The Elephant Sanctuary, Hohenwald, Tennessee

Over the years a few elephants have become the target of animal activist concerns. These elephants include circus and zoo elephants that are ill, live alone, live in impoverished environments or other equally distressing situations.

Although the Sanctuary is willing and anxious to accept any needy Asian elephant, we cannot force the elephant's owner to release the elephant to us. In some cases, even after many months of communications, the elephant remains in a less than suitable situation. In other cases, part of the problem is alleviated by, for example, bringing in a second elephant for a solitary elephant. Sadly, this is a solution that addresses only part of the problem. The problem is compounded by having not only one elephant living in an impoverished environment, but now two elephants are living in the same impoverished environment.

Hopefully, someday, all of these needy elephants will be allowed to retire to the Sanctuary.

Below are three of the elephants we have tried to help:

Calle

Savannah

Ellen

Goodbye, dear Calle
March 7, 2004

Early this morning the San Francisco Zoo made the decision to euthanize Calle. Everyone connected with Calle in any way is devastated. There is no doubt that people will react passionately to the news and many will criticize the zoo for their decision. Regardless of your position, now is the time to be grateful that Calle is released from her pain and is reunited with her family. Don’t grieve for her, she is free. Our concern should be for those who fail to recognize that the needs of this magnificent species cannot be met in a traditional captive environment.

Tinkerbelle is the individual who is suffering the most right now. Her pain is real. She has lost a dear friend and companion. Her anguish will be obvious for some time. She needs our compassion and sensitivity, not our rage over her loss.

I sincerely hope that anyone visiting the San Francisco Zoo will be sensitive to Tinkerbelle’s fragile condition at this painful time. Her heart is shattered. She desperately wanted Calle to get better, as Calle did; neither wanted to let go. In the end the decision was not theirs to make. No matter how disheartening a loss this is, blame and judgment will not bring Calle back. Now is the time to grieve quietly with Tinker for Calle, to honor Tinkerbelle and be sensitive to her fragile condition.

Calle and Tinker’s zoo exhibit should be treated as a shrine. Bring flowers, cards and gifts and an outpouring of love and compassion for Tinker, her keepers, her vets and everyone whose lives she has touched so profoundly. Now is the time to focus only positive energy on Tinkerbelle.

Calle
Update on Calle
December 1, 1997

Difficulties continue to plague Calle. After she struck a keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo, she was temporarily relocated to the San Francisco Zoo. Upon arrival, Calle was put in quarantine. This standard 30-day precautionary measure which allows time to identify the presence of disease has stretched into a 6-month stay. What is keeping Calle confined is that she tested positive for Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, a strain of TB contagious to humans and one that has infected and killed several elephants.

Calle's isolation was a major disappointment for the people who wanted to meet her and even more devastating to another solitary soul, Tinkerbelle.

Tinkerbelle, a long-time resident of the San Francisco Zoo, lost her companion two years ago. Since Calle and Tinkerbelle are aware of the other's presence, their separation is unbearable. Being highly social animals, they need the companionship of others of their species. But this separation is in their best interest because Calle's disease is highly contagious both to elephants and humans.

Keepers have finally succeeded in administering Calle's medication. She refused every oral application they attempted, detecting and removing medication from a variety of foods. According to the general curator, the last effort was to resort to suppositories. Reportedly, Calle is accepting the medication and will continue to undergo the suppository treatment for 12 months.

TB diagnosis and treatment in elephants is a new area for exotic animal medicine. According to Dr. Dick Montali, AZA Elephant SSP pathology advisor, "Most diagnostic tests to determine disease status work reasonably well in humans, domestic cattle, and deer species but have not been validated for elephants." USDA has no formal guidelines for the diagnosis or treatment of TB in elephants but has assigned a panel to explore the task. The draft guidelines developed and distributed earlier this year are presently under revision.

Previous History.....

Thanks to a successful collaboration between the Los Angeles Zoo Association, Orange County People for Animals, and The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Calle, a 30-year-old endangered Asian elephant, may soon be able to retire and live the rest of her life in peace at The Elephant Sanctuary.

"Based on our careful consideration of Calle's special needs, a cooperative effort between the OCPA, the Zoo and The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, seemed to be a win-win situation for everyone -- especially Calle," said Manuel Mollinedo, director of the L. A. Zoo, who paid an official visit to Hohenwald on March 19 to tour the Sanctuary.

Under the collaborative effort, the L. A. Zoo has agreed to send Calle to live with three other elephants at The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald if her endowment and transportation costs can be funded. Calle is currently being held on a temporary loan basis at the San Francisco Zoo. The L. A. Zoo has accepted an offer from OCPA, an animal welfare group in Orange County, CA, to fund the entire cost of Calle's endowment and moving expenses, approximately $205,000.00. OCPA has been granted nine months to raise the money, and has already begun efforts to rally public support for this endangered Asian elephant.

Calle's Time - a Poem

Savannah

Savannah is a resident at the El Paso Zoo. When her companion, Mona, died in November of 2001, there were many who wanted her to be retired to the Elephant Sanctuary - which was very willing and eager to have her live out her remaining days in the peace and beauty of The Elephant Sanctuary with six others of her kind. The decision, however, was made to bring in another companion for her. We invite you to read the articles which relate to this story.

Free Savannah - the Voice for All Animals

Elephant "Savannah" doing well - Animal expert pleased with progress of "protected contact" system

Savannah Gets New Companion - Activitists Decry Adding Elephant

Stanton Street.Com - El Paso's Online Newspaper

Ellen

UPDATE: June 25, 2003

On May 23, 2003, C.S. MURPHY of the ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE published an article entitled "Zoo's elephants move to roomier digs. Pachyderm pad expanded to give Mary and Ellen more space"

The Sanctuary posted this article on our site until David Bailey, a representative of the paper called to demand that we remove the article from our site "by the end of business day today."

We are more than happy to oblige Mr. Bailey's request but feel the story was important enough to paraphrase for those interested in the current elephant situation at the Little Rock Zoo.

The article begins by stating "Although Mary and Ellen made it their cozy home, residing in the Little Rock Zoo's dusty elephant yard was the equivalent of living in a cramped apartment". The article went on to say that "the beloved elephants made a move that will allow them to spend their golden years in style when zoo officials released the pair into a new grassy and tree-shaded exercise yard".

Describing the expansion, which more than doubled the elephants space, as "room to roam", seems a bit of an exaggeration given the fact that the expansion only affords Mary and Ellen a cramped space no bigger than a two bedroom house. The article stated that "for Ellen, who has lived at the zoo for 40 years, the expansion couldn't come soon enough". How sad that it also was not room enough.

In the article Mary and Ellen are referred to as "the geriatric elephant couple". That is an interesting choice of words but perhaps not completely accurate since the word couple suggests that the two elephants are romantically involved. In truth they are cellmates who enjoy each others' company but their social situation is not natural or healthy.

Director Mike Blakely was quoted as saying. "We think it [the yard expansion] all worked out so well for our elephant family," Another interesting choice of words. It is unclear why he would refer to two elephants as a family. As an elephant expert he surely knows that it takes more than two elephants to constitute a family.

A NOTE FROM THE SANCTUARY DIRECTORS: Two years ago the Sanctuary was contacted by citizens of Little Rock, AR, who were interested in retiring Ellen the elephant to the Sanctuary. Many Little Rock residents petitioned for Ellen's release. They implored zoo director Mike Blakely to reward Ellen for her 48 years of service to the zoo by retiring her. He refused. Instead, he headed up a campaign which ultimately brought yet another aged elephant to zoo to share Ellen's cramped quarters.

Now, two years later, the zoo announces that they have expanded Ellen's yard by 10,000 square feet. Simply put, instead of retiring Ellen to a 200-acre Asian elephant sanctuary, they gave her a 100' x 100' expansion .

A migratory animal who naturally would wander 30 miles each day, if allowed, is being confined to an area no larger than a 2 bedroom house.

One must question the motivation of sentencing Ellen and her cellmate Mary to such a cramped space when right down the road awaits retirement with hundreds of acres and a true elephant "family".

Ellen, a 54-year-old Asian elephant has lived for 50 years in the Little Rock Zoo. Her space is small and cramped. The Elephant Sanctuary would welcome Ellen with open arms and has offered to let her retire there, but the Zoo board has not agreed to this. The following articles relate to the story of Ellen

HR 1059 Requests the City of Little Rock to Free Ellen the Elephant

From the Michael Feldman's "Whad'Ya Know" Radio Show, a Listener Writes Concerning Ellen

Little Rock Zoo Tells Their Side of the Story