Dulary Moves Home to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee

Hohenwald, TN — April 30, 2007

On Tuesday May 1, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee welcomes Dulary, an Asian elephant who is being retired from The Philadelphia Zoo. Forty-three years old, Dulary has spent her entire captive life at the zoo. She will be joining the Sanctuary’s ‘founding herd’ in the newly expanded Asian habitat. They will be the first Asian elephants Dulary has seen in many years.

Dulary is moving as a result of the zoo’s announcement that it is closing its elephant exhibit. The zoo’s three African elephants are being moved to a breeding facility in Pennsylvania.

Dulary spent the weekend getting accustomed to the Sanctuary’s custom travel trailer which was delivered to Philadelphia Zoo late last week. Dulary will be the first ‘new’ resident of the Sanctuary since the arrival of the eight former circus elephants rescued from the Hawthorn Corporation last year.

Operating on 2,700 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee, The Elephant Sanctuary has been developed specifically to meet the needs of endangered African and Asian elephants. The nonprofit organization, licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, is designed specifically for old, sick or needy elephants that have been retired from zoos and circuses. A true sanctuary, The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee is not intended to provide entertainment: resident elephants are not required to perform for or entertain the public. Instead, they are encouraged to live like elephants. As stated by Phil Snyder, former regional director of the Humane Society of the United States, "The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee represents the future of enlightened captive elephant management."

To find out more about the plight of captive elephants, and to monitor the progress of the other residents of The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee please visit our website at www.elephants.com.

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