We hosted Nancy Farnam from Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants, who told us the history of the elephants’ imprisonment and the need for their release to the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. 

12 people came out Chaco Canyon for this Animal Rights Meetup, including Elizabeth, Bryan, David, Sri, Hol and her family, Brandon, and Rachel. As Elizabeth said afterward, “The right thing to do is obvious. That doesn’t mean it will be done.”

We also addressed the following questions:

♣Zoo Curator Nancy Hawkes says zoo animals are “ambassadors for what is going on in the wild and without them, out of sight out of mind. People will not care about them as much as they will if they have that kind of one-on-one experience that we can provide here.” Do you agree?

♥Is it impossible to tell whether elephants are happy in zoos? In the wild, elephants also face difficult circumstances, such as destruction of their habitat and diminishing numbers. Are zoos simply giving animals the best life they can?

♦What does viewing animals in zoos teach people about our relationship to wild animals?

♣Are zoos primarily for people’s entertainment, or do they promote conservation by preserving habitat and protecting endangered animals?

♥What is the difference between zoos and animal sanctuaries?

*Recommended reading/listening: KUOW’s “Woodland Park Zoo and Its Critics Debate What is Best for the Elephants”

The Seattle Center was packed with moving masses of people carrying plates of food to and fro. New volunteer Katrina from the Animal Rights Meetup came out and rocked the party with her down-pat hospitality skills, handing out Veg Restaurant Guides and Even If You Like Meat pamphlets like a natural. Rachel got a spot on the other side of the EMP, and I threw myself into the middle of the crowd deep inside the festival near the “REPENT, YOU SINNERS!” folks.

I heard more “I LIKE MEAT!” comments from passersby than usual, but to me this indicates something interesting. If someone finds a free vegetarian restaurant guide threatening enough that they feel compelled to defend their eating style with a shout like that, are they truly confident about their meat eating? Or are they announcing to all around that their only reason for continuing to participate in animal cruelty, environmental destruction, and courtship with health problems is the fairly trivial reason that they “like meat”?

Over 50 animal activists and Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants stood outside on a sunny Friday afternoon to be a presence for the elephants at the same time as the zoo’s Jungle Party their largest fundraiser of the year. We asked donors not to donate to the zoo until the elephants are freed to the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary.           As Elizabeth said, “It was an opportunity to make others think about thier actions without being too in-your-face. I hope we made some of the big money contributors think!”

   What a great chance to get the truth out about these elephants’ lives behind bars, so far away from their original homes. Such great people showed up to stand up for these elephants. 

Elephants Chai, Bamboo, and Watoto spend 18 hours per day locked in a 18′ X 23′ room. But in the wild, the planet’s largest land mammal normally needs to walk 10 – 30 miles a day for their physical and mental health. Captive elephants tend to live about half their natural lifespan in zoos. Chai paces on her front legs, Watoto has arthritis, and Bamboo bobs her head—evidence of captivity-induced stress and suffering.

Animal rights activists from Action for Animals, NARN, PETA, Campus Animal Rights Educators (CARE) and everywhere else got together for a Sunday summer picnic at Cowen Park.

It was a sunny day, with lots of compassionate people and tons of homemade vegan food.