ELEPHANT MOVE--

Plan to move elephant to San Antonio decried By Scott Huddleston -

San Antonio Express-News San Antonio, Texas 04/21/2010
A California animal protection group is protesting a decision last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to move a neglected former circus elephant to San Antonio.

The group, In Defense of Animals, wants Queenie, a 53-year-old Asian elephant, in a sanctuary — not the San Antonio Zoo.

Queenie, also called Boo, is owned by Wilbur Davenport, who has been keeping her close to his home north of Houston. The USDA seized two other elephants from Davenport last year. Both were sent to the San Diego Zoo in California, which has a 2.4-acre elephant exhibit. But In Defense of Animals opposes moving Queenie to San Antonio's half-acre exhibit. Debbie Rios-Vanskike, San Antonio Zoo spokeswoman, said the zoo could receive a companion for its Asian elephant, Lucky, in the next few weeks. But the zoo, which is in negotiation with other private owners, doesn't know if it will be Queenie, she said. Animal-rights groups have called on the zoo to send Lucky to a sanctuary.

But zoo officials have said she's happy and healthy.

In a news release, Catherine Doyle, In Defense of Animals' elephant campaign director, said the San Antonio Zoo's exhibit is “unfit even for the one elephant it currently holds.”Karrie Kern, a local conservationist and CEO of U.S. operations for the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said Queenie must pass a health inspection before she's moved. But unless the zoo adds more space, shade and soft substrate to its exhibit, it won't have an adequate home for her, Kern said.“I'm not anti-zoo,” she said. “I understand they're landlocked.

But until they update their exhibit, it's not the best place for Queenie.

She needs retirement and rest.”Plans for the zoo's future elephant exhibit haven't been developed, Rios-Vanskike said. She said the exhibit meets standards of the USDA and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an accrediting agency for facilities that exhibit wildlife.“We meet AZA's highest standards for elephant care,” she said.