From John Goodall

Zoo among group to purchase elephant center Animal rights groups criticize the move By Shawn Clubb - Suburban Journals (St. Louis, MO) March 29, 2007 Animal rights groups are questioning a decision by the Saint Louis Zoo and others to purchase an elephant facility in Arkansas and turn it into a breeding facility. The groups claim Scott Riddle, owner of Riddle's Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary in Greenbrier, Ark., mistreats elephants. They worry he will remain part of the staff at the sanctuary, which the 10 zoos want to turn into a National Elephant Center. William Boever, director and chief operating officer of the Saint Louis Zoo, said details of the purchase are still under negotiation and are part of a confidentiality agreement. He said the facility would become a center for elephant reproduction, research and conservation. Riddle's Web site, www.elephantsanctuary.org, states that the facility is used to teach elephant care and management. Boever said it would not be used in that way after the zoos purchase it. Boever said elephants could be kept at the facility for breeding or moved to various zoos to breed if there were a recommendation under the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plans for Asian and African elephants. It also would be conceivable that older elephants could be sent to live at the center, if there were a health need, Boever said. "It just offers more possibilities when you have a facility like that," Boever said. "It would primarily be reproductive research. There are still a lot more things to be learned. "It's being looked at to do more breeding that we are not able to do with the space in zoos," he said. Margot Cavanaugh of Dogtown, who operates the Web site www.clarasvoice.org, said Riddle has a reputation in the animal rights community. "He's very much a believer in the old school tradition of training elephants with dominance," Cavanaugh said. Riddle did not return calls from the Journal. Cavanaugh, a member of an elephant-rights advocacy groups called Kinship Circle and the St. Louis Animals Rights Team, said she was told Riddle and his staff would stay on at least temporarily at the facility after the zoos purchase it. "As an elephant advocate, I think everyone out there is hoping Scott Riddle would sell his facility and leave. It doesn't look like that's going to happen," Cavanaugh said. Vernon Weir, director of the American Sanctuary Association, said Riddle's is not accredited by his organization. He said accredited animal sanctuaries don't breed, sell, trade or use their animals for commercial purposes, as Riddle's does. Weir said there are just two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the country - the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and the Performing Animal Welfare Society in California. Cavanaugh said there has been a push for several years by animal rights advocates to have zoos close their elephant exhibits and send them to a sanctuary. Weir said his concern is the zoos would place old elephants in poor health at the National Elephant Center to hide them from criticism by animal rights groups. "I tend to see this as a scheme, although I have no proof," Weir said. The American Sanctuary Association is against breeding animals for the sole purpose of keeping them in captivity, Weir said. "The breeding won't be to re-introduce them into the wild," Cavanaugh said. "They will spend their entire lives in zoos. It will be like an elephant puppy mill." Boever said the destruction of the elephants' native habitat in Asia and African make it problematic to reintroduce captive-bred elephants. Readers comment.........DJH wrote on March 31, 2007 11:19 AM:"Let's find out how the St Louis Zoo plans to purchase their portion of this property. A "breeding facility" should not even be on the zoo's agenda. The zoo states they have a successful breeding program in place. Two births have taken place at the zoo in the past 7 months. Both baby elephants have been claimed to be well and thriving. If the St Louis Zoo wants to spend money on elephants, let them IMPROVE the Rivers Edge exhibit to more realistically accommodate the needs of elephants. The current exhibit is too small and lacks natural surfaces so vital to maintain healthy feet for elephants. I don't want to see another elephant die like Clara did... from extensive exhibit-induced foot and joint disease. Personally, I would not want my tax dollars paying for a facility that would "hide" elephants that are lame, sick, or old. And, I wouldn't want my tax dollars to pay for a facility that would breed in the name of "conservation". A lifetime in captivity is not conservation, it's cruelty and exploitation."