Stampeding over Zoo's

While many people enjoy the adventures of Zoo life, others don’t realize the life-threatening experiences these animals must endure for entertainment.

What about Those Crucial 1,000 Square Miles?

        According to “Let the Zoo’s Elephants Go,” by Les Schobert, the Smithsonian Institution National Zoo is a disgrace to wildlife. Several elephants have been euthanized due to foot pain and arthritis. Schobert’s career started 35 years ago, and since then there is much more understanding for animals in captivity. He goes on to say, that keeping elephants in restrained spaces weakens and tears apart their legs and feet. In order for healthy elephants to survive and reproduce they need to live in herds for social engagement, and be surrounded in a wide-open range of 1,000 square miles. Elephant’s in captivity gets no more than 2,200 square feet. Zoo’s wonder why their precious exhibit animals are having to be euthanized. Schobert states that this is due to improper living circumstances. The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee allows these animals to run free in 2,700 acres of natural environment. This sanctuary has brought elephants back to health from foot and joint diseases, after spending years in either zoos or circuses. 

Feet Diseases

            Schobert concludes that zoos have the chance to restore their animals back to health and that, as public citizens, we shouldn’t demand other expectations.

            I agree with Schobert. These animals need extra care to be raised healthy and to carry on the generations. The conditions these elephants are being put through, for entertainment, aren’t healthy.  They need wide open areas to roam and a herd to socialize with, and sanctuaries across the world are giving them that chance.

            Tennessee has one of the nation’s largest natural habitats for elephants. Its goal is to provide land for these creatures to run free, veterinary care for the sick and injured, and to give elephants a chance to live naturally. This sanctuary holds, to this day, fourteen elephants. These elephants are happy to be in a habitat like home and with others of their own kind to engage with.  They stay active unlike in zoos and circuses, because cages or chains aren’t their dwellings. The forest floors, of this natural habitat, repair injured elephant’s legs and feet, from limited space in the entertainment business. The public can still view these amazing animals, while being educated about crucial issues involving their species.

Map of the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee

The Born Free Foundation in Horsham UK is dedicated to creating projects (such as The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee), and giving endangered animal’s lifelong care. It’s these programs we should be supporting. They take care of animals that desperately need our help to survive. A life of living in chains and cages isn't something anyone should have to go through. I think we should heavily concentrate on encouraging programs that give nurture to these precious species.
The question, I believe, Schobert is rising is, “If we are interested in animals enough to pay to see them, then we should start caring about the way they are being treated.”