Essays and Musings on Animals and Society

Friday, February 03, 2006

Toni the Zoo Elephant Euthanized at 40 

This will a dynamic post. I'll add to it over the next few days.

Part 1 is an excellent albeit brief blog post from An Animal Friendly Life.

Another zoo elephant develops crippling arthritis and has to be put down. As usual, the zoo takes no responsibility.

Part 2 is a sizeable excerpt from elephant veterinarian Mel Richardson, who was part of a delegation that visited Toni and National Zoo director John Berry earlier this year (all emphasis mine, except for the last one):

"On January 4, 2006 I was asked by In Defense of Animals (IDA) as well as Friends of Toni to visit the National Zoo and meet with John Berry, the zoo's new director concerning the condition of Toni, their 40 year old Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). There has been some growing concern over Toni's debilitating condition and IDA wanted my professional opinion and evaluation of her present physical state. I was chosen because of my thirty-six years experience with elephants and other animals, twenty-three years of which I have been a veterinarian, working in zoos, wildlife, and with domestic animals. IDA and Friends of Toni are asking the zoo to send Toni to The Elephant Sanctuary (TES) in Hohenwald, TN which I visited on January 3rd en route to Washington, D.C.

When I saw Toni on January 4th, 2006, I was appalled. I have never seen an elephant in such a debilitated condition. Toni is an elephant at least 2000 pounds underweight with an almost contorted posture. She moved carefully placing each foot with deliberation and consideration as to its position. Trying not to put much weight on each step...as if walking on eggs! All the while she was leaning back onto her rear quarters, obviously keeping weight off of her front legs. Her spine looked curved and her pelvis was twisted. The fact that I could see her spine, shoulder blades, and hip bones was beyond belief. I had expected her to be in poor shape; but this was more than I could have ever imagined.

After visiting Toni at her exhibit we, Joyce Poole, PHD and Petter Granli (both with Amboseli Elephant Research Project), Suzanne Roy (In Defense of Animals), Amy Mayers (Friends of Toni) and I met with John Berry, the director of the National Zoo. We all expressed our concern for Toni's condition. I told Mr. Berry that I believed Toni was suffering and if I were his veterinarian I would be discussing euthanasia with him to end her pain. We discussed the option of sending Toni to The Elephant Sanctuary (TES). I expressed my feeling that Toni may not be able to survive the move to Tennessee and the Sanctuary; but that Carol Buckley of TES would be the better judge of that due to her experience moving debilitated elephants. And if Carol felt after evaluating Toni that she could be moved, then I would support it. Mr. Berry assured all of us that Toni was receiving the best care possible at the National Zoo. He explained her condition was due to her old leg injury at Scranton Zoo and her weight loss was due to her being just a picky eater. In fact when I watched Toni in her exhibit she appeared to relish her bamboo, which was obviously placed in the yard to draw her out. He explained that the other elephants were thriving in the exhibit. I informed Mr. Berry that Ambika was also being treated with ibuprofen for arthritis according to the medical records. He was unaware of that. We ended the meeting with Mr. Berry assuring us that Toni was receiving excellent care. He articulated The National Zoo's commitment to continue to exhibit and breed elephants.

Mr. Berry's statement that Toni's condition is due entirely to her left forelimb injury at Scranton is on shaky ground. He even stated that her twisted stance was in compensation for this injury. Elephants in the wild have sustained fractured legs and even ankylosed carpal joints, like Toni. They have been seen to recuperate and go on to live almost normal elephant lives, albeit with a limp. Had Toni had access to an adequate environment with enough space to roam and a natural substrate, I am certain that she could have better dealt with her injury and would not be in such a condition as today. Toni's exhibit only allowed for exacerbation of her injury. Lack of exercise caused muscle atrophy, removing the muscular support needed to sustain healthy joints and standing on concrete increased the trauma to joint surfaces initiating degenerative joint disease while walking on sand literally rubbed down her pads, thinning her soles and increasing her pain. We will never know for sure; but I believe if Toni had been sent to a sanctuary when she left Scranton, she would not be suffering today.

In December 2005 I was given access to Toni's medical records, as well as the records of the other elephants at the National Zoo. So I was painfully aware of her medical problems: her chronic arthritis in her left forelimb caused by an old injury at the Scranton Zoo in Pennsylvania; her chronic arthritis in her right forelimb caused by shifting her weight onto the 'good' leg attempting to alleviate the pain in the left limb; chronic infected tusk sulcus (socket); chronic weight loss and inability to regain weight; hematuria (blood in urine) due to renal papillary necrosis or pyelonephritis (kidney infection). The records run from January 2000 until early November 2005. There is a trend of a chronically declining health picture. 10 Dec 2000 she was noted to be thin and body weight of 5850 pounds, 'her lowest weight since 1996.' Her last weight that I have was on 7 Nov 2005 and was noted to be 5740.4 pounds. The average weight for an Asian elephant cow is 7000 to 8000 pounds.

Prior to Toni's episode of hematuria in March of 2001 she had been on ibuprofen daily since 1997. One would assume for arthritis pain in the left or right or both front legs. The records are not clear. What is clear is the use of ibuprofen. In fact ibuprofen is not commonly used in domestic animals at all due to its toxic effects. From examining the records I am convinced the hematuria seen and treated as a kidney infection was in fact ibuprofen toxicity. The animal health staff must have strongly suspected this at the time because they immediately discontinued the ibuprofen when blood was found in her urine."

...

The First North American Conference on Elephant Foot Care and Pathology was held in Beaverton, Oregon, March, 1998. The Elephant's Foot, Prevention and Care of Foot Conditions in Captive Asian and African Elephants, (Iowa State University Press, 2001) resulted from that meeting and states in the introduction:'Foot problems are seen in 50 percent of captive Asian and African elephants at some time in their lives. ...may result in serious disability and death.' They go on to state 'There is a general consensus that lack of exercise, long hours standing on hard substrates, and contamination resulting from standing in their own excreta are major contributors to elephant foot problems. All contributors (to the meeting) also agree that prevention of foot problems is preferable to treatment.' It is important to keep in mind that elephant 'foot problems' over time will lead to debilitating arthritis and degenerative joint disease, and vice versa.

Whenever possible we as veterinarians are trained to prevent pain and suffering, not just treat it. Why are the veterinarians at the National Zoo not preventing the painful degenerative arthritis in their elephants like Toni and Ambika?? They cannot!! Because the cause of the crippling degenerative joint disease is the exhibit itself: the concrete; the packed unyielding abrasive substrate inside and outside; the lack of exercise and normal use of the elephants feet and limbs — climbing, digging, walking, wading into streams, kicking logs, and foraging. Some zoo professionals gone on record saying elephants are basically lazy and if their food is placed in front of them they will not exercise. Sounds like the American Public, myself included. Nevertheless they evolved to travel miles each day on uneven natural substrate using their feet to find and apprehend food. To keep them healthy we must provide that opportunity as well. The zoo exhibit itself is the cause of the Degenerative Joint Disease. The zoo exhibit itself is killing her. And treating these elephants like Toni and Ambika with long term, high dose NSAID [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug], in an effort to control their pain, is contributing to their agony, not alleviating it."

(The full report is here.)

Part 3:

Despite clear and repeated evidence that Toni's lack of activity was in all likelihood worsening her condition—killing her, in public statements zoo officials insisted that she was getting "the best care possible." This automatic, self-serving "she's receiving the best care" spin is the same rubbish we hear from circuses, rodeos, factory farms, any operation that exploits animals. It's meaningless and mean-spirited, and a disgrace to Toni's memory.

Part 4:

Dr. Richardson's response to zoo officials who claim that elephants just want to be lazy is right on the money. It's disgusting for zoos to boast that the confined enclosures they force on elephants are just what the elephants ordered. What an ignorant and disrespectful thing to say about elephants. Do these people really believe this crap they put out, or do they just make it up in a futile attempt to defend what they're doing to their captive animals? It's as though they're saying that all this physical activity elephants get in the wild is such a chore, and that the ideal life for an elephant would be an indoor room with a TV and a remote. It's one thing to kill ourselves with our sedentary lifestyle. It's quite another to impose that on animals who require vast acreage to be healthy. Experts who have studied elephants for decades — not zoo officials with a conflict of interest — agree: elephants need to move. It's wrong that we endanger their health and well-being by denying them that basic necessity. How dare we pretend that in forcing elephants to become couch potatoes we are doing them a favor. Way to dishonor the elephants that suffered and died from that deprivation.

Part 5:

Zoo officials frequently claim that we need to house elephants in zoos so people can appreciate them and help save their habitat. This "conservation" pitch has become the all-purpose bromide used to stave off unwanted criticism.

To these zoo officials:

Quit lying. Quit insulting our intelligence. I've been to the elephant exhibits at zoos as a child, a young adult, and a middle-ager. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity — if you want to call it that — of touring the National Zoo with a volunteer. At the disturbingly small elephant exhibit, kids and parents gawk for a short while, as they sip their cokes and talk on their cell phones. They remark, "she's funny" or "she stinks." Real deep stuff. They get bored if nothing interesting or "entertaining" happens after a couple of minutes, and move on. How are we supposed to learn, watching emaciated Toni hobble around on a sandbox, that elephants in the wild form large herds led by dominant females, or that they keep fit and strong by walking over vast areas with diverse terrain? An interactive multimedia presentation that shows how elephants really live would be ten times more effective at generating appreciation and conveying knowledge, and the presentation could end with a compassionate message: that the zoo cares enough about elephants to give them room to live, in a real elephant sanctuary like this one. The current system isn't working and it's unfair to the elephants.

Part 6 is an excerpt from a report by Joyce Poole, PhD, who has studied elephants for 30 years, on how the National Zoo treated Toni:

"Although I already knew that 39-year-old Toni had severe arthritis, I was not prepared for what I witnessed at the enclosure. In all my 30 years of observing wild elephants I have never seen an elephant as crippled as Toni."


Toni stands with her weight shifted back. Note her outstretched front legs
Almost 20 years ago, at the Scranton Zoo, Toni suffered a broken left ankle. Years of standing on concrete floors and compacted sandy soil in a small enclosure, with little exercise have exacerbated this injury, for she is now almost unable to walk. Toni shuffles along, only centimeters at a step, with her weight shifted onto her hind legs."

...

"Over the years of compensation, the muscles on Toni's left side have atrophied, and the curvature of her spine and pelvis appear deformed. Toni is extremely thin and zoo records document that she continues to lose weight.



Xala also has a broken left ankle like Toni, but has room to move and natural surroundings. She lives a near-normal life. Contrast her posture and overall look with Toni's.
I have seen a substantial number of elephants with broken and/or withered legs in the wild, all able to move and keep up with their families, either by putting weight on the injured leg, and walking with a limp, or by hobbling along on three legs. One Amboseli female elephant, 43-year-old Xala, has lived with a left ankle break (similar to Toni's) since the first day she was seen on 5th December 1973. Xala is still a healthy, vigorous female, who is able to keep up with her family, reproduce and success-fully raise offspring.

Toni's state may be extreme, however, her debilitating condition is indicative of many of the problems experienced by captive elephants and she symbolizes the dismal consequences of long-term lack of space and movement. Toni is yet one more statistic in the overwhelming empirical evidence that (contrary to recent AZA [American Zoo Association] statements) elephants do need sufficient space and social and environmental enrichment to maintain agility and good physical health.

We can only speculate about the inner emotional trauma this elephant has experienced in her life, with severe pain on a daily basis being one.

The National Zoo's elephants are all Asian elephants, a species that inhabits forest and forest-edge habitats in its natural environment. The National Zoo's barren exhibit couldn't be further from tropical forest; rather the exhibit is stunning in its bleak desert-like condition. Ultimately the zoo and its exhibit cannot escape responsibility for Toni's condition.


The National Zoo's bleak and depressing elephant habitat.
The AZA is fond of claiming that the reason for keeping elephants in zoos is that they play an educational and conservation role. Surely, having Toni and the other three elephants in such an impoverished exhibit and claiming that they are receiving 'the best' is hardly educational."

Dr. Poole's full report is here.


Photos:

Amy Mayers, Friends of Toni (Toni)
Petter Granli, www.ElephantVoices.org (Xala, zoo elephant exhibit)

Part 7:

Now that Toni is gone, the last line of Dr. Richardson's report is especially poignant:

"And if The National Zoo cannot provide appropriate habitat for their other elephants, then they should not have elephants at all."

Addendum, and a return to "An Animal-Friendly Life:"

The Bronx Zoo is phasing out its elephant exhibit.
Posted by: Gary / 12:08 AM
Comments:
Thanks. This was an extremely painful yet important diary. The tragedy is that where can these elephants live safely and freely. Zoos were once thought to protect animals.

Of course they are inhumane, even under the best conditions. But where does that leave the elephants? Sometimes it is so hard to live with the knowledge of the cruelty and mistreatment that our companions endure from us! Where will they ever be safe?
# posted by Blogger liberal elite : 2:55 PM
 
Thanks very much for your comments.

With enough private donations or - be still my beating heart - government funding, current captive elephants could live in accomodating, spacious sanctuaries with rolling hills, streams, and committed human caretakers and veterinarians.

To be honest, the first elephants I'd want to save are the ones in circuses. Then the ones from zoos, starting with the smaller zoos and northernmost zoos, where elephants may spend half the year indoors.

Theoretically, zoos could expand their facilities enormously, add the proper envrionmental enrichment and become sanctuary-like. But I won't hold my breath. Currently, almost none of them express the desire to do such a thing, and they're too locked into defending their current, rather pathetic system. The El Paso zoo, with its tiny enclosure, bitterly fought activist and community requests to relocate their captive elephants to a sanctuary. Under duress, they agreed to expand their elephant exhibit by a measly half-acre, and there is even some question whether that will be done. The zoo association, meanwhiile, looking jealous and petty, is at war with sanctuaries. There may be a handful of zoos with enough compassion, clarity, humility, independent thinking, and committment to transform themselves into facilities that put the welfare of the elephants first.

For wild elephants, as I'm sure you know, we need to preserve their habitat. Beyond that, it seems to get pretty complicated, with this intermix of local attitudes, jurisdictions, and so forth. Ultimately, we just need to be respectful and show compassion toward animals.
# posted by Blogger Gary : 3:58 PM
 
Gary, how do I contact you? I would like to use this page as a resource.
# posted by Blogger Anita : 1:07 PM
 
Anita: There is a "Talk to Me" email link on the right side of the blog, just before the archives. But feel free to use the page as a resource; no permmission needed.

BTW, I like your blog, and I am a chronic clutterer.
# posted by Blogger Gary : 1:26 PM
 
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