No one left to delight Lucy
2007-06-12
Editorial, Edmonton Journal
It was a question being asked by youngsters across the city Monday: Won't Lucy the elephant be lonely when her roommate Samantha leaves this summer for a breeding zoo in Asheboro, North Carolina?
According to the Valley Zoo, no.
According to the head of the largest elephant sanctuary in North America, absolutely.
According to Valley Zoo spokesperson Jan Archbold, Lucy, a 31-year-old Asian elephant, "never really bonded" with the 19-year-old African orphan.
But Carol Buckley, founder and executive director of the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, said just because they weren't best friends doesn't mean Lucy won't feel a huge sense of loss as a result of Samantha's departure.
"She won't like being alone," Buckley said. "All females despise being alone."
Buckley said Samantha is off to a terrific facility in North Carolina. It is one of the very best zoos for elephants, especially Africans, which are generally far less accepting of captivity and volatile towards their human keepers. Samantha will live in a seven-acre habitat with two males and four other females.
By contrast, Lucy will be by herself in the elephant barn. The zoo plans to step up the amount of human contact Lucy receives from the zookeepers and she will continue to go for long walks around the zoo grounds. But there are no plans to find a new roommate for Lucy, and Buckley said concerned Edmontonians should worry about Lucy's mental and emotional well-being.
Lucy's physical health is also a concern due to a chronic lung ailment that has evaded diagnosis and treatment. It's one of the reasons that the zoo has no plans to send Lucy to a new home.
But Buckley said since the condition doesn't appear to be contagious (given that Samantha never caught it though they lived together in close quarters during the winter months), it shouldn't be a reason for not moving Lucy to a better home. She even mused that it could be environmental, since Asian elephants are not really conditioned to the cool dry air of the Prairies.
Says the zoo: "Samantha's absence will allow us time to review the recommendations…in the approved master plan and make a final recommendation on the future of elephants at the Valley Zoo."
That discussion and whatever decision needs to happen quickly and with only one overarching consideration - let's not forget what's best for Lucy.
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