Meeting With the Oakland Zoo

February 18, 2020

On December 16, 2019 I’d sent a letter to the City and the Zoo asking them to consider shuttering  the elephant exhibit and sending our elephants to sanctuary. The Zoo got back—to not me but a friend—anyway, it all worked out. They wanted to meet—quickly—to discuss my email and website. Scheduling though got in the way and it took till last week for us to connect.  

There were four of us non-Zoo people and five Zoo staff. 

Present from the Zoo were Colleen Kinzley, Vice President Animal Care, Conservation & Research, Nik Dehejia Executive Vice President, Erin Dogan-Harrison V.P. Marketing and Communications, Darren Minier, Assistant Director Animal Care and Isabella Linares, Marketing Assistant. 

I’d kidded with some friends that if I never came back, if I was found dead under a pile of elephant dung, you’d know who did it. In other words, I was braced for an angry mob. 

I was wrong. 

The staff of the Zoo were friendly, pretty open and candid. Especially Colleen Kinzley who, more than anyone, knows about elephants—and specifically the Oakland elephants. Colleen has been with these elephants for thirty years and if you do a bit of research on the Zoo you’ll get a sense of all she’s been through. Which is a lot. 

I did a short introduction but basically we were not there to argue or fight, was my point. We were there to find out what the Zoo’s plans were/are for the future—where is this whole thing headed? 

Colleen answered by saying she honestly didn’t know. She reflected that it’s a big question and with M’Dunda's recent death everything seemed to be up in the air. 

M’Dunda, the Zoo’s eldest elephant, collapsed at age 50 on December 3rd without any known cause. Nothing in the necropsy results so far have indicated a reason and further tests results are pending in March. 

With M'Dunda's passing the Zoo is now left with two female elephants, Lisa and Donna (in their mid 40's) and one male, Osh (in his mid 20's.) If Colleen and the Zoo thought they had another 10+ years with M’Dunda and even longer with their other elephants, they need now to adjust. 

Asking if they’ll be adding another elephant seemed to generate a similar response—-no—nothing anytime soon. All and any plans seemed to be on hold. According to Colleen, the Zoo’s most pressing focus is stabilizing the elephants currently in the Zoo's care. M'Dunda's passing has been hard on everyone, and likely hardest on the elephants whom M'Dunda lived with for so many years. Colleen did say that the one thing she’ll never do is leave an elephant alone.

On the subject of sanctuary, in the U.S. there are only two accredited options: PAWS in San Andreas and The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. According to the Zoo neither are options. Climate and potentially unsuitable elephant social dynamics came up as reasons. The elephants' also have a deep rooting in Oakland as home to them--which includes not only all their daily rituals and care but a decades' long relationship with Colleen. 

Relative to the longer view, Colleen is aware that other models do exist—and that they could potentially come to be. Elephants in Oakland...or maybe not. 

Joyce Poole is one of the top elephant experts in the world. She has a PhD in elephant behavior from Cambridge, is the founder of Elephant Voices and a Trustee at the Amboseli Elephant Trust in Kenya whom the Oakland Zoo supports through financial donations. Joyce Poole/Elephant Voices calls for zoos to be eliminated, and for expansive elephant parks in the thousands of acres to take their place. (https://www.elephantvoices.org/elephants-in-captivity-7/in-zoos.html ) She also supports the idea of elephant exhibits with no elephants (a virtual solution.) 

Joyce Poole is no stranger to the Oakland Zoo and nor are her opinions.  Colleen echoed the large parks and virtual possibilities. She said she knows exactly what Joyce Poole thinks of zoos and also that she and Joyce are good friends. 

That, to me, spoke volumes. 

I’ve been wondering for a while why animal rights groups hadn’t come after the Oakland Zoo. The Zoo’s elephants seemed to be untouchable and I didn’t understand it. Granted 6.5 acres is better than what standards require but still, 6.5 acres isn’t much compared to what elephants naturally move through in the wild. Also while the climate is compatible here the terrain isn’t vast and varied like it is in the wild. There's a goal to have them walk six miles a day but it's the same acreage and loops now for decades. They aren’t exactly moving through expansive landscapes like they are born to do. There are not scores of other elephants with whom they can be social. There are not mothers and babies and a large family structure. 

The Oakland Zoo, when compared to the wild, is a sparse and relatively lonely place for an elephant.

But as I listened I could better understand that Oakland has had these elephants for thirty plus years. Choices long ago were made and unlike a dog or cat, elephants, if cared for properly, have relatively long life spans and the horizon for change is stretched out. You live with your choices and I believe the Oakland Zoo is doing so responsibly. It is my strong impression that Colleen’s focus is not on the commerciality of the elephants but the best life possible right now for all of them. 

When the benefit of public education was raised by the Zoo, having elephants there to inspire the next generation to learn about them, to consider and empathize and gain awareness, I countered with…but at what expense?

Colleen nodded and said that every day they ask themselves that question. 

It’s not perfect—not close. And will never be for any captive elephant in a zoo—or sanctuary.

The future, as Colleen said in the beginning, is in question. Which I think is perhaps the best answer and the most honest one. On a positive note, it serves as an opportunity for us as a community to dialogue around it, to talk with the Zoo as they appear to be a willing listener. 

I proposed a quarterly meeting with Colleen to keep the conversation going and the Zoo agreed. Contact me if you’re interested in attending. These meetings will likely be limited in space so let me know quickly if you're interested. 

I personally want to give this conversation, this openness that I experienced, the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps instead of fighting with each other on opposite sides of an issue, it's actually possible for reasonable minds with varying opinions to get together and listen and understand and dialogue. 

I will also try to attend board of directors meetings which we, as the public, are allowed to do. The next one is March 18th at 4pm at the Zoo.

If you’ve made it this far, read all this, thank you so much for listening and caring. 

It is my hope you will join me moving forward.