ReadingAnimals

Last week commemorated the one year anniversary of the death of Hansa, a young Asian elephant who was held at the Woodland Park Zoo. A group of local people gathered to commemorate this sad occasion and to let zoo visitors know that there was an ongoing campaign to have the surviving elephants moved to a sanctuary. Flowers were handed out to passers by.

Part of the message was that advocates do not want more suffering or more deaths; “Never again,” they said. But it does happen over and over and over again at zoos in every climate and with varied enclosures. Just today, an elephant named Petal died. It’s deeply disturbing that parties with a vested interest in this antiquated institution seem so willing to equate care with risk tolerance. These are not the same. They not only require fundamentally different ways of thinking, but also entirely different values.

RIP Hansa.