Submit your Nominations for the 2005 Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants List

Great idea. Very good way to raise awarness to the issues that elephants face in concrete captivity.

From the article below. Or, what to look for in order for a zoo to qualify as one of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2005

"Do they spend their lives on concrete and hard
surfaces? Are they kept in a wee enclosure better suited for a bathroom than
an elephant exhibit? Has your zoo had a spate of elephant deaths related to
their captive environment? Does your zoo have a solitary elephant? If you
can answer yes to any of these questions, your zoo is eligible for IDA's
"Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" in 2005 list."

Read on....

Nominations can be made at www.helpelephants.com/nominate_worst.html.


IDA Invites Nominations for 2005 Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants


Mill Valley, Calif.-After landing spots on In Defense of Animals' (IDA's)
2004 "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" list, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo lost
its remaining two elephants to premature deaths directly related to
captivity; Philadelphia Zoo came under fire for its antiquated, inadequate
elephant enclosure; and El Paso Zoo underwent a media maelstrom with the
community calling for the elephants at the Zoo to be sent to a sanctuary and
the enclosure shut down permanently.



Now IDA is inviting members of the public to submit nominations for the 2005
"Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" list. "Do the elephants at your local zoo bob
and sway unnaturally?" the group asks on its web site,
www.HelpElephants.com. "Do they spend their lives on concrete and hard
surfaces? Are they kept in a wee enclosure better suited for a bathroom than
an elephant exhibit? Has your zoo had a spate of elephant deaths related to
their captive environment? Does your zoo have a solitary elephant? If you
can answer yes to any of these questions, your zoo is eligible for IDA's
"Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" in 2005 list."



Elephants are highly complex, social animals. In the wild, they live in
extended family groups. They form lifelong bonds and females stay with their
mothers, aunts, sisters and other female relatives for their entire lives.
Males stay with their mothers for up to fifteen years. These intelligent
animals can travel more than thirty miles a day, which is necessary for good
foot and joint health.

Today's zoos are unable to meet the physical, psychological and social needs
of elephants. Forced to stand for long periods on hard, compacted soil and
concrete is causing elephants in zoos to die prematurely. In the last year
alone ten elephants have died in U.S. zoos. Of those, seven were under age
forty. Elephants in the wild can live to be seventy years or older.
According to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association elephants in U.S.
zoos die on average at thirty-four years old.



IDA is hoping to call public attention to the plight of elephants in zoos
that land on this less-than-prestigious list. IDA hopes to convince zoos to
put the physical and psychological needs of elephants ahead of business
interests by closing elephant exhibits and sending elephants to a more
naturalistic environment, such as that offered by two U.S. sanctuaries --
the Performing Animal Welfare Society in California and The Elephant
Sanctuary in Tennessee. In the last year, two U.S. zoos in San Francisco and
Detroit have done just that.


Nominations can be made at www.helpelephants.com/nominate_worst.html.