Animal activist urges city to send Lucy to sanctuary
2007-12-21
by: Florence Lotie, Edmonton Journal
Mayor Stephen Mandel was given a stuffed elephant Thursday from an
activist who wants city council to give the Valley Zoo's biggest resident a
present in return -- a new home in Tennessee.
Tove Reece of the Voice for Animals Society said she gave the toy to Mandel to
remind council that Lucy is the only elephant at the Valley Zoo, contrary to the
Canadian Association of Zoo and Aquariums guidelines for elephant care. Reece
and fellow supporters said they want Lucy moved to The Elephant Sanctuary in
Hohenwald, Tenn., a 2,700-acre natural habitat refuge developed specifically for
elephants that have been retired from zoos and circuses. The sanctuary is
currently home to 19 elephants.
Allowing Lucy to be with others of her species with grass under her feet would
be a meaningful gesture by city council and would improve the elephant's health
and prolong her life, Reece said.
Carmen Rodwell, a Sylvan Lake woman who started her own animal rights
group last month called World Animal Voice Effect, said she was troubled by
Lucy's living conditions when she visited the Valley Zoo with her grandchildren
in August.
"I saw Lucy living in a paddock that does not have any resemblance to an
elephant habitat in any shape or form at all. She has spent many winters locked
up indoors for lengthy periods of time due to the fact that the climate is too
harsh for her to survive in," Rodwell said. "We left the zoo with a very
unsettled feeling and I knew that something had to be done to change this."
Mandel said council will take advice from zoo officials, not animal rights
activists.
"We have a great group at the zoo who love Lucy and take care of her," he said.
"The advice we would take would be from them on what is best for Lucy."
Valley Zoo spokeswoman Jan Archbold said Lucy's caregivers and veterinarians
think she is content where she is, and moving her would be detrimental and even
fatal for her.
Lucy is 32 years old and arrived at the Valley Zoo as an orphaned two-year-old.
Because she has spent her entire captive life at the zoo, Lucy has formed strong
bonds with her handlers, whom she regards as her herd, Archbold said.
The elephant has arthritis and is on a regimen to manage her condition, which
includes daily walks up and down hills to help her joints. Her handlers are also
trying to find the cause of Lucy's respiratory illness.
"We continually try to have the public understand that there is no point in
painting all elephants with one set of circumstances. It would be like saying
all blonds are this or all brunettes are this," Archbold said.
"You have to take the individual animal, look at their mental and physical
well-being as well as their mannerisms and personalities, and then you make the
best decision for that animal.
"To assume that Lucy would be better off away from all that she has ever known
in her entire life is, I think, very simplistic."
As for Lucy's living conditions, "she is in a heated barn-like structure with a
heated floor that is partially sand, which is also heated. It is not like we
have her in an ice-cube facility in the back 40. She is very well cared for."
|
