ReadingAnimals

In Memory of Petal

Petal the Elephant, age 52, was found collapsed in her cell the morning of June 9, 2008. She died hours later. Petal is survived by friends Kallie and Bette. The three were to be transferred to a more spacious and naturalistic facility later this summer. Petal, it seems, couldn’t wait for this reprieve.

According to statements, her captors claimed that Petal was an “ambassador” for her wild elephant counterparts. It’s a strange analogy, isn’t it? It suggests that either our diplomats ought to be incarcerated permanently so that people in other countries can come observe them to learn about US citizens and our culture, or that the county jails and state penitentiaries are embassies filled with society’s ambassadors.

Petal was not in Philadelphia’s zoo by choice or her own design. Thus, she died a captive, an orphan, a refugee.

We can neither save time in a bottle nor save elephants in zoos

There is no reason to wait when the choice is between compassion and suffering. It’s a shame that Petal was forced to wait for so many decades only to die on the cold hard floor instead of surrounded by trees, fresh air, bird song and perhaps the company, warm breath or caress of an elephant friend.

Every day, hundreds of other elephants in US zoos - about 280 others- live as captives. Since 2000, at least 56 elephants like Petal have also died as captives, chained, penned, prodded with a sharp ankus, and exhibited for human amusement. Not one more elephant should have to die cooped up inside, to battle the pain of arthritis on the hard asphalt, to long for friends and families. Not one more should live unable to escape the peering eyes or taunting from voyeurs, or to remember elephanthood. Not one more.

It’s not only that there is no reason to wait, there is no ethical justification to delay.

For more on this topic, please see this prior post, Put the animals first: A blast from the past