Dallas, TX — After weeks of protest, the Dallas Zoo has succumbed to substantial public pressure and decided to keep Jenny, its only elephant, in Dallas, rather than shipping her to a drive-through tourist attraction in Mexico. Although sending her to Mexico clearly would not have been in Jenny’s best interest, Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute (Born Free USA) is joining other national and local animal advocacy groups in urging Zoo officials to send her to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, where she will receive the highest standard of humane care.
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“Born Free USA is calling on the Dallas Zoo to put Jenny’s needs first,” says Adam Roberts, senior vice president. “In these challenging economic times, Dallas residents don’t want some multi-million spending spree to justify keeping Jenny in the city — they want a humane solution that reflects a genuine concern for animal welfare. And that solution is The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.”
Jenny requires special handling and care and is a high-risk elephant with a serious history of aberrant behaviors at the zoo. The Elephant Sanctuary, with its 2,700-acre natural habitat refuge, is willing to take Jenny and give her the specialized care and attention she requires, in a quiet, therapeutic environment.
Other zoos across the nation, including San Francisco and Detroit, have been unable to provide elephants the level of space or care they need and have closed their exhibits and sent animals to sanctuaries.
“The time has come to give Jenny a peaceful retirement,” adds Roberts. “Sending her to The Elephant Sanctuary would teach people about real elephant conservation and the threats elephants face both in captivity and in the wild. It would show, as close as is possible in America, what life for an elephant should really be like. This is not the time for stubbornness; it’s a time for altruism. And the beneficiary of our collective altruism should be Jenny, the elephant languishing at the Dallas Zoo.”
Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute is a national non-profit animal advocacy organization working to conserve and protect wildlife in the US and globally through legislation, litigation and public education. Born Free USA is a nationally recognized leader on exotic animal legislation and a member of the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition and the Species Survival Network. More information can be found at www.bornfreeusa.org.
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