I don’t know where I stand on this.  Our zoo’s elephant compound is actually quite roomy, as far as compounds go, but still an elephant needs room to roam. Out zoo is also a breeding zoo, but the last baby ( Mack) died at about age one.  Elelphant experts attribute that death to a virus that also occurs in the wild.  This has happened before in other zoos as well. 

There are other zoo areas that are concerning.  The small hippo house.  The small yard for the giraffes.  And that is where I am undecided.  Zoos are educational.  If we only saw these animlas in pictures, how could we learn more about them and help protect some of them?  Many experts are studying the strange elephant virus.  If there was no elephant program, how could the study continue?

Some of these animals face extremely cruel conditions. Almost tortuous, in some cases, as we witnessed with Jenny the Elephant.

I stopped going to zoos many years ago because I couldn’t stand the way elephants and big cats were treated.  I remember going to the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL a long time ago and saw an orangatang in a cage sitting on a shelf, devoid of anything to play with or distract him.  He had an open newspaper over his head and would, on occasion, lift up the front of it for a moment and look at the visitors staring at him and then put it down again.  It was the last time I went to a zoo.  Have always felt that chimpanzees and orangs as well as gorillas were not supposed to be in cages and felt embarrassed staring at them.  There are still many zoos where animals are confined in areas too small for them with no trees, grass or bushes anywhere.  Then there are zoos that are remarkable in the plans laid out for wildlife. 

Elephants need other elephants and they need plenty of room to roam - thousands have disappeared from the wild.  Now the sale of ivory has been legalized again so the poaching will get much worse than it already is.  Pretty soon the only live elephants will be in zoos.  "Tis a puzzlement" as to what to do.  Rule number 1 is that animals in captivity should not be mistreated or allowed to suffer in any way. 

Ten years ago my hometown’s zoo sent its elephant, Bunny, to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. It was a big event—news reporters made the trip to report on Bunny’s reaction to being in the free and wild for the first time in at least 40 years (I’m not sure if she was born in confinement or not). She was given a physical examination and was in good shape, but she had sores on the bottom of her feet from standing on concrete for 40 years. Although she was well cared for at our local zoo, she was still confined. I always got depressed every time I saw her standing alone.

Bunny passed away a few weeks ago, the first of the elephants in the sanctuary to die from old age. She had made friends and enjoyed the open countryside. I am so thankful she had those ten years, as brief as they were, to enjoy life. She will be missed, but she’s an inspiration, and her story should encourage zoos across the country to do the right thing. Elephants are wonderful animals. Humans can learn much from them.