The Smashing Pumpkins are currently hitting Pacific hotspots on their global tour in support of their new album, Oceania. And during their concert in the Philippines, they also supported PETA Asia's efforts to free Mali—an elephant who has been suffering for decades without companionship or sufficient care at the Manila Zoo—by offering PETA Asia space for an information table at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Mali and the Infinite Sadness

Thanks to the Smashing Pumpkins' kindness, concertgoers learned how Mali was taken as a nursing baby from Sri Lanka in 1977 and has spent about 35 years in a small concrete pen—33 of them completely alone. Following a sustained campaign in her behalf by PETA Asia, Philippine President Benigno Aquino issued a directive stating that Mali should be considered for transfer to a sanctuary after an evaluation of her health, but Manila city officials are stalling.

PETA Asia has secured a place for Mali at a sanctuary in Thailand, where she could have acres to roam, rivers to bathe in, fresh vegetation to eat, foraging opportunities, the company of many other elephants, and, of course, the care of elephant experts 24 hours a day. People attending the concert were able to sign PETA Asia's online petition right at the information table, as well as picking up leaflets and stickers to spread the word about Mali's plight.

What You Can Do

Even if you couldn't make the show, you can still help PETA Asia and the Pumpkins give Mali a smashing new life—just sign the online petition.

Mali, an Asian elephant imprisoned at the Manila Zoo, was only 3 years old when she was torn away from her mother and shipped away to live in captivity.

For more than 30 years, Mali has spent her days alone in a barren enclosure with only a small pool for entertainment and relief from the heat. Mali paces her small area incessantly or stands in one spot with her trunk to the ground. Mali has reportedly walked to the edge of her enclosure, reached out her foot in the hope of going farther, and even after feeling empty space, stepped back and repeated this movement, evidence of her boredom, loneliness, and frustration. In their natural habitats, Asian elephants have homes ranges that are between 25,000 and 60,000 hectares, but the entire Manila Zoo measures only 5.5 hectares. Even if Mali's enclosure were doubled or tripled in size, it would still be completely inadequate.

PETA Asia-Pacific has just released a report that documents Mali's bleak existence. The report includes a letter from Carol Buckley, who has more than 35 years of professional experience in the care and management of Asian elephants and who operates The Elephant Sanctuary—the largest rehabilitation and living center for former captive elephants—where she has offered Mali a permanent home.

If swift action isn't taken to save Mali and the many other animals locked up at the Manila Zoo, they may meet the same fate as Sisi—the orangutan who died of cancer last year at the facility. Please sign PETA Asia Pacific's petition requesting relief for the animals at the Manila Zoo and urge everyone you know to do the same.

Written by Logan Scherer

Photo © Rommel Manuel

Since 1981, Sisi had been incarcerated at the Manila Zoo. Although orangutans are tree-dwelling animals, Sisi was forced to live much of her life in a tiny, litter-filled concrete-and-steel enclosure. She was on display continually in a cage that was surrounded by noisy souvenir stands and food vendors, and she was provided with nothing to hold her interest, help her pass the time, or stimulate her keen senses.

Sisi's death, reportedly from cancer, is just one indication of how animals have been left in deteriorating health without veterinary care at this atrocious zoo. Because PETA Asia-Pacific remains concerned about the well-being of the surviving animals at the Manila Zoo, who all lack the space, exercise, privacy, and mental stimulation that they require, the organization has decided to send a funeral wreath to the zoo in Sisi's honor. The wreath includes a ribbon emblazoned with the message "Sisi: Suffered in Life, Peace in Death" and will be accompanied by a card calling on zoo officials to close the facility's doors.

Written by Shawna Flavell

OK, well, that's pretty much all that these four lovelies from PETA Asia-Pacific were wearing outside the Manila Zoo, but they certainly drew the crowd's attention to their campaign to improve conditions for animals at the cramped, decrepit zoo.

The animals got a little time off from the gawkers, who instead turned their attention to the bikini-wearing beauties—and the issue of cruelty to captive animals.

She may be smiling for the cameras, but this gal knows that there's no happiness for animals at the Manila Zoo.

Thanks go out to these ladies and the rest of the team at PETA Asia-Pacific for their efforts to get the Manila Zoo to shape up its act.

Written by Karin Bennett