IDA Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Oregon’

IDA has released the 2010 list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants, exposing the hidden suffering of elephants in zoos, where lack of space, unsuitably cold climates and impoverished social groupings condemn Earth’s largest land mammals to lifetimes of deprivation, disease and early death. The list is an SOS for suffering elephants and a call for mammoth change.

Visit www.HelpElephants.com for detailed entries, photos, videos and links to documents with information on IDA actions for zoos on the list, including: San Antonio Zoo (Texas), Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada), Buttonwood Park Zoo (Mass.), Central Florida Zoo (Fla.), Niabi Zoo (Ill.), Topeka Zoo (Kan.), Honolulu Zoo (Hawaii), Wildlife Safari (Ore.), York’s Wild Kingdom Zoo (Maine) tied with Southwick’s Zoo (Mass.), Pittsburgh Zoo’s ICC (Penn.). San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Calif.) earns a dishonorable mention.

And be sure to read the follow-ups on IDA’s Hall of Shame inductees, including the Los Angeles Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, Wash.), St. Louis Zoo, El Paso Zoo and Dickerson Park Zoo (Mo.).

For the first time in the seven years that IDA has been producing the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list, IDA is recognizing a zoo – the Dallas Zoo in Texas – for improvements in elephant welfare and policies that help elephants in need.

A special note about IDA’s recognition of the Dallas Zoo: IDA knows that its new exhibit is still not large enough for elephants, but we felt it was important to recognize Dallas Zoo for its improvements in animal welfare and for its beneficial policies that include taking elephants from worse situations such as circuses. For example, Gypsy was was used for rides and performances, and Kamba and Congo were forced to perform in a circus. In fact, in 2009 Kamba escaped the circus and was injured when struck by a SUV. While elephants Mama and Stumpy did not come from a circus, the Dallas Zoo enabled these older females who have lived together for 38 years to remain together, rather than being sent to separate zoos, as was their companion Ladybird in 2006. And Jenny, who is so emotionally fragile, has a companion in Gypsy. It is very important that the zoo has eschewed breeding, meaning that more elephants will not be born into a captive world that cannot meet their complex needs. Finally, the Dallas Zoo practices “protected contact” management, which is more humane for the elephants and safer for keepers.

In a perfect world, all elephants already in captivity would be living in sanctuary-like conditions and zoos would stop breeding and phase out their elephant programs. But until we see that time (and it will happen!), elephants need to be cared for. The truth is that even if all the elephants in the U.S. were suddenly released from their cages, the nation’s two sanctuaries could not accommodate them all. So we need to push hard for changes in zoos and acknowledge those zoos that are trying harder and making changes that improve elephant welfare.

As for those zoos that refuse to do the right thing and continue to provide completely inadequate conditions for elephants, you’ll see them on next year’s list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants!

After more than three years of campaigning, I am thrilled to announce that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has finally ruled to block the National Marine Fisheries Service’s killing of federally protected sea lions on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. In Defense of Animals (IDA) working with a grassroots group the Sea Lion Defense Brigade (SLDB) have organized against the state-sanctioned sea lion killing while the lawsuit that challenged the program languished in court for years. Now all that hard work has paid off and the sea lions are safe from harm!

The court said the government failed to meet the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and cannot justify killing protected pinnipeds. The sea lion predation of .04 to 4.2 percent of the spring salmon run at the Bonneville Dam could not be considered a “significant negative impact” when the same agencies allow fisherman to take up to 17 percent of the returning fish.

IDA congratulates the prevailing plaintiffs, The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two private citizens. This campaign exemplifies how different organizations, working on legal and grassroots fronts, can reach a common goal for animals.

This is a huge victory for both sea lions and salmon. We are relieved to see an end to the unethical, politically motivated killing of native, protected sea lions and we hope these agencies will now address the human-caused threats to salmon recovery – over-fishing, introduction of non-native fish, dams and habitat destruction.

Since the lethal removal program began in 2008, IDA and the SLDB have worked to protect the sea lions in the Columbia River and hold agencies accountable to the public for this controversial program. Activists organized dozens of demonstrations, met with government officials, and rallied on the steps of the Oregon capital. IDA fought a court battle to free one sea lion named “Willy,” who was misidentified by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and wrongfully removed from the river.

During the 2010 spring salmon season, IDA and SLDB launched a volunteer-based vigil near the Bonneville Dam to track government trapping and killing, and educate the public and fishermen. An RV mobile monitoring vehicle called the “Sea Wolf” kept a round the clock watch over the sea lions.

Among the core campaigners, spirits are very high right now. “I’m overjoyed at the court’s ruling,” exclaimed Bethanie O’Driscoll, one of the plaintiffs and grassroots organizers, remarked after the victory was announced. “It’s been a hard fight, but anyone who has ever looked into the eyes of a sea lion will understand why it was worth it.”

“I’m not going to miss getting up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to try to scare sea lions out of the traps,” joked Julie Farris, a dedicated volunteer who spent months on site at the dam. She reminisced about how our efforts to educate the public and even fishermen really paid off. “We made inroads with people who had thought of the sea lions as a nuisance.”

Our education efforts have set the record straight. These gregarious, intelligent sea lions are a part of the river ecosystem. They belong here as much as the salmon, and should never been killed for simply eating.

This blog was contributed by Matt Rossell, a former IDA employee.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has reported the first sea lion trap and kill of the season on the Columbia River. Named “Lionel” by students from Redland Elementary School in Portland, but known to wildlife agencies by the brand “C653,” the sea lion was trapped and killed by lethal injection on Wednesday. Sixty-four California sea lions are listed on the government’s kill authority letter and are at risk of being trapped or shot by wildlife officials. IDA is skeptical about the Oregon and Washington state wildlife agencies’ ability to correctly identify and humanely handle targeted sea lions.

Yesterday protesters from IDA and the Sea Lion Defense Brigade confronted wildlife officials responsible for the lethal removal of the protected sea lions, to voice concerns and ask questions about a plan that is misguided, has not met the criteria set forth in Section 120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, fails to accurately identify specific sea lions as required by law, and will do nothing to resolve issues that endanger salmon populations.

Fishing quotas for salmon on the Columbia River this year were raised to 16 percent from last year’s 13 percent, while sea lions at the Bonneville Dam are being killed for eating what will likely be only about one percent of the 2010 spring run. These wildlife agencies are not making sound, biology-based decisions regarding salmon recovery. And the agencies’ track record has been abysmal, with multiple incidents of malfunctioning traps and seven sea lions who have died unintentionally in state custody.

IDA just released its 2009 list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants, which exposes the hidden suffering of elephants in zoos. In its sixth year, the list highlights how confinement of these giants to tiny enclosures wreaks havoc on their physical and psychological health and leads to premature death for many. For the first time, the list includes a Canadian entry, the Toronto Zoo.

We’ve already been inundated with calls from the media from cities across North America including Honolulu, Toledo, Houston, Chicago (Brookfield Zoo) and Toronto, helping to bring attention to the plight of elephants suffering in zoos.

See the full list of zoos, plus two new inductees into the Worst Zoos for Elephants Hall of Shame, by clicking here.