Group Calls For End to Breeding Program After Death of Third Young Elephant in Eight Years

For Immediate Release:
November 21, 2008

Contact:
Lindsay Rajt 757-622-7382

Houston--Holding signs that read, "Houston Zoo: 14 Dead Elephants and Counting," PETA members will converge on the east entrance of the Houston Zoo on Saturday. PETA is demanding that the zoo end its elephant-breeding program after the recent death of Mac, a 2-year-old elephant born at the zoo.

Date: Saturday, November 22
Time: 11 a.m.
Place: Houston Zoo, 6200 Golf Course Dr., Houston
 
PETA points out that the Houston Zoo's elephant-breeding program has a 100 percent failure rate. None of the calves conceived by elephants at the zoo during the last 25 years are alive today, and Mac was the sixth elephant to die from the deadly elephant herpes virus. The zoo announced that Mac's mother, Shanti, is pregnant again after already losing two babies. Additionally, elephants in zoos suffer from captivity-induced foot ailments, boredom, depression, poor physical fitness, behavioral problems, and a host of other ailments.

Citing their inability to meet the significant needs of these complex animals, 14 U.S. zoos have closed their elephant exhibits or announced plans to phase them out. 
 

"Elephant-breeding programs in zoos serve no conservation purpose; no elephant born at a zoo will ever be introduced to the wild," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "How many more baby elephants have to die before the Houston Zoo learns from its mistakes?"

For more information, please visit SaveWildElephants.com.