Don't be bamboozled by anti-zoo activists

Bamboo and the other elephants at Woodland Park Zoo are healthy and thriving, and people should come see for themselves. The Northwest Animal Rights Network is simply wrong about what is best for Bamboo.

This animal-rights group is perhaps well-intentioned but definitely misinformed in its desire to force the zoo to move Bamboo away from her Northwest home to a private facility in Tennessee. Its desire is even potentially harmful for Bamboo. It's time for the Seattle community that loves the zoo, and appreciates its important global education and conservation work, to speak up and say, "No."

The zoo staff has always kept the elephants' interests foremost. The zoo has nothing to hide; in fact, it's one of the few zoos where visitors can see inside the elephant barn. You'll find the staff and volunteers extraordinarily proud of their work. Visitors should make their own judgment, and not fall prey to hyperbole from an animal-activist group that frankly is not in sync with most people's beliefs and lifestyles.

When Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium sought a third elephant, having Bamboo join them made sense. All three elephants were past breeding age, and staff at both organizations expected they would bond. Further, the keepers from Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) whom Bamboo knows and trusts could visit her frequently. But elephants, like people, forge their own relationships. Since the Tacoma elephants didn't accept Bamboo, Woodland Park Zoo happily welcomed her back.

In a war of emotions, some people distort facts and use unscientific explanations for animal behavior. A term like "neurotic" is not only inappropriate for animals, it is no longer in common use within the human medical community ("Big draw, big controversy: Bamboo's life at the zoo" Seattle Times page one, July 13).

All animals, including humans, engage in some stereotypy, or anticipatory behavior. People may tap their feet or drum their fingers; a cat comes running at the sound of the can opener; a dog jumps at the sight of its leash. Are these behaviors neurotic? Of course not. If one of the elephants moves her feet from side to side while waiting to come in for her bath, she is showing anticipatory behavior, but certainly is not neurotic.

Some believe "space and more space" is what an elephant needs most. That notion is misleading, overly simplistic and just plain wrong. Elephants in the wild need space to forage for food. Elephants in zoos need space for exercise and mental stimulation, and at Woodland Park Zoo's award-winning exhibit, they have plenty of it. Among accredited zoos, WPZ's elephant exhibit has a generous amount of space, with a habitat of sand, mud, rocks and water in varying elevation, as well as trees and shrubs to provide shade and browse for these curious herbivores.

There is no reason to assume Bamboo would do well at the Tennessee facility, a foreign environment with many more elephants and far fewer people than the home she has known all her life, in a completely different climate than the Northwest. Not only might such a move not be better for her, it could create a very sad and lonely elephant, one that is isolated and reclusive. That's not in Bamboo's best interest.

What Bamboo does need is expert care, which she gets. She also needs daily, frequent interaction with humans, because she is highly bonded to people. Raised at WPZ's Children's Zoo, Bamboo craves the attention of her keepers, and at Woodland Park there is a greater than one-to-one ratio of keepers to elephants, as well as two full-time veterinarians, three vet technicians and other support staff.

The International Elephant Foundation, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and Woodland Park Zoo Web sites have more information about elephants. Meanwhile, leave Bamboo in the care of those who know and love her at Woodland Park Zoo.

Mike Keele deputy director of Oregon Zoo, has worked with elephants for more than 30 years. Dr. Nancy Hawkes Woodland Park Zoo general curator, specializes in elephant reproductive physiology, assisted reproduction techniques and animal behavior.