April 5, 2007
Response to AZA Online Article dated 2/07
Original Article
The Elephant Sanctuary would like
to respond to a recent statement posted on the
American Zoological Association website.
In an
online Q&A concerning elephant conservation
http://www.aza.org/ElephantConservation/ElephantFAQ/ the
AZA poses the question "Are private elephant
ranches (also known as sanctuaries) good places
for elephants?"
The term ranch has
been misused in this analogy, so we would like
to explain why an elephant sanctuary is not a
ranch. A sanctuary and a ranch look alike on
the outside, like two library books sitting side
by side on a library shelf. Both have large spaces
on which animals live. But if you open the books,
the stories on their pages could not be more
different.
Ranches are commercial enterprises
and ranch animals are commodities—to be
used or consumed as their owner decides. That
is why ranch animals are branded and bred, ridden
or sheared, offered for sale or trade, and ultimately
skinned and slaughtered.
Sanctuaries exist to
offer their animal residents protection and refuge
from just that fate. Sanctuaries focus on the
animals' own needs--what they most need
to lead a decent and dignified life. Sanctuaries
provide security, compassion and freedom to their
residents from the day they arrive until the
day of their natural death. Although the zoo
industry might confuse a ranch with a sanctuary,
no animal would.
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