The Toronto Zoo’s elephants won’t fly until August (at the earliest)
The Toronto Zoo’s elephants won’t fly until August (at the earliest)
For a moment, it looked as though the Toronto Zoo’s three elephants would (at long last) fly out to the PAWS sanctuary in California later this month. But it turns out, no, the zoo is still conducting a due diligence review of PAWS amid continuing debate about the presence of tuberculosis at the sanctuary. While some councillors, including Glenn De Baeremaeker and Michelle Berardinetti are optimistic Iringa, Toka and Thika will be airborne by August, we won’t believe it until the elephants are at cruising altitude, eating their in-flight peanuts. Or, more accurately, chained inside crates in their Soviet-designed cargo plane. [Toronto Star]
&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/dumbo.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_145030" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="An easier way to fly an elephant (Image: ckramer)"][/caption]
For a moment, it looked as though the Toronto Zoo’s three elephants would (at long last) fly out to the PAWS sanctuary in California later this month. But it turns out, no, the zoo is still conducting a due diligence review of PAWS amid continuing debate about the presence of tuberculosis at the sanctuary. While some councillors, including Glenn De Baeremaeker and Michelle Berardinetti are optimistic Iringa, Toka and Thika will be airborne by August, we won’t believe it until the elephants are at cruising altitude, eating their in-flight peanuts. Or, more accurately, chained inside crates in their Soviet-designed cargo plane. [Toronto Star]){kind=link}
Toronto’s elephants should not be going to PAWS. The plan to send them to Florida was much better but because a ‘celebrity’ got involved now everyone thinks PAWS is wonderful. Just because it says ‘sanctuary’, does not make it the best home. Just because it’s in California does not mean there is no snow – for those touting better weather. PAWS happily shares pictures of their elephants playing in the snow. Why a US ‘celebrity’ has any say in what happens at a zoo he has never before had anything to do with is beyond me. He wants to ‘save’ elephants, maybe he should look at elephants in the wild.
Just for the record:
1. There is no place in Florida to send the elephants. The National Elephant Centre, a breeding and transit facility, is not appropriate and is still only in the planning/ early development stages.
2. The sanctuary in California has very large (dozens of acres) enclosures of rolling grassland and woodland for the elephants to exercise in and explore. It has high quality vet care, staff on duty 24/7 (unlike Toronto Zoo or the proposed NEC) and an enormous heated barn with an elephant-sized Jacuzzi. No zoo anywhere has these facilities.
3. A US celebrity is involved because he has chosen to follow his career in showbiz with a life devoted to compassion for animals. He has the resources to support people who want to do the right thing for elephants and other suffering wildlife in captivity, and he now has plenty of knowledge about how badly many captive animals are treated. How can this be a bad thing?
It can’t be said better that just for the record said. Kudos to you and your reporting just the facts. I live near PAWS and know their capabilities and caring nature. Well said.
Well said just for the record!