Soon there will be no more elephants at the Woodland Park Zoo.
The zoo announced Wednesday it will phase out its on-site elephant program but will “continue to move forward with its mission of saving animals and their habitats through conservation leadership.”
The zoo will begin finding a new home for its two elephants, 47-year-old Bamboo and 35-year-old Chai, both female Asian elephants. They're expected to move in 2015.
“After several months of working to implement the recommendations of the Elephant Task Force, we have found that adding to the herd of our two aging elephants is not realistic in the foreseeable future,” Woodland Park Zoo’s president and CEO Dr. Deborah Jensen said. “It is in the best interest of Bamboo and Chai to live in a social, multi-animal herd in a healthy environment.
“This can best be accomplished by relocating them to another accredited Association of Zoos & Aquariums facility that is held to exemplary standards of care.”
Concerns about the Woodland Park Zoo elephants grew after Watoto, a 45-year-old elephant with arthritic legs, died in August.
In 2000, Hansa was the first elephant born in Washington at the Woodland Park Zoo. She died in June 2007 form the herpes virus, which also killed elephants at other U.S. zoos.
Last month, socialist Seattle City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant proposed withhold any funds coming from the city’s new parks district until the elephants are transferred. The proposal came up during the council’s discussion of other budget issues.
In July, animal advocates packed a Seattle City Council meeting wearing orange T-shirts to persuade the council to take responsibility for the three elephants and retire Watoto before her death. Watoto, who was born in Kenya, joined the Woodland Park Zoo’s elephant herd in 1971.
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