In Defense of Animals Expresses Outrage Over Dallas Zoo Elephant Decision

IDA Stunned That Zoo Will Export Elephant Jenny To Mexico, Away From Protection Of U.S. Laws

Dallas, Texas—International animal protection organization In Defense of Animals (IDA) today expressed outrage over the Dallas Zoo's surprise decision to send the 31-year old African elephant Jenny to the Africam Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico. Coincidentally, IDA's elephant expert Catherine Doyle and consultant Les Schobert had just arrived in Dallas to meet with the city council to discuss Jenny's fate.

"We're shocked and appalled that the Dallas Zoo is moving Jenny out of the country to a facility where she is not protected by U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws," said Doyle. "The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee was ready to accept Jenny. There is no reason to send Jenny out of the country when a world-class facility so nearby offered to take her."

At the 2700-acre Elephant Sanctuary, Jenny would share a spacious, 300-acre natural habitat with three other African elephants. By contrast, the Mexican park offers an unnatural, confining exhibit a small fraction of the size available at the Sanctuary. "Elephant experts agree that ample space is essential to the well-being of captive elephants," said Doyle. "We are dumbfounded that the zoo would choose a distant facility in a foreign country where Jenny will share 4.9 acres over a nearby facility where she could roam hundreds of acres."

IDA is calling on the Dallas City Council to ask the zoo to reverse the move, which is planned for August 1. "The City Council goes on recess July 1, and the most important thing they could do before then is to stand with Dallas citizens who demand that Jenny remain under the protection of U.S. laws," said Doyle. "We essentially have one week to convince the city to reverse the zoo's disastrous decision."

Jenny has had a traumatic and troubled stay at the Dallas Zoo. Between 1996 and 2001 she was medicated with the tranquilizer Acepromazine because of aggression and self-mutilating behaviors. Federal regulators characterized Jenny's long-term treatment with this psychotropic drug as "highly unconventional."

"After all she has been through, Jenny deserves better than to be dumped in Mexico, out-of-sight and out-of-mind," Doyle concluded.

Doyle and Schobert, the former General Curator of the North Carolina and Los Angeles Zoos are in Dallas and available for interviews today.