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Posts Tagged ‘Florida’

This year’s International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos (IDAEZ) on June 11^th was an outstanding success, featuring events in 27 cities and a virtual protest that used social networking technology to circulate more than 9,000 messages about the suffering and premature deaths of elephants in zoos. Thanks to everyone for your involvement!

Elephant advocates held demonstrations from the U.S. to Canada to the UK and Spain, educating thousands of people attending their local zoos. Media reports on IDAEZ events carried our message to even more of the public. Scores of colorful banners and posters, and the 30,000 informative flyers that were handed out, opened people’s eyes to the lifetime of misery elephants endure in inadequate zoo displays.

We welcome the many IDAEZ events in new cities this year, including the Houston Zoo, Fresno Zoo, Honolulu Zoo, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Birmingham Zoo, Milwaukee Zoo and Ft. Worth Zoo.

We’re also pleased to report that events could not be held at the Central Florida Zoo and the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago because those zoos no longer have elephants! And it looks like there will be even fewer zoos holding elephants in the years to come.

The virtual protest, also held on Saturday, was a great success. This special cyber-demo allowed everyone to participate in IDAEZ by Tweeting zoos and posting enlightening messages on zoos’ Facebook pages about the physical and psychological suffering that Earth’s largest land mammals endure in cramped zoo enclosures. Rather than allow their members to read the truth, at least seven zoos shut down their Facebook pages in different ways.

IDA thanks everyone who participated in IDAEZ in person and on-line. You helped educate people around the world about the terrible plight of elephants in zoos, bringing us a step closer to ending their suffering. And we also thank this year’s celebrity supporters, Lily Tomlin, Jorja Fox and Mariana Tosca, for their commitment to helping the elephants.

You can visit www.HelpElephants.com to read more about IDAEZ and our campaigns for elephants in zoos and circuses.

Don’t forget to join IDA’s Elephant Task Force to learn what you can do to help elephants year round!

Yesterday I shared with you some of my experiences in New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina rescue.  It will never be easy for me to revisit these memories. Since Hurricane Katrina, I have been translating some of the most painful and searing memories of my New Orleans experience into paintings. While most of these pieces depict animals I rescued, this anniversary painting is different. The painting above is my reflection on the devastation of the storm, and the region’s efforts to revive its way of life.

It is a reference to the very core of Katrina. The frame is built from wooden boards I salvaged from a dilapidated building in New Orleans and then wrapped in distressed linen. I created an oxidized copper background and affixed a tattered American flag I retrieved from the flood waters of the ninth ward. I then layered the flag with news clippings and pigment mixed with actual Katrina flood water. The flag, like the region itself, is still distressed and rough around the edges but waving proudly. This flag is a survivor.

But what truly lives in my heart can be found in the lower right hand section. This sign represents one gut-wrenching rescue my team performed in the ninth ward.  It was 3 a.m. on September 12^th – nearly two weeks after the storm, and our rescue vehicle was flagged over by an NOPD officer. I thought he might ask for our credentials or force us to turn back to the emergency shelter, but instead he begged us to go into the most devastated area in the city in search of his dogs.  While he was sworn to protect the public during this time of disaster, we were the only people who could help reunite his family.

As I neared the address scribbled on the scrap of paper, the dirty water rose to my chest. When our team finally found his house our hearts sank – it was obvious that water had nearly submerged the entire structure at one point. As we broke down the door we braced ourselves for a grim scene.  Sadly, we found the remains of two dogs floating inside the home. I began searching for a third body when to my surprise I saw a large Shepherd mix balancing precariously on the two-inch ledge of a sealed window. He had obviously been perched there above the water for some time.  A wash of pure joy spread over his face when this canine survivor saw our team and the salvation we represented. Reuniting this dog with his human guardians was a proud moment that will remain with me for the rest of my life.

Through these elements this painting represents both the past, present and hopeful future of a truly remarkable place and the people and animals who survived when the levees broke.

When we look back at Hurricane Katrina, I hope we will remember this German Shepherd and those who never gave up hope that someone would come for them. There are still countless animals out there who need our help. Please think of them and support our IDA Rescue Team today.

Workers using Corexit in the Exxon Valdez Spill. Photo Credit : The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council

It’s been over a month since President Obama and the EPA gave BP 24 hours to stop dumping the toxic oil dispersant Corexit into the Gulf of Mexico. The decision was first reported in the Washington Post immediately after Congress heard testimony from BP’s own executives and scientists confirming our worst fears. Not only is this highly toxic chemical relatively ineffective against this type of crude oil, but it was now adding more pollutants to the already poisoned waters.

Numerous independent scientists have come forward to say that Corexit is really only good for public relations. This carcinogenic, mutagenic, and highly toxic chemical does break up the oil into small somewhat transparent ripples and droplets that are more visually acceptable than images of giant black tides drowning wildlife and covering beaches. What the cameras don’t see is the long term damage to delicate ecosystems that are now struggling to escape toxic tides of chemicals. According to environmental engineer Joe Taylor the sulfur and sulfuric acid based dispersant will also deplete oxygen levels under the water, killing plankton and everything above plankton in the food chain. This is not new information. Corexit has been banned for years in the UK because of the long and short-term damage to wildlife and ecosystems. The world was first introduced to Corexit in 1989 when it was used in the Exxon Valdez spill. Images of the workers during that spill spraying the chemical in hazmat suits should have been our first clue something wasn’t quit right with this chemical.

So – why at the time of this decision had BP already sprayed over 600,000 gallons of Corexit on the surface of the Gulf with another 55,000 injected directly into the oil pouring out of the ocean floor? And why, one month later, have they been allowed to dump even more? It is estimated that more than 1.4 million gallons have already been used.

Please act today to remind President Obama that this disaster could have been prevented and that he needs to restore the moratorium on all-offshore drilling in the U.S.

Baby elephant being "trained" to perform unnatural tricks.

In a major victory for elephants that will send shockwaves through the zoo industry, the St. Lucie County Board of Commissioners in Florida made it very clear that the cruel use of bullhooks on elephants is not welcome in their county. The commission today voted to allow the National Elephant Center (NEC), an elephant holding facility and breeding facility, to proceed, but it applied strict conditions that prohibit bullhooks, limit the number of elephants, and encourage the formation of an advisory committee to monitor the NEC.

The commission’s vote serves as a wake-up call for any zoo still using archaic circus-style training that relies on the bullhook, a steel-tipped device used to inflict pain and intimidate elephants with the threat of pain and violence. It’s clear that once the practice is exposed, that the public and elected officials will not tolerate the cruelty it inflicts.

IDA joined with national, state and local organizations to oppose the project, which is intended to facilitate the continued display of elephants in zoos, despite the fact that elephants are suffering and dying prematurely in inadequate exhibits. IDA program director Suzanne Roy addressed the commission, along with representatives from PETA, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida and United for Animals.

IDA will continue to monitor the NEC, as there are outstanding concerns about the facility including:

• NEC will be a breeding and holding facility that shuttles elephants in and out; such transfers are detrimental to elephants and may cause premature death
• Several of the zoos involved with the NEC have a close affiliation with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
• Ringling has stated an interest in sending elephants to NEC

Many zoos and both U.S. sanctuaries do not use bullhooks and instead employ a positive-reinforcement-only style of training that is humane for the elephants and safe for handlers. Do you know how the elephants are trained and managed at your city’s zoo? Call the zoo and ask, and then let us know the zoo’s response. If your zoo is still using bullhooks, make it clear that you oppose the use of this cruel device and urge the zoo to switch to using “protected contact” management only.

Thanks to all the Florida residents who wrote and called the St. Lucie County commissioners, opposing the project!

Photo credit 'Buckles Blog' : Josky, second from left, performing for Ringling in 1973

The elephant Josky, whose son Ned was the second elephant in history to be confiscated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), was euthanized last week at the Ringling breeding center in Florida. According to Ringling’s announcement, she suffered from “declining health” though she was only 42 years old.

Though Josky performed briefly for Ringling’s circus, she was mostly used as a breeding elephant, and she produced five babies that we know of during her life. Each birth would have been like this one, with Josky chained by three legs and handlers using bullhooks to control her every move.

Elephants’ family bonds are intense; daughters stay with their mothers for their entire lives, and sons well into their teen years. Circuses destroy those bonds, and Josky endured the trauma of having every one of her babies taken from her, likely before they were a year old and well before they would even have finished nursing

The suffering inherent in circus life is demonstrated in the histories of Josky’s babies. They all endured painful and terrifying training. That was only the beginning of the misery for Josky’s babies, including the two sons that died before her:

• Benjamin died in 1999 at age 4, while traveling with a Ringling show. He drowned evading a bullhook-wielding handler who was trying to get him out of the water.
• Nedperformed in circuses from a very young age, and was reportedly sold to his last trainer, who had a history of animal abuse, for $1. Acting on reports of his emaciated condition, the USDA confiscated him in November of 2007 and brought him to The Elephant Sanctuary. Sadly, it was too late for Ned to be helped, and he died in May of 2008.

Josky’s surviving offspring continue to suffer with Ringling and in a Mexican zoo:

• Benny, born in 1991, was passed around a number of circuses before being illegally sold in 2000 and then smuggled across the border into Mexico. Discovered performing for a circus there, he was confiscated by the Mexican authorities and taken to a zoo. Attempts to repatriate him have failed so far.
• Luna, now 26, performs with Ringling as she has for 20 years. Eyewitnesses have repeatedly reported Luna being bullhooked by Ringling handlers in recent years. She is rarely walked in public and instead driven by truck between train and arena, reportedly because she is an especially dangerous and very angry elephant.
• P.T. is not quite 8 years old. When he was five, Ringling attempted to use him in the circus but, according to a whistleblower account, he attacked trainer Joe Frisco. Ringling would admit only that P.T. “did not adapt well to life with the circus”. He has been confined to the breeding center ever since.

The sad stories of Josky and her babies Benjamin, Ned, Benny, Luna and P.T., are by no means rare among elephants used in the circus industry. Denied everything natural to them – family, room to roam, and the ability to make choices in their lives – they endure. Or, like Josky and her sons, they die before their time.

Please work with IDA to end circus’ exploitation of elephants. Send a quick email to the USDA here. And stay tuned as we continue to take action on behalf of elephants in circuses.

This blog was contributed by Deborah Robinson, IDA’s Captive Elephant Specialist.