Lily Tomlin | 08/31/2008 8:03 pm

Lily Tomlin: Jenny the Elephant Still Needs Our Help

To everyone on wOw who has supported Jenny the elephant at the Dallas Zoo: Today I received the following e-mail from Margaret Morin who heads up Concerned Citizens for Jenny in Dallas. Click here to see a video of Jenny at the zoo.

Below the e-mail from Margaret is an unsolicited e-mail sent to me from a Dallas citizen, whom I have never met (cross posted with her permission). This is the tenure of the communication I’m now receiving about Jenny, who is in obvious distress at the Dallas Zoo. We know from video shot mid-August that she is repetitively swaying, a sign of stress in elephants.

-Lily

Redouble your efforts on her behalf, please. Contact the Dallas Mayor and the City Council right away and often. Urge them to retire Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. Don’t stop until they do the right thing.

-Margaret

You can find all the contact info on the updated CCFJ webpage: www.concernedcitizensforjenny.net>>

THE UNSOLICITED LETTER FROM A DALLAS CITIZEN:

From: Tiffany
Subject: Concern for Jenny the Elephant and other zoo animal’s lack of space and social care
To: info@dalzoo.org
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 8:56 PM

Hello,
I’m writing because my boyfriend and I visited the Dallas Zoo today. We were looking forward to the trip but left utterly depressed.

It was like seeing human beings kept in an elevator space for the remainder of their life.

We were horrified by the lack of space and dismal conditions for so many of the animals. Jenny the Elephant was among the best examples of this. Her confines are atrociously small for such a large and sensitive animal. We saw animal after animal in this condition.
A lama like animal was standing in it’s water pool (only a few feet by a few feet) and would not move. It was obviously incredibly hot and miserable. Lacking options, it just stood there as it’s only option. Animal after animal, lacked space and adequate confines to be content in any capacity.

I was just completely devastated. I went hoping for a positive experience and left committed to help the Concerned Citizens for Jenny, to try to get her to Tennessee.

I was embarrassed for Dallas today. I was embarrassed to be a Dallas resident.

Jenny is in obvious pain. She was butting her head into the wires of her horribly, inexcusably small space during our visit. She’s unhappy. She deserves better.

I can not imagine how the Dallas Zoo or the city of Dallas has justified this horrible treatment of such a beautiful animal. And an animal who has already been traumatized enough.

The Dallas Zoo should release all of their inadequately housed animals immediately.

There’s no other excuse or option. The Zoo would make a wonderful park. It’s nicely designed and has very attractive greenery.

It’s painfully inadequate spaces for animals though, are a complete embarrassment to the city of Dallas and all of it’s residents.

This zoo is only a trauma storage for animals, not any kind of sanctuary.

I will be collecting the contacts for city council and sending this to them as well.

In sadness for your animals,
Tiffany

——————————

What you can do:

1. Contact the Dallas Mayor
Repeatedly call, fax, and email the mayor, whether or not you live in Dallas. Politely but firmly urge him to retire Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. Civilly insist that he intervene in the Zoo’s decision to keep her in Dallas.

Mayor Tom Leppert
Dallas City Hall
1500 Marilla Street, Room 5EN
Dallas, TX 75201-6390
Main Phone: (214) 670-4054
Fax: (214) 670-0646
tom.leppert@dallascityhall.com

2. Contact Dallas City Council

If you live in Dallas, contact your city council person and urge her or him to send Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary.

Contact your city council person at: (214) 670-5111
Or go to: http://www.dallascityhall.com/government/government.html

Read more about: Animals, Jenny the Elephant, U.S., Zoo

87 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

It seems to me that people in those positions simply do not CARE about the Little Guys. Especially when they are not even in human form. To them Jenny is just another product, an attraction. Money. Perhaps someone should bring it to their attention that it’s not JUST about the animal in question, but also those who visit the zoo? Anyone with an ounce of sensitivity can SEE that Jenny is suffering. I’m sure her situation has already traumatized plenty of decent, reasonably intelligent zoo-goers and/or their sensitive children. So, what about the emotional distress that is, by extension, being inflicted upon their paying customers? Since it’s all about money to them, shouldn’t THAT at least cause them to be a tad more interested in what you/we are trying to say? Someone should go around and document the zoo-goers’ reactions to Jenny, perhaps once they’ve been educated about her actual situation (if this idea hasn’t been proposed already, that is)…

By Kryssi K on 09/13/2008 4:38 pm

e-mail alert

Thanks, Serena! We will be doing a lot of leaflet-ing in the coming days and weeks…and there will be some other events in the near future to help get the word out. The other day, I met a woman on the train who thought Jenny was dead…she had gotten her confused with the GORILLA Jenny, who died last week at the Dallas Zoo. I met a woman on the train today who thought that Jenny was fine, now that she was staying in Dallas. I gave my JENNY TALK, and several people are now better informed, and know that Jenny is NOT fine. This is about the fourth JENNY TALK I have given on the train in the past week! I have also given information to some co-workers… the fight continues!

By Ilise Lipton on 09/12/2008 9:23 pm

e-mail alert

Everyone, I just saw this on my MySpace page. I am a “friend” of Jenny’s Song on MySpace and was sent the following (I don’t think they’ll mind me sharing it in its entirety so as to get the word out to those of you who do not have a MySpace page: IMPORTANT PRESS CONFERENCE FOR JENNY/ELEPHANT ON MONDAY Body: International elephant advocate lobbies for Jenny’s release to sanctuary Respected international animal advocate and conservationist, Will Travers, will be holding a press conference to lobby city and zoo leaders for Jenny the elephant’s release to The Elephant Sanctuary. WHO: Will Travers, son of Born Free movie actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, CEO of Born Free USA and the Born Free Foundation (UK). Since 1996, Travers has been President of the Species Survival Network, an international coalition of organizations committed to the promotion, enhancement, and strict enforcement of the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Travers is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Reintroduction Specialist Group. Travers will be joined by Margaret Morin, head of Dallas-based advocacy group Concerned Citizens for Jenny. WHEN: Monday, September 15th, 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Dallas Zoo, North Lawn (off of I-35), in front of the giraffe statue “Born Free USA is calling on the Dallas Zoo to put Jenny’s needs first,” says Travers. “In these challenging economic times, Dallas residents surely don’t want to funds diverted to a multi-million dollar elephant house—a white elephant if ever there was one—when a genuinely more humane solution, that reflects the very real concerns they quite rightly have for animal welfare, already exists. That solution is The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.” “The time has come to give Jenny a peaceful retirement,” adds Travers. “Sending her to The Elephant Sanctuary would teach people about real elephant conservation and the threats elephants face both in captivity and in the wild. It would demonstrate, as closely as is possible in America, what life for an elephant should really be like. This is not the time for stubbornness; it’s a time for generosity, for altruism, for change. And the beneficiary of our collective altruism should be Jenny, the elephant currently languishing at the Dallas Zoo.” “We have consistently advocated for Jenny’s retirement to The Elephant Sanctuary since KeKe’s death, while the Dallas Zoo seems to have no consistent or clear plan to provide for her welfare,” says Margaret Morin, Founder of Concerned Citizens for Jenny. “First, the Zoo said it was keeping Jenny in Dallas. Then, it planned to ship her to a “drive-thru” tourist attraction in Mexico. Now, it is back to keeping her at the Zoo.” “The Zoo plans to let Jenny continue to eke out a miserable life in an antiquated, tiny and barren enclosure while taxpayers help fund a habitat that may or may not be suited to her needs is built at some undefined point in the future, probably years from now” adds Morin. “This is unacceptable when a home at a celebrated Sanctuary exists for her NOW. The Zoo has steadfastly refused to explain its logic—the citizens of Dallas deserve a full accounting of the Zoo’s decisions and capricious disregard for Jenny’s welfare.” Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute is a national non-profit animal advocacy organization working to conserve and protect wildlife in the U.S. and globally through legislation, litigation and public education. Born Free USA is a nationally recognized leader on exotic animal legislation and a member of the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition and the Species Survival Network. The organization also manages the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary near San Antonio, TX, home to more than 500 rescued monkeys. More information can be found at http://www. bornfreeusa. org Concerned Citizens for Jenny is a grassroots Dallas Metroplex citizens group dedicated to retiring Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary. CCFJ is unaffiliated with any other group.

By Serena . on 09/13/2008 5:53 am

e-mail alert

I just sent the following letter to The Dallas Observer (Dallas’ weekly alternative arts and politics paper): Remember Jenny the Elephant? Well, she is still suffering and her situation is about to take a hellish turn for the worse. Jenny stresses out from noise and with the introduction of new elephants. She directs her aggresssion at her companion or upon herself. The last time Jenny had a companion she didn’t like (VASHA) and there was construction going on in her enclosure, the only way the zoo could control her was to keep her restrained with tranquilizers for FIVE YEARS. Well, get ready, Jenny: they are about to bring you a new companion AND start construction on your new little four acre enclosure. That will take 18 months at the very least, and once they put you in that new area, guess what? They will continue construction all around you to complete the rest of the Savanna exhibit AND they plan to bring you two or three other new “friends” to share your new space. If you live that long. If the Zoo cares so much about Jenny, why are they subjecting her to more stress? Why don’t they do what is best for JENNY, instead of what is best for their own selfish motives? The Elephant Sanctuary’s area for African elephants is three times the size of the entire Dallas Zoo, and specializes in the gentle care of troubled elephants. The Mayor and all but one council member say it is not their problem, that Jenny’s future is up to the Zoo. Apparently when one of their departments makes bad decisions, they prefer not to interfere…they will turn away and allow the Zoo to continue its cruel and callous policies, as Jenny loses her one chance at peace, and dies in her hard, barren prison.

By Ilise Lipton on 09/14/2008 12:19 pm

e-mail alert

BTW…I have started a new “Letters to the Editor” campaign for Jenny. Below are links to our big daily paper, The Dallas Morning News, and our Weekly paper The Dallas Observer (they accept more irreverent comments). If they get enough letters about Jenny, MAYBE they will begin printing a few again! It is easy to submit letters online: Dallas Observer link: http://www.dallasobserver.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee/?department=lette… Dallas Morning News Link: http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi just fill in the form, write your letter and submit!

By Ilise Lipton on 09/14/2008 12:38 pm

e-mail alert

Ilise, Thanks for the links. I’ll try to write something and send it this week.

By Serena . on 09/14/2008 2:35 pm

e-mail alert

For anyone in the Dallas area this SUNDAY 9/21, I will be bringing Jenny leaflets to the Moonlady Autum Equinox/International Peace Day celebration at the White Rockk Lake bathhouse cultural center… and the wonderful Vegetarian/Vegan chef Jeanette Prohaska of Crosby Cafe has graciously and enthusiastically offered to display our information about JENNY. Here is more info in case you would like to come: Join Crosby at the Moonlady Autumn Equinox/International Peace Day Celebration, 1:00 - 6:00 pm this Sunday - September 21 at the Bath House Cultural Center! Crosby will be providing delicious vegetarian fare in the lobby (see our menu below). Festival goers will enjoy a variety of events including a yoga class held on the shore of White Rock Lake, an Autumn Equinox ceremony, a variety of vendors including jewelry makers and even a henna tattoo artist. Highlighting the fair is The Seer Show complete with a metaphysical comedian and after-life medium. The Bath House Cultural Center is located at 521 E Lawther Drive, on the eastern shore of White Rock Lake at the end of Northcliff Drive off of Buckner Blvd in Dallas.

By Ilise Lipton on 09/19/2008 9:12 am

e-mail alert

Ilise Lipton ……… STELLAR! INSPIRING! “GO-JENNY-GO”!

By Linda Clark on 09/20/2008 2:01 pm

e-mail alert

Lily, loved seeing Ernestine and some of the Laugh In gang on the Emmys tonite!

By Dorothy Phillips on 09/21/2008 11:16 pm

e-mail alert

In honor of Elephant Appreciation Day, September 22, mail a card to Jenny at the: Dallas Zoo ATTN: Jenny the Elephant 650 South R. L. Thornton Fwy Dallas, TX 75203 Annual Elephant Appreciation Day is September 22 (http://www.himandus.net/elephanteria/eday/main_eday.html) In my card I thanked Jenny for her 22 years of services & expressed my hope that she would be transferred to TES. What a beautiful way to show our appreciation for Jenny the Elephant! Thanks Y’all!

By Dorothy Phillips on 09/22/2008 11:30 am

e-mail alert

If you are going to be in Dallas next week, guess who is comin’ to town???? None other than Elephant Jenny’s special hero, the wonderful Lily Tomlin! Lily will be in town to speak to City Council and to perform at the IMPROV in Addison (just North of Dallas), on Jenny’s behalf! We can’t wait!!!

By Ilise Lipton on 10/09/2008 8:20 pm

e-mail alert

Hello everyone! Lily Tomlin spoke before Dallas City Council yesterday and she was BRILLIANT! She has done so much to draw the spotlight back onto Jenny and her miserable existence at the zoo. What an incredible, caring person she is! I am looking forward to Lily’s performance tonight (THURS 10/16) at the Addison Improv! Lily is my hero!

By Ilise Lipton on 10/16/2008 9:56 am