Promotion Is Dangerous and Cruel, Says Group

For Immediate Release:

October 22, 2009

Contact:

Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382

Roseburg, Ore. -- This morning, PETA fired off a letter to Dan Van Slyke, executive director of Wildlife Safari in Winston, urging him to immediately stop using elephants to "wash" visitors' cars and to adopt the progressive policy of "protected contact" with elephants (meaning that the park should stop using steel-pronged bullhooks on them). Besides the danger posed by allowing the elephants to be in close proximity to members of the public and zoo staffers, footage of the "car wash" has shown handlers prodding the elephants with steel-tipped bullhooks and digging the implements into the most sensitive parts of the animals' bodies--behind the ears and knees and in their armpits--in order to force them to obey commands. In protected contact, which is favored by experts in elephant behavior, no bullhooks or chains are used. By not adopting protected contact, Wildlife Safari is exposing its elephants, keepers, and the public to physical injury.

"Using what is basically a fire poker to force elephants to wash cars is a gimmick that you don't expect these days from a zoo that is in any way in touch with modern thinking about elephants," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Wildlife Safari should switch to the far kinder protected contact system--as more than half of U.S. zoos have done--and afford these elephants some dignity and freedom from pain."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA's letter to Wildlife Safari's Dan Van Slyke follows.

October 22, 2009

Dan Van Slyke

Executive Director

Wildlife Safari

P.O. Box 1600

Winston, OR 97496-0231

Dear Mr. Van Slyke:

On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I am writing to urge Wildlife Safari to adopt a protected-contact system for elephants, just as the park has done for the big cats and bears. By doing so--and thus eliminating the elephant "car wash" promotion--the safety of visitors and your staff and the well-being of the elephants would significantly improve. Progressive zoos everywhere have converted to the protected-contact system, a more humane method of elephant management that does not rely on the use of bullhooks or chains.

Charging visitors to have their cars washed by elephants is a gimmick that does nothing to foster respect for this endangered species. Instead of learning about the very real threats elephants face and what they can do to help, visitors come away with a cheap thrill--how are they supposed to take the plight of endangered elephants seriously? Your guests will be left with inaccurate impressions about who elephants are and how they really behave. Elephants would not willingly participate in this promotion without the circus-style coercion of bullhooks.

As you are undoubtedly aware, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) "strongly discourages" visitor-elephant interactions. As an AZA-accredited facility, Wildlife Safari should strive to uphold the highest ethical standards, and that certainly includes the elimination of forced public interactions and control by chains and bullhooks.

We hope you agree that it's time for the elephants to put down their sponges and for the handlers to put down their bullhooks. Can we please hear from you? 

Sincerely, 

Lisa Wathne

Captive Exotic Animal Specialis