollars," Hoskins said.

Still, the zoo doesn't want to be left in the dust on elephants, which are among the most popular animals.

Philadelphia's four elephants - three African, one Asian - are females, and their names are top-secret; trainers believe it would be confusing if visitors called to them by name. The two youngest are Africans in their early 20s, a good age for breeding.

"We're in prime time," said Andrew Baker, who oversees animal care at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Talk of increasing the elephant population at zoos makes Scott Blais wary. He is cofounder of the Elephant Sanctuary, a 2,700-acre shelter in Hohenwald, Tenn., for zoo and circus retirees and animals with behavioral and physical problems such as foot rot, a common malady of captive elephants who spend their days on hard surfaces.

"Elephants need three basic things," Blais said: vast acreage, compatible herd members, and live vegetation rather than processed food.

"I don't know a good way zoos can let people see elephants up close and meet the needs of the elephants," he said. "I haven't seen a plan that provides all the answers."

Closing elephant exhibits is not the answer, said Mark Reed, director of the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan.

"Our job and our mission is to inspire discovery, respect, and appreciation for wildlife," Reed said. "There is nothing that touches the heart more than seeing the animal itself."

Reed has made 13 trips to Africa to see elephants.

"Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people who come to the Sedgwick County Zoo will never have that opportunity, and I'm sure it's the same in urban Philadelphia," he said. "The zoo offers that connection."

Reed helped convene a January meeting in Florida at which zoo directors, including Hoskins, laid the groundwork for the elephant project.

"It's the most complex thing I've ever been involved with in my 33-year career," Reed said. "When I look back 25 to 30 years from now, if I see a whole bunch of matriarchal herds and good bull facilities, I'll know we were successful."