Animal welfare group calls Fort Worth Zoo ‘obscene’ for buying 2 elephants for $2 million
The award-winning Fort Worth Zoo is in the process of buying two female Asian elephants, and an animal welfare group is not happy.
The Performing Animal Welfare Society, which cares for eight rescued elephants at a massive sanctuary in California, called the zoo’s plan obscene.
“By proposing to pay a record-setting two million dollars for two captive Asian elephants, the Fort Worth Zoo is putting an even higher price on the heads of elephants all over the world, captive and wild, Asian or African, and encouraging more trafficking in elephants,” PAWS President Ed Stewart said in a news release. “The only word to describe this deal is obscene.”
The Fort Worth Zoo is planning to purchase two elephants for $2 million, plus an additional $200,000 if one of the females gives birth to a calf. The zoo is buying the elephants from African Lion Safari in Canada.
Fort Worth Zoo spokeswoman Avery Elander said the purchase has been in the works since 2019 and was delayed in part because of the pandemic.
“The funds are not coming out of our operating budget,” Elander said. “They’re coming out of our ‘A Wilder Vision’ campaign.” The zoo’s campaign is aimed at raising $100 million to expand the zoo, including its elephant exhibit.
An anonymous donor is also helping to pay for the acquisition of the elephants, Elander said.
The PAWS group says that’s a record-setting price for elephants, which is likely to drive up the cost of elephants and result in other countries allowing inhumane treatment.
“The transaction proposed by the Fort Worth Zoo will create a perverse financial incentive for other countries to engage in poor management practices, disguising sales as ‘conservation.’ This is not what conservation is about,” Stewart said.
The details of the plan were available from the zoo’s application to import the elephants with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Fort Worth Zoo was named the No. 1 zoo in the country last month by USA Today.
The animal rights group called the plan an “extraordinary purchase even as other zoos financially struggle and even face closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“This deal is highly unusual in that zoos normally loan Asian elephants to each other at no cost,” Stewart said. “I hope the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will very closely scrutinize the Fort Worth Zoo’s permit application and proposed elephant purchase.”
The Fort Worth Zoo is on the list of forgivable loans from the Small Businesses Administration as part of the Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic, according to PAWS. The zoo was expected to receive between $2 million and $5 million from the government.
PAWS says the population of captive Asian elephants in North American zoos is unsustainable.
“It appears the zoo is banking on the imported elephants producing calves that will boost zoo attendance and revenue but do absolutely nothing to help elephants in the wild,” Stewart said. “No elephant born in captivity will ever be released to the wild, even though reintroduction is a key part of legitimate conservation programs.”
PAWS says the zoo could do more to help to protect elephants by investing $2 million in protecting wild populations in Asia by helping save diminishing habitats and “mitigating human-elephant conflict.”
The Houston Zoo currently holds the record for the most expensive elephant purchase, according to PAWS, for paying $500,000 for a female and her 4-year-old son in 2008.
The Fort Worth Zoo has seven elephants on display, according to the group, which characterized the zoo’s elephant exhibit space as “small” even with current renovations eventually providing four acres divided into several yards.
“We’re really excited about this. We’re building a new state-of-the-art elephant exhibit that will nearly triple the existing space,” Elander said. “It’s going to be a really beautiful place and allow us to double-down on elephant conservation.”
PAWS has three animal sanctuaries in California, including ARK 2000 in San Andreas, which is 2,300 acres of habitat for elephants, lions, bears and tigers.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 7:45 PM.
