December 16, 2019
SUBJECT: Elephants In Oakland
Hello Oakland City Council Members, Mayor Schaaf, Colleen Kinzley and Joel Parrott from the Oakland Zoo.
I wanted to reach out and speak to a specific issue at the zoo and in our city. It is about the housing of elephants.
First off, I have the utmost respect for how the Oakland Zoo treats their animals, including their elephants. This is not a message or complaint about care. I also grieve for the recent loss of M’Dunda, our oldest elephant who died only a few weeks ago. This leaves the zoo now with three elephants remaining—Donna, Lisa and Osh. The grief that they feel, along with everyone at the zoo who loved and cared for M’Dunda, must be tremendous.
The reason for my reaching out today is because I am asking that our zoo and our city consider at this time phasing out the elephant exhibit, sending a message to other zoos and to the world (since the Oakland Zoo is a leader) that keeping elephants in zoos is not the right direction anymore. Elephants are extraordinarily large creatures, empathetic, socially complex. In order to be who they are, they need, more than anything, room.
Granted, the environment provided by the Oakland Zoo is enriched for elephants. But the fact that it is enriched—that it needs to be enriched—says something. That it’s not natural. Or ideal. It’s a compromise for an inadequate social and physical environment. The elephants have 6.5 acres at the zoo where, in the wild, the acreage literally spans into thousands and, in some cases, millions.
The argument that we need to see elephants up close to have empathy for them, to learn about and to care about them—for both adults and children alike—has been answered by an explosion of technology that allows for steep distance learning. To keep these animals in such close quarters to be able to literally see them up close, for people to take selfies and move on, etc. feels cruel and exploitative. As writer Charles Seibert said in his New York Times piece on elephant captivity, “At what point does our wonder no longer warrant another being’s wounding?”
I have been in deep meditation around this issue and have put together a website on it: www.freetheoaklandelephants.com
The same points are outlined, along with a lot more information and more depth. More recently I have become an Ele Ambassador with the sanctuary for elephants in Tennessee. Their position on the matter is that no captivity is ideal—including their sanctuary—which is thousands of acres. Nothing is better than the wild.
But to me it’s clear that there is an in between. And that making plans for our remaining three elephants to go to a venue or venues where there are thousands of acres versus only a few is better than what we have now. Perhaps then we can turn what was the elephant exhibit space into a distance learning exhibit which includes messaging on the thoughtfulness and kindness required in letting go, in taking this new path, one where we let our elephants live their rest of their lives in a space a little closer to “home” than the zoo.
In conclusion, I am asking that we as a city and as a zoo consider a new direction. That we as a sanctuary city embrace and extend that definition of kindness and empathy to all creatures that live here.
With respect to everyone here and the work that you all do for our city.
Sincerely,
Sue Levin
Oakland Resident
Resources:
Free The Oakland Elephants: http://www.freetheoaklandelephants.com
On enrichment in Zoos, Ron Kagan, Detroit Zoo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EUY-ABdHx8 (11:19 - 13:42)
The Elephant Charter. On Elephants’ Need for Space: http://www.theelephantcharter.info/index.php/11-appendix/11-principle-v-need-for-space
Zoos Called It A Rescue. But Are The Elephants Really Better Off? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/magazine/elephants-zoos-swazi-17.html
Ron Kagan, Director Detroit Zoo, on sending their elephants to sanctuary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxqslJsXPZg
Elephant Voices, from Zoos to Elephant Parks: https://www.elephantvoices.org/elephants-in-captivity-7/in-zoos.html
The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee: www.elephants.com