Dallas Zoo tries to prove it likes elephants with new exhibit

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — Still smarting from the bad press it received last summer after its Jenny-the-Elephant debacle, the Dallas Zoo is crowing about its fancy new "African Savanna" exhibit that it hopes will prove it likes elephants.

But is it really better for Jenny? Right now she's stuck in a quarter of an acre, and she'll move to a 5- to 6-acre enclosure, but she'll have to share that with at least five other elephants. One advocate points to a Science article that says the life expectancy of zoo-born African elephants in captivity is 16.9 years versus 56 years in an animal reserve; and that elephants raised in zoos suffer from foot problems, herpes, tuberculosis, and infanticide.

Still, the cycle goes on: Dallas Zoo has new animals arriving "by the truckloads".

Posted by T.G.