Tag Archives: Toni Frohoff

10 Worst Zoos For Elephants In Captivity

January 9, 2018 The Silo 1 Comment

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (Jan 9, 2018) – The shocking hidden suffering of captive elephants has been exposed today by In Defense of Animals on its respected annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos For Elephants in North America. The 2017 list reveals premature deaths, brutal breeding procedures, and flagrant violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Zoos all over the US and one zoo in Canada appear on the Ten Worst Zoos list, with Topeka Zoo in Kansas shamed as the #1 Worst Zoo for “gross neglect” of a dying elephant.

Bubbles the Elephant at Myrtle Beach Safari.

“Elephants have suffered horrendously in North American zoos in 2017,” said In Defense of Animals elephant scientist, Toni Frohoff Ph.D. “Zoos violate elephants’ rights and submit them to horrific and unnecessary abuses. Urgent action is needed to shut down the archaic zoo exhibits on this list, and retire the elephants to sanctuaries where they can live in peace.”

Elephants in zoos across North America are being subjected to barbaric bullhooks, sexual mistreatment, grossly inadequate conditions, egregious disregard for their needs, forced performances, captivity-caused health problems, unsuitable enclosures, cold climates, incompatible companions, and crushing solitary confinement.

Topeka Zoo, named worst in 2017, has a long history of violating the Animal Welfare Act. The zoo failed miserably to adequately care for Shannon, a 35-year-old African elephant who died on December 11, 2017, after spending ten brutal hours down on her side without any monitoring from zoo staff who had left for the night. Shannon had to be hoisted to her feet by firefighters the day before, after enduring a lengthy “downed” ordeal.

Topeka Zoo Director Brendan Wiley himself admitted that for elephants, “lying down for several hours can potentially be fatal, given their body mass.” On the day of her death, Wiley said on camera, “We think she was down for a total of about 10 hours yesterday and… probably about the same amount of time today.” “That’s a lot of time for an elephant to be down.”

Shannon the Elephant Topeka Zoo — Shannon the Elephant at Topeka Zoo

The zoo chose not to keep someone on site to monitor Shannon’s video feed and staff went home for the night. Given the seriousness of Shannon’s condition, the zoo’s actions were nothing short of gross neglect and blatantly inadequate care.

“The gross neglect and death of Shannon at Topeka Zoo is only the tip of an iceberg that threatens the lives of all elephants who remain there”, said Dr. Frohoff. “It should be patently obvious that a severely sick elephant must be watched closely around the clock. Not bothering to check Shannon’s video feed for over 9 hours, the night after an emergency ordeal, is inexcusable. Proper observation would have likely minimized Shannon’s suffering, and could possibly have prevented her death. At 35-years old, Shannon should have been living some of her best years, yet she was sick and died at Topeka Zoo.”

Medical records indicate that Shannon was suffering for weeks, showing signs of pain, tremors, and weakness. Topeka Zoo reports that it has now bought a new video monitoring system, which is far too little – far too late.

Shannon’s death is indicative of the longtime problems that continue to plague Topeka Zoo and its animals. The zoo has been cited numerous times for violations of Federal Animal Welfare regulations which include animal deaths, injuries, and lack of proper veterinary care. In 2013, the zoo paid a $45,000 usd civil penalty to settle charges brought against it by the USDA for at least 51 willful violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The charges included failure to provide adequate veterinary care for elephants Tembo and Sunda, including problems with their skin, feet, and nutrition.

The elephants remaining at Topeka Zoo are at risk. Asian elephant Sunda has a history of chronic foot disease caused by lack of movement and standing on hard surfaces throughout many years. Topeka’s sub-freezing winters exacerbate health problems, as the elephants are forced to remain indoors for excessively long periods with minimal exercise. Cora, an Asian elephant, who came to the zoo in 2016 with Shannon, is particularly at risk because of the health issues associated with performing unnatural circus tricks, which she did for many years before coming to the zoo.

In Defense of Animals is calling for the urgent relocation of the Topeka Zoo elephants for their safety and wellbeing. Dr. Frohoff said, “We urge Topeka Zoo and the USDA to avert further tragedy and release elephants, Cora, Tembo and Sunda to an accredited sanctuary where they can receive the professional health care they need and deserve.”

10 WORST ZOOS

1. Topeka Zoo, Topeka, Kansas

2. Pittsburgh Zoo and International Conservation Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

3. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, Omaha, Nebraska

4. Louisville Zoo, Louisville, Kentucky

5. Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon

6. Myrtle Beach Safari, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

7. Two Tails Ranch, Williston, Florida

8. St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri

9. Natural Bridge Zoo, Rockbridge County, Virginia

10. Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, Columbia, South Carolina

DISHONORABLE MENTION – Repeat Offenders

Calgary Zoo Elephant Lucy — Calgary Zoo elephant “Lucy”- image: savelucy.ca

Edmonton Valley Zoo, Alberta, Canada

Bronx Zoo, Bronx, New York

Featured image- Infant elephant at Pittsburgh Zoo by Andrew Rush/ AP

Discover the full list of the Ten Worst Zoos For Elephants in North America 2017

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 30-year history of fighting for animals, people and the environment through education, campaigns and hands-on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi.

IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048

Culture

Dolphin Hunting Season Opens In Japan

September 11, 2017 The Silo Leave a comment

Taiji, Japan – In Defense of Animals denounces the cruel dolphin hunting and killing season that officially opened on September 1 in Taiji, Japan. The hunting season, which goes until March each year, sees the brutal slaughter of hundreds of dolphins.

“The primary motivation for the hunting and killing of dolphins is the captivity industry, where live, trained dolphins fetch a much higher price than dead ones,” says Dr. Toni Frohoff, In Defense of Animals’ Cetacean Scientist. “We call on the captivity industry in the United States to stop contributing to the demand that fuels these cruel hunts.”

During the hunts, wild dolphins are driven into a cove along the coast of Taiji and held, sometimes for days, while “show-quality” individuals are selected and torn away permanently from their families. These individuals are then trained and sold to aquariums in Japan and around the world. Often, some or all of the remaining dolphins are killed and butchered for their flesh, or turned loose into the ocean where they suffer from the significant trauma of severed familial ties or in some cases witnessing the deaths of their podmates.

While demand for captive dolphin entertainment may be declining in certain places within the United States, in others the industry is attempting to gain foothold. The Mississippi Aquarium, slated for downtown Gulfport, plans on including a new dolphin aquarium.

“Promoting captive dolphin entertainment is tantamount to promoting the brutal killing of dolphins that happens each year in Taiji,” continued Dr. Frohoff. “The only way to stop these slaughters is to stop promoting captivity, which in itself causes enormous stress, suffering and premature death for dolphins.”

The quotas for this year’s dolphin hunting season in Taiji, set by Japan’s Fisheries Agency, total 1,940 individuals, including 414 bottlenose dolphins, 450 striped dolphins and 400 pantropical spotted dolphins, according to Cetabase.

All photos- Liz Carter.

IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048

Culture

Zoos Are Consumers Of Elephants Not Conservers

February 6, 2017 The Silo Leave a comment

In Defense of Animals has released its respected annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos For Elephants for 2016, exposing the shocking hidden suffering of elephants in zoos in North America. The list reveals captivity-related deaths, abuse with weapons, grossly inadequate conditions, families ripped apart, elephants torn from Africa and shipped to US zoos, elephants forced to wash cars, and even elephants found playing with a car battery.

“2016 was a shocking year for zoo elephant suffering”, said In Defense of Animals President, Dr. Marilyn Kroplick. “In our zoos, elephants’ rights are violated, they are stripped of their dignity, and submitted to disgusting abuses. We owe it to elephants to stop exploiting them. It is time to shut down archaic and barbaric zoo exhibits, and retire elephants to sanctuaries where they can live in peace.”

Zoos all over the US and one zoo in Canada appear on the worst list, with Oklahoma City Zoo shamed as the #1 Worst Zoo. Tragic captive elephant Chai was found dead outside the Oklahoma elephant exhibit on a very cold January morning in 2016, at just 37 years old. She had lost 1,000 pounds since she was shipped in from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Gut-wrenching footage reveals Chai in a severely emaciated and weak state, being hoisted on a crane after she was unable to stand up. After her death, Chai was found to have been suffering from a bacterial infection and untreated pus-filled abscesses, marking a gross failing of the zoo to provide basic animal care.

Chai’s only friend Bamboo survives her, and has since had two inches of her tail bitten off by another frustrated elephant in their prison-like pen. Bamboo has been kept in either in solitary confinement with the aggressive female, or in the occasional company of a young male; none of these circumstances constitute even reasonable social companionship. Yet Oklahoma Zoo callously describes this sad elephant inmate as doing “great”.

Chai and Bamboo are not the only victims of Oklahoma Zoo’s mismanagement. Baby elephant Malee died at in late 2015 at the age of just four. She was likely killed by the same herpes virus the zoo knew Chai and Bamboo had been exposed to.

All these tragedies may have been avoided by sending Chai and Bamboo to a sanctuary home that offered to accept the pair when Woodland Park Zoo shut down its elephant exhibit in 2014.

Shockingly, Oklahoma City Zoo is among half of all the captive facilities shamed on the Ten Worst Zoos List that are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, showing how little AZA certification stands for. In 2016, the Association’s own study found social aspects of elephant lives to be of paramount importance to their wellbeing, yet 20% of AZA accredited zoos with elephant exhibits have only two elephants. Some AZA certified zoos are even keeping highly social elephants in isolation, such as the Bronx Zoo, where Happy the female elephant is tragically separated from two other females.

Zoos are consumers, not conservers, of elephants. Captive elephants are dying faster than they can reproduce, leading zoos to steal young elephants from the wild, which destroys the elephant societies zoos claim to be conserving. Behind the scenes, zoos in the US and Canada are condemning Earth’s largest land mammals to lifetimes of deprivation, disease, despair, and early death. It is time to end our shameful exploitation of elephants in American zoos.

10 WORST ZOOS:

1. Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma

2. Natural Bridge Zoo, Rockbridge County, Virginia

3. Honolulu Zoo, Hawaii

4. Edmonton Valley Zoo, Alberta, Canada

5. Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon

6. Buffalo Zoo, Buffalo, New York

7. Wildlife Safari, Winston, Oregon

8. Pittsburgh Zoo, Pennsylvania

9. Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

10. Fort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth, Texas

HALL OF SHAME

Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford, Massachusetts

DISHONORABLE MENTION

Bronx Zoo, Bronx, New York

For the Silo, Toni Frohoff, Ph.D. For more information, please visit http://www.idausa.org/tenworstzoos2016

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 30-year history of fighting for animals, people and the environment through education, campaigns and hands on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi.

IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048 Please mention thesilo.ca when calling.

Earth

Niagara Falls Ontario Marineland Shamed As Worst Aquarium In Canada

July 20, 2016 The Silo 4 Comments

International animal protection organization, In Defense of Animals, today released its list of the Ten Worst Tanks for Dolphins and Whales in North America, with Ontario’s Marineland shamed as the worst aquarium in Canada, and second overall.

The facility is listed as having the ‘starkest contrast’ between a ‘solitary orca and beluga whale hoarding’ while Canada’s Vancouver Aquarium appears in ninth place. The Ten Worst Tanks list exposes and represents the misery and suffering of the oceans’ most intelligent and complex mammals in captivity. Whales and dolphins are subject to astonishing rates of premature death, captivity-related injuries, forced removal of babies from mothers, and solitary isolation. Many are confined to swimming endless circles in cramped tanks, deprived of healthy social groups, and forced to endure invasive reproduction techniques, polluted water, dangerous transport, and brutal exploitation of their sociable natures through “swim” and “petting” programs.

The list was selected from over 60 facilities from southern Canada to Mexico where almost 1,000 whales and dolphins are held captive for public display. “Forcing an orca to live in solitary confinement while hoarding so many beluga whales is Marineland’s tragic dichotomy, and a horrific example of cetacean captivity. It plumbs the depths in its exploitation of intelligent and sensitive animals,” said In Defense of Animals President, Dr. Marilyn Kroplick. “Even with the most modern technology, veterinary care, and infrastructure, cetaceans still suffer intensely in captivity and exhibit surprisingly high mortality rates.Please help protect dolphins and whales in the wild where they belong, by pledging to never visit facilities that imprison them.”

40+ yr old Orca "Kiska" has been in solitary confinement since 2011. — 40+ yr old Orca “Kiska” has been in solitary confinement since 2011. photo: Natalie Lucier

Marineland’s Shame: Marineland holds Canada’s last captive orca, 40 or so year-old Kiska, who was ripped away from her family and native Icelandic waters when she was a baby. Kiska has outlived at least seventeen other orcas with whom she has shared the tank over the years. She has also been used to breed for new exhibits, enduring the death of every last one of her five children at Marineland, none of whom lived longer than six years. One of them, Kanuck, was apparently separated from her prematurely and “stored” in a warehouse, where he died at age four. Since 2011, Kiska has been kept in solitary confinement, which has no doubt caused great suffering for this highly social and intelligent cetacean. The last orca Kiska knew was a male named Ikaika, who was “loaned” to Marineland by SeaWorld for breeding in 2006.

SeaWorld became “concerned about Ikaika’s physical and psychological health” and stated that Marineland was “not meeting its obligations in veterinary care, husbandry, or training.” Citing these concerns, SeaWorld successfully sued Marineland in 2011 for Ikaika’s return, leaving Kiska alone once more. Kiska’s physical and psychological condition appears to be poor. Observers point to her severely worn down teeth from self-injurious and compulsive gnawing, dorsal fin deterioration, signs of being underweight, and intermittent bleeding from her tail as indicators of greatly compromised health. Behaviorally, Kiska exhibits lethargy, self-isolation in a tiny medical pool adjacent to the main pool, and repetitive stereotyped behaviors; strong indications of severe psychological distress, depression, and despondency. Kiska is not the only animal suffering at Marineland.

CEO John Holer has also amassed approximately 46 beluga whales, five bottlenose dolphins, 28 black bears and approximately 500 fallow deer. An undercover investigation by Last Chance for Animals in 2015 reportedly exposed belugas suffering from a litany of physical ailments, including eye abnormalities, hypersalivation, regurgitation, and a condition in some of the females causing them to rub chronically against the tank until blood was visible in the water. Lacerations and deep teeth-rake marks indicating inescapable stress-related aggression from other belugas were also noted on many of the belugas. We are also concerned about signs of severe eye irritation perhaps caused by chemically-treated water.

Later in 2015, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) made a non-public finding that questioned some of Last Chance for Animals’ claims of abuses at Marineland. But Julie Woodyer of Zoocheck has filed a new complaint with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals documenting continued violations of the Captive Animal Care Standards at Marineland.

In Defense of Animals President, Dr. Marilyn Kroplick.

We urge the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to act urgently to enforce minimum standards at Marineland. Belugas have certainly not evolved for millions of years to be packed into a tank – and orcas are among the most social and family-oriented species on the planet.

10 WORST TANKS: 1. SeaWorld, San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; Orlando, Florida 2. Marineland, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada 3. Puerto Aventuras Dolphin Discovery, Mayan Riviera, Quinta Roo, Mexico 4. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, Georgia 5. Miami Seaquarium, Miami, Florida 6. Six Flags Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico 7. Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, Gulfport, Mississippi and Unnamed new facility planned by same owner also in Gulfport, Mississippi 8. Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada 9. Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 10. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois

Dishonorable Mention: Dophinaris, Scottsdale, Arizona

Honorable Mention: National Aquarium, Baltimore, Maryland

The Ten Worst Tanks list was produced over the past year by multiple cetacean experts and scientists to represent the myriad horrors faced by cetaceans in captivity. Facilities were examined and investigated in-person; through review of government records, veterinary records, and death reports; and via image and data documentation. For more information please visit: www.idausa.org/10WorstTanks

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi. For the Silo, Toni Frohoff, Ph.D.

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