Here is a poem I found while surfing today, which enforces why I love Kipling...
Obviously, it was written by a captive elephant's point of view. Anthropomorphism - and why not?
I will remember what I was.
I am sick of rope and chain.
I will remember my old strength
And all of my forest affairs.
I will not sell my back to man
For a bundle of sugar-cane.
I will go out to my own kind
And the wood-folk in their lairs.
I will go out until the day.
Until the morning break,
Out to the winds’ untainted kiss,
The water ’s clean caress.
I will forget my ankle-ring
And snap my picket-stake.
I will revisit my lost loves
And playmates, masterless.
–Rudyard Kipling, “The Captive’s Dream”
And then I get this in my email a few minutes ago. How coincidental!
Help Send Lucky to a Sanctuary!
San Antonio Zoo elephant is held in cruel isolation
Lucky desperately needs your help. She’s a 48-year-old female Asian elephant who has been living alone at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas since the death of her companion, Alport, almost one year ago. Female elephants are intensely social, making her solitary confinement especially cruel.
In addition to Lucky’s inhumane isolation, she likely suffers from foot problems, as evidenced by the zoo’s frequent foot treatments, and has a large abscess on her back leg. Foot problems are no surprise, as the San Antonio Zoo elephant display is extremely small and outdated, giving Lucky only about one-half acre of barren space.
Foot problems and arthritis, caused by inadequate zoo conditions, are the number one reason for euthanizing elephants in captivity. Another elephant at the San Antonio Zoo, Ginny, was euthanized in 2004 after suffering for years from painful, infected feet and arthritis.
As if all this weren’t bad enough, the San Antonio Zoo is adding a unique twist to Lucky’s story. The zoo is constructing a new attraction that will feature African animals, including elephants. As Lucky is an Asian elephant she will have no place in this new display. Yet rather than retire Lucky to a sanctuary, the zoo has come up with a nonsensical plan to bring in another Asian elephant and then ship out both Asian elephants when the African section is complete!
After 46 years on display in a tiny, unnatural exhibit at the San Antonio Zoo, Lucky deserves to be sent to a spacious natural-habitat sanctuary where she can spend her final years roaming freely in the company of other Asian elephants. Once at the sanctuary and living on soft, natural surfaces, many elephants see improvement in foot problems.
A coalition of San Antonio activists needs your help to urge city leaders to do everything in their power to help Lucky, including sponsoring a resolution to send her to a sanctuary.
Please make a call or send a letter today!
Please write a polite letter to Mayor Phil Hardberger and the following city council members and let them know that:
It is cruel to keep Lucky in solitary confinement.
- Lucky shows signs of foot disease caused by decades of life in a tiny, inadequate exhibit; she must removed immediately from that damaging environment.
- The City of San Antonio should do the right thing and show it cares about Lucky’s welfare by sponsoring a resolution to send her to a sanctuary.
- Lucky’s sorry condition is a black eye for the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Zoo.
CONTACT: (Here's an e-mail string of all the contacts listed below. If you're sending them each the same e-mail, cut and paste this string into your "cc" field: phardberger@sanantonio.gov,district1@sanantonio.gov, district2@sanantonio.gov, maria.fares@sanantonio.gov, district4@sanantonio.gov,
district5@sanantonio.gov, district6@sanantonio.gov, Debra.Hill@sanantonio.gov, district8@sanantonio.gov, Iris.DeLaGarza@sanantonio.gov
Mayor Phil Hardberger
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, TX 78283
Phone: 207-7060/7107
Fax: 210-207-4168
Email: phardberger@sanantonio.gov
COUNCIL MEMBERS:
District 1 - Mary Alice P. Cisneros
Phone: (210) 207-7279
Email: district1@sanantonio.gov or use the message form at http://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/D1/Contact/form.asp
District 2 - Sheila D. McNeil
Phone: (210) 207-7278
Email: district2@sanantonio.gov
District 3 - Jennifer V. Ramos
Phone: (210) 207-7064
Email: maria.fares@sanantonio.gov
District 4 - Philip A. Cortez
Phone: (210) 207-7281
Email: district4@sanantonio.gov
District 5 - Lourdes Galvan
Phone: (210) 207-7043
Email: district5@sanantonio.gov
District 6 - Delicia Herrera
Phone: (210) 207-7065
Email: district6@sanantonio.gov
District 7 - Justin Rodriguez
Phone: (210) 207-7044
Email: Debra.Hill@sanantonio.gov
District 8 - Diane G. Cibrian
Phone: (210) 207-7086
Email: district8@sanantonio.gov
District 9 - Louis E. Rowe
Phone: (210) 207-7325
Email: Iris.DeLaGarza@sanantonio.gov
District 10 - John G. Clamp
Phone: (210) 207-7276
Email: district10@sanantonio.gov
OTHER ACTION YOU CAN TAKE
The San Antonio News-Express recently ran an op ed about Lucky. You can view it at http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/Comment_Luckys_name_has_been_a_misnomer.html. Please write a letter to the editor of the San Antonio News-Express at letters@express-news.net. Include your daytime phone number and address for verification purposes only. No word count is stated, but letters to the editor are generally limited to 150-200 words.
For more information on Lucky’s plight, please visit www.VoiceforAnimals.org (where you can also sign an on-line petition) and www.helpelephants.com.
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In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, India, and Cameroon, Africa.
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