DawnWatch: Alaska’s elephant Maggie to be moved — Edmonton’s Lucy soon to be alone 6/15/07
June 18th, 2007 3:29 pm by Kelly Garbato———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Jun 17, 2007 11:00 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: Alaska’s elephant Maggie to be moved — Edmonton’s Lucy soon to be alone 6/15/07
(DawnWatch subscribers: You haven’t heard from me for a few days because my dear old computer suffered a heart attack last week and is still in Intensive Care. Though he is expected to recover, I can no longer avoid admitting that it is time for him to retire. Loyal to the last, he will be back at work this coming week in order to tie up loose ends and train his successor. I will then be able to respond to the emails that have piled up over the last week or so. Meanwhile, today I will do the best that I can, without my computer’s full resources, to do a little DawnWatch catching up.)
A recent story important to many of us concerns Maggie, the elephant who lives alone at the Alaska Zoo. I first learned of her plight from a heartbreaking cover story about her, by Robert Meyerowitz, printed in the February 12 2005 Anchorage Press. The Elephant Sanctuary still has that article on its website at www.elephants.com/pr/2_17_05_AnchoragePress.htm. I strongly recommend reading it. It tells us, “In 1983, a Zimbabwe cull left five baby elephants watching on grassy plains as all the adults in their herds, all the elephants they’d ever known, were cut down around their ears.” The baby elephants were flown to the US, and Maggie was brought to Alaska to accompany the lone elephant there named Annabelle. When Annabelle died, Maggie was left alone. Because of the climate, Maggie spends much of her life inside a heated barn. When activists complained that she desperately needed exercise and should be released to a sanctuary where she would have acres on which to roam
with other elephants, the zoo’s solution was to design an elephant-sized treadmill for her.
The movement to free Maggie received renewed media attention in May this year, when twice in on one week Maggie lay down and was unable to stand up until local firefighters intervened to lift her. Finally, the Alaska Zoo Board has agreed to let Maggie go to a better facility with a warmer climate. Whether that will be a sanctuary or just a somewhat better zoo has not been announced.
The story was on the front page of the June 15 Anchorage Daily News in an article by Megan Holland, headed, “How do you pack a pachyderm?; Flying appears to be the only option for transporting 8,000-pound Maggie.”
Holland tells us:
“Last week, under mounting public pressure, the Alaska Zoo’s board of directors agreed to move Maggie to a warmer climate where she can be around others of her kind, as long as veterinarians determine she is healthy enough to make the trip and zoo staff find a suitable new home.”
We learn,
“The most likely scenario is to fly Maggie out on a commercial 747 and truck her from the airport nearest her new home, Foley said.
“There’s a lot to be done before that happens.
“First, she has to get an OK from vets who specialize in treating elephants. The Alaska Zoo will have to hire a couple and bring them up.
Then Maggie will need to be crate-trained, which could take anywhere from a few days to several months, according to the national zoo association. Maggie’s handlers likely will get her used to the crate by putting it in her enclosure, feeding her in it and letting her get comfortable.”
The move is likely to cost approximate $100,000.
The story, which discusses the dangers and difficulties of the move is on line, headed, “How do you move an 8,000-pound elephant?” at www.scrippsnews.com/node/24247.
Lawmakers and others look to letters pages barometers of public opinion, so please send notes urging the zoo to release her to a sanctuary. The Alaska Zoo should know that the world is watching. The Anchorage Daily Press takes letters at
Please be sure not to use any comments or phrases from me or from any other alerts in your letters. Editors are looking for original responses from their readers.
You can keep an eye on Maggie’s situation at www.friendsofmaggie.net/
In related news, the following letter appeared in Canada’s Friday June 15 Edmonton Journal:
“Lonely Lucy shouldn’t have to linger.
“Re: ‘Valley Zoo elephant takes maternity leave; Samantha will be gone at least five years in attempt at breeding in U.S. zoo — and may never return,’ The Journal, June 11.
“While I welcome the news that Samantha, the Valley Zoo’s African elephant, will soon be moved to improved conditions in a North Carolina zoo, the fact that Lucy will be left alone, possibly for the rest of her life, is tragic .
“Elephants are among the most social of mammals, with females spending their entire lives in stable, extended family groups. With the recent decision of the Alaska Zoo to send its lone elephant Maggie south, Samantha may soon be the most socially isolated elephant in North America.
“The zoo claims that Lucy has spent most of her life at the zoo, so it is in her best interest to stay where she is. But Lucy is a fairly young elephant, so it’s possible she could spend decades warehoused alone at the Valley Zoo. She already stands stationary a great deal of the time, periodically rocking back and forth, a sure sign that boredom and frustration have set in.
“Considering what we now know about the biology and behaviour of elephants, the zoo’s position is baffling. All elephants need an appropriate climate, space to roam and the company of other elephants. At the Valley Zoo, Lucy will have none of those.
If she is kept where she is, Lucy will soon become the loneliest elephant on the continent.
“Rob Laidlaw, executive director, Zoocheck Canada”
You can find out more at www.zoocheck.com/ and send a letter to the editor at letters@thejournal.canwest.com or rcook [at] thejournal.canwest.com (letter editor).
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.
Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts dawnwatch elephants zoos maggie alaska alaska zoo The Elephant Sanctuary Alaska Zoo Board Edmonton Valley Zoo Lucy Samantha African elephant North Carolina Zoocheck Canada Canada
