And By 'Free' We Mean Send Him To A Reserve

There used to be a time that, beyond our natural concern for all life, we could really give a gigantic crap about elephants. They're big - That's their defining characteristic. Whoop dee doo. There's a lot of big stuff in the world. Big stuff makes humans feel small which we tend to like. But in Bamboo's case we read a rare affecting guest editorial in the Tymes once that made us care and made him more than just big. We're not sure why Woodland Park is so set on keeping this fatass in a zoo when there's a perfectly good elephant sanctuary that's ready and willing to take him in. Of course, different people have different opinions on what's best for Bamboo, but 1 acre in a zoo where he's failed to play well with others in the past vs 2700 acres at a sanctuary seems pretty clear cut. Someone somewhere must have a dollar amount attached to Bamboo that they feel represents what he contributes to ticket sales in a year. Fucking bean counters, right? They'll be at the Woodland Park Zoo presiding over a fundraiser today which some people think is a great opportunity to go make some noise about Bamboo's proper home. Go join em, they're right. Check out "Free Bamboo."

This Friday 4:30-6:30 is the rally for Bamboo the elephant (this is during the zoo's big fundraiser-that's why the time is strange) at the North entrance of the Woodland Park Zoo... Lately there's been a flurry of press about the shameful saga of Bamboo, how she arrived at the Woodland park Zoo in 1968 as a baby, spent her whole life there in one acre of land, and was unceremoniously tossed out last year when she showed signs of neurotic behavior and aggression to the baby elephant also in the acre enclosure with her and two more Asian elephants and an African elephant. At this time, the award winning Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, a 2200 acre facility that has phenomenal successes with often formerly abused ex-zoo and circus elephants, offered to take Bamboo on their own dime, providing her with care and loving attention for the rest of her life. The WPZ said no.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Dan in News on July 14, 2006 11:40 AM

Comments [rss]

THE TRUE INDIAN DRIVING ADVENT

Driving over 1000 Kilometers through Tamil Nadu with an auto rickshaw, braving the lack of traversable roads and extreme culture clashes is no small accomplishment. If this is the kind of adventure you are looking for to break out of your mundane everyday life, then let us tell you what all we can offer you.

lissener

In response to Courtney, above:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003141101&slug=zoo21&date=20060721

cas

With the recent tragic incident at the Tennessee sanctuary, with one person killed and another seriously injured by an elephant, you have to wonder what is wrong with the sanctuary and why people were in the same space as an elephant in the first place. It was my understanding that only places that used bull hooks still went in with their elephants.

Courtney

I'm not a NARNian (in fact I'd never heard of them before), but I wouldn't mind seeing a rebuttal from a WPZ employee (see above email to Dan) to this set of arguments laid out by NARN, who sound pretty damn rational to me: http://www.narn.org/FreeBamboo/zooresponses.html

Dan

Another email:

The elephant staff at WPZ has 200+ years of accumulated experience.
To suggest that their reasons for deciding that the Tennessee
sanctuary is not the best possible home for Bamboo are wholly
financial, wholly selfish, is ludicrous. These are people who have
dedicated their lives to caring for elephants. And to suggest,
further, that your personal gut feeling about one simple
factor--acreage--should trump the expertise of the people who feel
themselves personally responsible for Bamboo's longterm welfare--is
even more ridiculous.

The bottom line is that all of the experts--the elephant experts, not

the bean counters--who are familiar with all the details of Bamboo's

present situation, and her options, agree that she should not, in

fact, go the Tennessee sanctuary; that she should stay at WPZ unless

and until an even more ideal situation presents itself. These experts

are obviously not averse to the idea of moving Bamboo to another

location; they've already done so once. So to suggest that their only

motivation in not succumbing to the cynical publicity manipulation of

the NARNians is because they want to hold onto her for her earning

potential is, well, retarded.

Dan

Email received:

Dan--

I just spent a little over an hour and a half writing a response to

your well-intentioned but ill-informed Bamboo commentary, only to see

it eaten by a "proxy server error."

I wish you'd get software that would at least preserve such efforts in

the back button, like many other sites have; I don't have any more

at-work time to devote to recreating my response. I'll try to do so

later.

Meanwhile, please consider that your commentary is full of "seems" and

"must haves," and the main point of my response that we owe Bamboo

more than such cavalier speculation.

--Charley

Sorry, Charley- Ahem, I apologize, Charley, I know the comments system is hit or miss right now.