Tembo and Sunda Update
OK everyone—the sad news is that the Topeka City Council voted unanimously on October 23, 2012, to support the Zoo’s decision to keep Tembo & Sunda in the same inadequate enclosure until they die.
City Manager Colson started out by saying they had received 9,000 emails. He said ”We’ve been pushing back against these groups. If we believed that there was a better place, we would have recommended it. We do not have an elephant crisis. Through the process we have identified improvements we can make". (Perhaps we can take comfort in the massive support we got from around the world and that maybe these “improvements” would not have happened if we hadn’t pushed.)
Sadly, those who spoke in favor of keeping Tembo and Sunda at the zoo clearly did not understand the core issue, i.e., human beings do not have the right to keep elephants behind bars for their entire lives simply for human entertainment. The fact that Tembo and Sunda were stolen from their families in Africa and Asia as babies makes it all the more shameful that freedom has been denied to them in their final few years. Add to that the strong likelihood that their mothers and aunts were gunned down in order to capture them, and elephants don't forget such things. In fact, it has been documented that elephants can suffer from PTSD just like humans.
Brendan Wiley, the Zoo's Director, said adding one or two elephants, so that if one dies the other will not be alone, is expensive and not sustainable. Regarding an expansion, he said he would like to have a “true elephant conservation breeding and education facility”, but that he couldn’t discuss this because it would depend on so many unknown factors. He said they consulted 15 professionals (all zoo industry people mind you) and they all agreed Tembo & Sunda should stay at the Topeka Zoo due to familiarity, age and good health. They also recommended to “leave them here, but do it better". He said they will become better elephant managers, use the existing space and turn it into something better. "We have a new philosophy, i.e, respect the natural tendencies of elephants and meet their needs 24 hours a day. It is the “habitat concept” i.e., stimulate behavior while they are awake and a comfy place to sleep. We want to “allow elephants to be elephants all day long.” He said working from this philosophy would “create a foundation from which to determine the future.”
The interesting thing about the language being used is that it appears there is a growing awareness that elephants need more than just a barren cage. It is our job as activists to keep this consciousness growing among the public until we reach the tipping point where it is finally realized that zoos cannot "allow elephants to be elephants" so long as they are housed in inadequate environments such as zoos and circuses. That is not because the keepers and administrators do not care. Some do. No, it is because: (1) Zoos simply aren't large enough to provide what elephants need, and if they did, people would not be able to see them. They would be too far away, keeping their distance from the noisy crowds, and (2) Because the very word "allow" implies that we have the right to dominate and control these majestic animals and deprive them of their freedom. And in truth, we do not have that right.
Thanks to PAWS and The Elephant Sanctuary, there are now two elephant sanctuaries in the U.S. where retired elephants, if they're lucky enough to be retired from zoos & circuses, can have some semblance of the freedom and dignity they once knew. Without these sanctuaries, there would be no options for these elephants in North America except captivity and deprivation.
It doesn't look like Tembo and Sunda will know a few years of freedom before they die as we had hoped and worked for over the last five years. It is heart breaking and truly sad that those in power over these elephants could not see beyond their own selfish wants. For now, we will continue to monitor their care and visit with Brendan Wiley to observe the "improvements" to their cage.
In the meantime, our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who took the time to write, to send emails, to make phone calls and to those who showed up at all the City Council meetings and voiced your support to retire these elderly elephants.
