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!

Several of you have shared with us responses from your senators and representatives indicating that our elected officials don’t understand that the USDA orchestrated Queenie’s transfer to the zoo rather than directing her to a facility where her needs could best be met. Likewise, the USDA appears to be successfully sidestepping the outrageous fact that Queenie’s trainer, Will Davenport, financially benefited from the agency’s deal-making, despite the fact he was found in repeated violation of federal animal welfare law.

We look at any response as a useful “foot in the door” toward getting some real help for Queenie in the form of attention from Congress. The key is to capitalize on that response.

If you have received a letter regarding Queenie from one of your senators or representatives, the next step is to follow up with a phone call to his or her office. (You can do this even if you did not receive a response!) Ask to speak with the aide who covers animal issues, and fill them in, using the following information:

• The USDA crafted a deal in which an abusive elephant trainer, who was repeatedly cited for serious violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act and faced formal charges, financially benefited , ending up $20,000 richer for it.

• Will Davenport’s violations were so egregious that the USDA seized two elephants, Tina and Jewel, in August 2009 because they were in such dire condition. Davenport also “threatened, abused and harassed” APHIS officials in the course of carrying out their duties.

• The USDA’s formal charges against Davenport resulted in $100,000 in assessed fines. But under the USDA’s settlement deal, he never paid a penny in fines and he sold his remaining elephant, Queenie, to the San Antonio Zoo for $20,000.

• The USDA claims to make decisions based on the best interest of each individual animal, yet it failed to ensure that Queenie was sent to a sanctuary where she would have received the specialized rehabilitative care she needed after decades of abuse in the circus. Instead she was sent to a zoo that lacks the space to properly care for even one elephant.

• This represents just one more example of a federal oversight agency that is far too entwined with the industry it is supposed to be regulating, and the American people are tired of it.

Queenie, imprisoned in that tiny zoo cell, is the embodiment of the USDA’s many failures to hold the welfare of its charges above the interests of the industry. Let’s use this opportunity to focus Congressional attention on her, and on the problem elephants face at the hands of the USDA. Please make your follow-up calls today!

If you need additional help in responding to your elected officials or if your senator or representative wishes to help, please contact Deb Robinson at circuses@idausa.org.

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

Watoto at the Woodland Park Zoo waiting to get out.

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.