Patience, right, a female elephant that killed zookeeper John Bradford when she becameaggressive on Oct. 11, has been kept with a male elephant, Mr. Ed, left, away from theviewing area at Dickerson Park Zoo since the incident. VALERIE MOSLEY/NEWS-LEADER

ELEPHANTSAGA

More than a month after killing a zookeeper, Patienceremains out of the view of visitors — kept instead ina separate barn in a staff-only area.

Whether the 41-year-old female elephant will re-turn to the public eye in the future is still up in the air.

“We’re not sure at this point what the structure is going to be,”Zoo Director Mike Crocker said in a recent interview. “We’re hav-ing to do a lot of evaluating of our program, our numbers — wherewe’re going to go from here.”

While the uncertainty isin some ways a result ofthe deadly events of Oct. 11— when elephant managerJohn Bradford was killed— it also reflects the factthat the zoo industry na-tionwide finds its elephantprograms in a state of flux.

Breeding efforts, ofwhich Dickerson Park Zoohistorically has been a key component,are less successful than hoped. A viruscontinues to be highly lethal to young el-ephants.

Elephants in captivity are dying fast-er than they’re being replaced.

Facing continued pressure from ani-mal rights groups and increased regula-tions, some zoos are spending tens ofmillions of dollars on high-profile expan-sions of their elephant exhibits.

Other programs are being shutteredcompletely.

“With declining populations of ele-

phants, a lot of zoos will go out of theelephant business, just because therewon’t be any elephants to be gotten overthe next 10 to 20 years,” said Crocker,who has been director since 1988.

The long-term future of the elephantprogram at Dickerson Park is up in theair.

Birth of an elephant program

Dickerson Park Zoo can trace its his-tory to the 1890s, when a short-lived pri-vate facility associated with a resort innorth Springfield was touted as the larg-est zoo in the state.

Today, Crocker said, Dickerson Parkhas a $3.2million budget. About $800,000of that comes from charging admission,with an additional $1.2million or so com-ing from the Friends of the DickersonPark Zoo. The remainder comes from aportion of three separate local tax initia-

An

Future of the programup in the air at Springfieldzoo and many across US

THE ELEPHANTSNOT IN THE ROOM

Patience isn’t the onlyelephant that visitors toDickerson Park Zoo don’tsee.

Thezoo’s twomales areperma-nentlyoff-exhibit,kept intheir own facility with fiveinterior stalls and threeoutside yards in a staff-onlysection of the zoo. Thelargest outside yard isabout half the size of afootball field.

The larger, more ag-gressive males are cor-doned off for safety rea-sons, Zoo Director MikeCrocker said —Mr. Ed, forexample, has a habit ofcurling his trunk aroundsmall rocks and hurlingthem at people.

By Thomas Gounley TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

JohnBradford

See ELEPHANTS, Page 8A

INSIDE» Timeline of program, 8A» USDA inspected zoo afteremployee’s death, 9A» Criticism by animal rightsgroup, 9A

ONLINE»Watch a related videoand see more photoswith this story atNews-Leader.com

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After numerous debates inthe spring, statewide tours togather testimony this summerand committee meetings amonglawmakersthisfall, thepotentialfor Medicaid expansion in Mis-souri remainsmurky.

Other than agreeing on theneed for “transformation,” Re-

publicans have yetto coalesce arounda single approachto the largestunre-solved issue of the2013 legislativesession.

In the House,Rep. Jay Barnes,R-Jefferson City,estimates the state

could save millions by expand-ingMedicaideligibilityandmak-ing other changes. His viewsmatter because he chairs theHouse Interim Committee onMedicaid transformation.

But Senate Republicanstasked with studying the issueduring the interim have blockedeffortstoacknowledgethepossi-bility of expansion.

BothHouse and SenateMedi-caidcommitteeswerescheduledto meet this week, on Tuesday,withDemocraticGov.JayNixon,who has advocated expansionfor thepast year.

But a spat between Republi-cans and Nixon — largely overthelocationofthemeeting—hasscuttled the event.

Nixonsaysheisdisappointed;Republicans, not somuch.

TheHouse

When the Affordable CareActwas passed byCongress andsigned by President Obama in2010, the lawexpandedMedicaid— the federal program run bythe states that provides healthcoverage to low-income individ-uals and people with disabilities— to 138 percent of the federalpoverty limit, or $23,550 for afamily of four.

For comparison, a personworkingfull timeat theMissouriminimumwage of $7.35 an hourmakes about $15,288 ayear.

Currently in Missouri, Medi-caid covers peoplemaking up to19 percent of the poverty line.For a family of four, that meansan incomeof $4,474.

WhentheU.S.SupremeCourtruled on the constitutionality oftheAffordableCareAct, itmadeMedicaid expansion optional forthe states. States that chose notto expand would not lose theircurrentfundingbutwouldnotbeeligible for new federal money,either.

Barnes has been at the fore-front of the House Republicans’Medicaidpolicydiscussionsincethis spring.His recentMedicaidexpansion proposal is only the

DisputescuttlesmeetingaboutMedicaidMissouri Republicansstand their ground onopposing expansionBy Jonathan ShormanJSHORMAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Jay Barnes

SeeMEDICAID, Page 4A

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8A November 24, 2013 SUNDAY NEWS-LEADER § News-Leader.com

tives.Crocker said he thinks ofDick-

erson Park as “somewhere be-tween a small zoo and a medium-sized zoo,” because there are nu-merous facilities accredited bythe Association of Zoos andAquariums with operating bud-gets of about $1million.

Over the past three and a halfdecades, Dickerson Park hasplayed a large role—particularlygiven its size — in the successes,as well as the setbacks, in breed-ingAsian elephants in captivity inthe United States.

The sentiment is perhaps bestdescribedbyacommentfromzoo-keeper Jeff Glazier in a 2001News-Leader story.

“Oneofourclaimstofamehereis we don’t have the big buildingand big staff, but we still getthings done,” he said. “It’s reallykind of amazing when you thinkabout it.We have developed an in-ternational reputationwith our el-ephants.”

Massive, exotic elephants havelong been a major attraction forzoos where they reside, and thezoo industry gives them specialattention. Elephants are the onlyanimals for which there are spe-cific standards within the zoo as-sociation’s accreditation process.

The first elephant didn’t arriveat Dickerson Park — which cameunder the direction of the Spring-fieldParkBoardinthe1920s—un-til 1954.

That year, C.C. — a femaleAsian elephant believed to beabout5yearsold—wasbrought tothe zoo from Thailand, where shehad been captured in the wild.Part of the funds to purchase C.C.— named after a local weather-man — were raised by Spring-field’s Metro Club, which orga-nized schoolchildren to sell pea-nuts door to door. For a quarter-century, shewouldbe theonlyele-phant at the zoo.

That changed in 1980, with thearrival of twomales.

While Mr. Ed was too young tomate, BigMac—whowas born inthe wild in Thailand and per-formed in the circus before beingdonated to the zoo — was 16. Hisaddition prompted then-directorDave Tuttle to start an elephantbreeding program. At the time,according to News-Leader ar-chives, the only other such pro-gram in the Western Hemispherewas in Portland, Ore.

In the beginning, the zoo’sbreeding efforts focused on itsown females. The first pregnancyat the zoo resulted in a stillborncalf in 1985.

Theconstructionofanewfacil-ity in the late 1980s, however, al-lowed the zoo to play host tofemale elephants from zoosaround the country. And in 1990,the zoo was involved in the firstsuccessful breeding in which anelephant was transferred to an-otherzootobebred, thenreturned—in this case toChicago’sLincolnPark Zoo— for the birth.

Dickerson Park’s entry intobreeding efforts coincided withthezoo industry’s increasingpref-erence to breedelephants alreadyin captivity instead of acceptingthose born in the wild.

Finally, in 1991, Dickerson sawthe arrival of a calf on its owngrounds, as Connie gave birth toKate.

Rise of a deadly virus

Fourteen months later, howev-er, Kate was dead.

The cause would later be iden-tified as elephant endotheliotrop-icherpesvirus, ahighly fatal hem-orrhagic disease that wouldn’t be

formally recognized until anotherelephant died at the National ZooinWashingtonD.C. in1995.Nearlytwo decades later, EEHV is still amajor challenge for elephantbreeding programs in the UnitedStates.

Both Asian and African ele-phants can be affected by EEHV,although its most common vic-tims are young elephants under 4.And it can be devastatingly quick,even in the case of early detection— an elephant can be dead within24 hours of a zookeeper spottingthe symptoms.

“What they don’t know is, whydoes it become symptomatic tosome elephants, but never be-come symptomatic in others,”Crocker said. “What triggersthat?”

As more elephants from out-side zoos and circuses came toSpringfield forbreedingattemptsin the1990s, EEHV became close-ly associated with DickersonPark.

Sometimes, that associationwas positive. In 1997, DickersonPark was the site of a break-through. Chandra, a 17-month-oldcalf, was displaying all the symp-tomsof theEEHV. Shewas lethar-gic; her tongue had turned from ahealthy pink to purple; her majormuscles were hemorrhaging.

Zookeepers opted to adminis-ter experimental doses of famci-clovir, an anti-viral medication.Five weeks later, Chandra wasback to normal — the first-eversuccessful treatment. Today, shelives in the Oklahoma City Zoo.

Also in 1997, the Association ofZoos and Aquariums awardedDickerson Park’s elephant pro-gram theEdwardH.BeanAward,which “recognizes a truly signifi-cant captive propagation effortthat clearly enhances the conser-vation of the species,” accordingto its website.

Twoyearslater, in1999,Dicker-son attracted national attentionagain, when Moola became thefirst Asian elephant to becomepregnant through artificial in-semination. It was a feel-goodnews story that evenattracted theattention of NBC’s “Today” show.Moola’s calf Haji, zookeeperssaid, was the result of 10 to 15

years of research.Unfortunately, famciclovir,

while successful in1997, still hasalimited success rate.

In 2000, Kala, a male elephantborn in Springfield, died of EEHVat Six FlagsMarineWorld in Cali-fornia. Haji and Nisha died of itseparately at Dickerson Park in2002 and 2007, respectively.

Nationwide challenges

Elephant programs acrossNorthAmerica areworking to de-termine their future.

A Seattle Times investigationpublished in December 2012found that, on average, for everyelephantborninazoo,anothertwodie—many of them from EEHV.

Tenof thosedeaths occurredatDickerson Park. Connie, the 50-year-old elephant suffering fromkidney disease euthanized inearly October, became the 11th.

“A lot of female elephants inzooshavebeenaroundalongtime;they’re aging,” Crocker said.“They’re non-reproductive ani-mals, and we’re not producingenough calves that are survivingto maintain those numbers.”

As of Oct. 31, AZA Vice Presi-dent for External CommunicationSteve Feldman said, there were145 Asian elephants in AZA-ac-credited facilities — 29 bulls and

116 cows — and 163 African ele-phants— 33 bulls and 130 cows.

Feldman acknowledged thatthe elephant population in zooshasdeclinedover timebut said re-searchers expect a turnaround inthe future.

“It’s supposed to dip, and slow-ly climb,” he said.

He also said that life expectan-cy for elephants in AZA facilitiesis increasing, from 44 years old to46.9 for female Asian elephantsover the course of the last decade.

In mid-October, the TorontoZoo became the latest in an in-creasing number of zoos to shut-ter its elephant program, sendingthreefemaleAfricanelephantsbytruck to an elephant sanctuary innorthern California. Four ele-phants had died in the zoo in asmany years, according to the To-ronto Star, and “the zoo eitherneededto invest tensofmillionsofdollars into expanding the exhibitto meet increasing standards ofcare, or shut it down.”

The Performing Animal Wel-fare Society sanctuary in Califor-nia is one of two sanctuaries in theUnited States accredited by theU.S. Department of Agriculture,which regulates zoos under theAnimalWelfareAct; theother is inTennessee.

Sanctuaries are not immune toissues — a January 2013 inspec-tion of The Elephant Sanctuary inTennessee “identified concernsby the USDA in the areas of TheSanctuary’s staffing, training andour health care delivery,” thesanctuary notes on its website.However, elephants in sanctuar-ies have a vastly larger area toroam than those at zoos. The Ten-nessee facility is 2,700 acres; theCalifornia one is 2,300 acres.

Dickerson Park Zoo comprisesapproximately 72 acres. Its ele-phants— there are four at themo-ment, two males and two females—arehousedinthenorthwestpor-tion of the park.Much of the time,they are separated by gender.

The cow barn has six insidestalls, where female elephantsspend the night on concretefloors. Two chutes connect themto the public exhibition area,which is just under an acre in size,according to Crocker. One of the

chutes iswhereelephantmanagerBradford was killed last monthwhenPatienceknockedhim to theground as he leaned in betweenthe bars.

Unlike zoos, sanctuaries don’tmake an effort to breed their ele-phants. When the Toronto Zoo an-nounced plans to send its ele-phants to the California sanctu-ary, the zoo lost itsAZAaccredita-tion. The zoo association objectedto the fact that the Toronto CityCouncil made the original deci-sion to send the elephants to thesanctuary, according to theToron-to Star, as opposed to zoo staff.The zoo board, however, later vot-ed to abide by the council’s deci-sion. One council member calledthe zoo association a “bully.”

The same week that Torontoshipped off its elephants, NiabiZoo in Illinois shuttered its ele-phantprogramaswell, sending itstwo remaining females to the Lit-tle Rock Zoo.

Also lastmonth, a task forceas-signed to determine the future ofthe elephants at Seattle’s Wood-land Park Zoo released a reportcalling for changes. One option,the task force said, is to end thecurrent program as the elephantsage. The second option, and theone recommended by a majorityof the task force, is tomake the in-vestments necessary to grow amulti-generational herd capableof breeding.

Recent upgrades undertakenat other zoos nationally suggestthat second option could be costly.

In May 2010, the Dallas Zooopened a new “Giants of the Sa-vanna” exhibit for its elephants ata cost of $40 million, according tothe Dallas Morning News. As ofMay, other animals were housedin the same habitat, but a news re-lease said that the elephants hadmorethan4acrestoroam.ThezoocurrentlyhousesfivefemaleAfri-can elephants.

In March 2011, the OklahomaCity Zoo opened a 9.5-acre ele-phant facility at a cost of $13 mil-lion, according to its website. Inthebarn,thestallshaveasandsur-face; outdoors, three differentyards include pools and a water-fall. The facility can house up totwo bulls, four cows and possible

offspring.The Denver Zoo, meanwhile,

opened a 10-acre, $50 million ele-phant facility in June 2012 de-signed to house eight to 12 ele-phants, according to the DenverPost.

Dickerson Park, along withmany zoos, frequently finds itselfcriticized by animal rightsgroups. In the past, California-based In Defense of Animals tar-getedthezooprimarilyfor itscon-nection to EEHV and a 2001 finelevied by the USDA on the zoo.

ButIDAiscapableofdolingoutsome positive attention. Its 2010“TenWorst Zoos for Animals” listalso included a “Step in the RightDirection” recognition for theDallas Zoo facility.

“Elephants are not suited to ur-ban zoos, but Dallas has gone far-ther than any other to improvewelfare, and it will not add to thenumber of elephants already liv-ing in inadequate conditions,” theentry reads. “Dallas’ exhibit stillisn’t large enough for a specieswithhomerangesmeasuringhun-dreds of square miles, but its pol-icies put it in a class of its own.”

Asked how smaller zoos withsmaller budgets might garnersimilar praise, Nicole Meyer, di-rector of IDA’s Elephant Protec-tion Campaign, was blunt.

“If you have a smaller zoo thatlacks the funding … then theyshouldn’t be in the business ofhousing elephants,” she said.

Looking toward the future

Chai, who left Dickerson Parkin 1999, would be the last femaleelephant brought to the zoo forbreeding purposes — a factCrockerattributedtotheuseofar-tificial insemination, the lack of abull for a time and the addition ofbreeding facilities at other zoos.

Today, neither of the zoo’sfemales are of ideal breeding age,he said, so in-house breeding ef-forts are also on hold, he said.

Dickerson Park says its facili-ties are in compliance with theAZA’s next policy change — bySeptember 2014, all accreditedzoos will have to practice protect-ed contact, amanagement style inwhichthereisnearlyalwaysabar-rier between an elephant and anypeople. Asked whether the zoo’scurrent facilitieswill be adequateinthe longterm,hesaidthat“stan-dards continue to evolve as welearnmore.”

“Providing the proper welfarefor theelephants ismore than justthe space alone,” Crocker said.“It’s the quality of the space; it’swhat kind of things that you havein the space that provide enrich-ment for them.”

Any decisions about the futureof the zoo’s program would bemadewith the AZA, Crocker said.The association has “Species Sur-vival Plans” for 580 different spe-cies, including elephants, Feld-man said, that lay out a plan tomaintain or grow the populations.In the case of African and Asianelephants, the AZA knows the lo-cation and genetic make-up of allelephants in its facilities, as wellas any familial relationships be-tween them.

“We look at themall as onepop-ulation,” Feldman said.

Feldmanalso said that theAZAwants “to have as many institu-tions committed to elephants atwhatever level they can be” in thefuture.

Crocker said he believes allow-ing individuals to see elephants inzoos ultimately benefits those notbeing held in captivity.

“Those kinds of experienceshaveprobablydonealot tofurtherinterestandconcernfor theirwildcounterparts.”

1890s: Zoo Park, aprivately owned facility,opens. It is touted asthe largest zoo in thestate.

1894: Zoo Park is soldto J. Dickerson.

1922: The Dickersonestate sells the land tothe Springfield ParkBoard; the city zoo ismoved from the PhelpsGrove area to the tractthe following year.

1920/’30s: DickersonPark Zoo expandsthroughWorks ProgressAdministration grants.

1954: Ol’ C.C., a roughly5-year-old female Asianelephant, is brought tothe zoo from Thailand.

1974: A Park Board voteonwhether to close thezoo—which has falleninto a state of disrepair— fails by a narrowmargin. A grant from theCommunity Foundationof Greene County, apetting zoo and thecreation of the Friends ofthe Dickerson Park Zoohelp foster a turnaroundover the coming years.

1977: A zookeeper ishospitalized after beinginjured by C.C.

1980: Twomales arriveat the zoo. Sixteen-year-old Big Mac, who hadbeen born in the wild inThailand, is donated by acircus performer. Mr. Ed,born in 1978, arrivesfromWashington ParkZoo (now known as theOregon Zoo) in Portland,Ore.

Dickerson Park hoststhe National ElephantConfer-ence.

1981:Conniecomes tothe zoofrom theZoolog-ical Gar-dens in Abilene, Texas.

1985: Connie gives birthto a stillborn calf.

1986: Dickerson Park isfirst accredited byAmerican Associationof Zoos and Aquariums.It has been accreditedever since.

1986: Suki is donatedto the zoo.

1988: A $250,000breeding facility opens.

1989: Tuffy comes tolive at Dickerson Park.

1990: Bozie, who hadbeen impregnated by BigMac at Dickerson, givesbirth in Chicago. It is thefirst successful breedingin which one elephant istransferred to anotherzoo to be breed, thenreturned to the homezoo for the birth.

Patience arrives fromBrookfield Zoo in Illi-nois.

1991: Connie givesbirth to a second calf,Kate.

1992: Tuffy dies during

a cesare-an sectionattempt-ing toremove acalf thathad diedduringthe early stages oflabor.

1993: Kate dies fromwhat is later identifiedas the elephant endo-theliotropic herpes-virus (EEHV).

In June, a zookeeper ishospitalized in seriouscondition after beingattacked by Suki.

1994:Moola is re-ceived from Milwau-kee County Zoo.

1995: Connie gives birthto a third calf, Asha.

1996:Moola givesbirth to her first calf,Chandra.

Suki is transferred toPoint Defiance Zoo &Aquarium in Tacoma,Wash.

1997: Dickerson ParkZoo wins the AZA’sEdward H. Bean Award— which “recognizes atruly significant captivepropagation effort thatclearly enhances theconservation of the

species” — for its AsianElephant program.The zoo successfullytreats an elephant(Chandra) with EEHVusing famciclovir – thefirst survival of its kindin the world.

1998: Asha and Chan-dra aretrans-ferred tothe Okla-homa CityZoo.

Kala isborn.

Chai issent to Dickerson Parkfrom Seattle for breed-ing.

Dickerson Park co-hosts

the Third InternationalElephant ResearchSymposium.

1999: USDA investi-

gates charges of al-leged abuse of Vicki, a34-year old elephant atthe zoo. The USDA

closes thecase,citinginsuffi-cientevidence.

Moola,the firstelephant in the world tobecome pregnantthrough artificial insemi-nation, gives birth toher second calf, Haji.

2000: Kala dies of EEHVat Six Flags MarineWorld in California.

2001: The USDA filescharges against Dick-erson Park, allegingstaff abused Chai in1998. Officials don’tadmit guilt, but the zoo

pays a $2,000 fine to theUSDA and is required tospend another $3,000on a consultant whoreviews the programand trains staff onprotected contact.

2002: Big Mac dies atthe age of 38 of in-testinal problems. Thebull sired 12 calvesduring his time at theDickerson Park.

Sabu, a male, is receivedfrom the Cincinnati Zoo.

Haji dies from EEHV.

2004: Dickerson Parkopens an expansion ofthe zoo that includesnew public viewing forelephants (opened in2005) and a cow barn.

2006:Moola givesbirth to third calf,Nisha.

2007: Sabu returned toCincinnati Zoo. He siredone calf while at Dick-

erson Park Zoo.

Nisha dies from EEHV.

2010: C.C. dies at anestimated age of 61. Atthe time of her death,she was the fourth-oldest elephant in anAZA-accredited zooand among the 15oldest in the Asianelephant studbook forNorth America. Thestudbook includesboth males andfemales.

Oct 5, 2013: Connie iseuthanized after suf-fering from kidneydisease.

Oct 11, 2013: Patiencekills elephant managerJohn Bradford.

C.C.

Mr. EdBig Mac Patience

TIMELINE OF THE ELEPHANT PROGRAMAT SPRINGFIELD’S DICKERSON PARK ZOO

Chandra

Kate

Kala

Haji

SabuAsha and Chandra

Elephants/Virus a challenge to programsContinued from Page 1A

The female elephant barn has a series of elephant restraint devices designed to keep zookeepers safe. By September, all accredited zoos will useprotected contact, a management style in which there is nearly always a barrier between an elephant and any people. VALERIE MOSLEY/NEWS-LEADER

Zoo Director Mike Crocker said anydecisions about the elephantprogram will be made with theAssociation of Zoos and Aquariums.VALERIE MOSLEY/NEWS-LEADER

Pinky

SUNDAY NEWS-LEADER § NewsLeader.com November 24, 2013 9A

AnOct. 21 inspection ofDick-ersonParkZoooperationsbythethe U.S. Department of Agricul-ture last month found “no non-compliant items,” according to areport released last week.

While prompted by the deathof elephantmanager JohnBrad-ford earlier in themonth, the in-spection dealt solely with thecare and management of thefemale elephant that killed him,Patience. The agency regulateszoos under the Animal WelfareAct.

Prior to the report’s release,USDA spokeswoman Tanya Es-pinosa said the agency would beinvestigating whether the zoowas fully compliantwith regula-tions, suchas thosepertaining tosafety and training programs, atthe time of Bradford’s death.

“We look for things like, is thearea clean, is the chute in goodworking condition, is there any-thing that could injure the ani-malwhichmay thencauseaneg-ative reaction, etc.,” Espinosawrote in an email. “We also dis-cuss handling methods withstaff as well as training andbackground. We look at theequipment used, to make surethe elephants are moved andhandled inahumanemanner.Wealso visually examine the ele-phant involved and look for anywounds or abnormal behavior.”

An online database lists US-DA inspection reports for facil-

ities dating back three years.Three previous reports forDickerson Park — one datedJan. 7, 2013 and two datedNov.1,2011 — found zero non-compli-ances.

The Association of Zoos andAquariums has also requested areport onBradford’s death fromDickerson Park Zoo on Oct. 22,Senior Vice President of Exter-nal Communications Steve Feld-mansaid.ZoospokeswomanMe-linda Arnold said that reportcan’t be issued until outside in-vestigations are completed, andthe city’s investigation has notbeen finalized.

Once the zoo association hasthe report, Feldman said, a com-mission will determine whetherto request more information,conduct an inspection or recom-mend changes at the zoo. Thecommission can also decide thatit is satisfied with DickersonPark’s report and do none ofthose.

Zoos can also request that thezoo association do an investiga-tion, ZooDirectorMike Crockersaid, but that would typically bewhen circumstances around anincident are somewhat un-known. Given the witnesses,Crockersaid,hedoesn’t feel thatis necessary.

Crocker said Patience hadbeen unusually submissive inthe week between the death ofthe zoo’s matriarch elephantConnie and Bradford’s death.

“She would back into areasthat normally she would justwalk into head-first,” he said.

Oct.11wasn’t the first timeanelephant lashed out at a keeperatDickersonParkandcaused in-

jury.In 1977, Crocker said, the

zoo’s first elephant,C.C., injureda zookeeper, requiring hospital-ization. And in June 1993, ac-cording to News-Leader ar-chives, a 21-year-old zookeeperwas hospitalized in serious con-dition after being attacked bySuki, a female elephant.

In thecaseof the latter, theel-ephant keeper had just begunhandling elephants alone afterbeing in the position for severalmonths when Suki “threw himagainst the wall with her headand trunk and then tried tostomp on himwhen he fell to theground,” a story at the time re-ports.

“Unfortunately, it’s one of thethings that happen in the ele-phant business,” DickersonPark’s spokesperson at the timesaid.

Online data from theOccupa-tional Safety and Health Ad-ministration indicates that therehave been 13 reports of injuriesinvolving elephants nationwidesince 1984, not including the Oc-

tober incident at DickersonPark.Of those,10werefatal.Themost recent fatalitywas in Janu-ary 2011 at the Knoxville Zoo.

A concern over handlers’safety is a primary componentof the zoo industry’s move to“protected contact,” a manage-mentstyleinwhichthereisnear-ly always a barrier between anelephant and any people, Crock-er said. That contrasts with“free contact,” in which animalsand people mingle more freely.Historically, the latter has ofteninvolvedusingitemssuchasbullhooks to keep elephants in line.

DickersonParkZoobeganus-ing protected contact in 2003 or2004, Crocker said, eliminatingthe use of bull hooks at the sametime.Still, a2012reaccreditationreport stated that “known ag-gressive elephants are, at times,managedwithout barriers or re-straints that may enhancesafety” at Dickerson Park. Zoospokesman Melinda Arnold hassaid the situation was quicklyremedied.

AZA-accredited zoos aren’trequired to fully implement pro-tective contact until September2014, and the Dickerson ParkZoo incident highlights the factthat the change won’t complete-ly safeguard elephant handlers.

“We’re telling our keepers,please, exercise caution,”Crocker said. “After an incidentlike this, they’re being muchmore cautious.”

“Weworkwitha lotofdanger-ous wild animals, and we’re allverywell aware of their capabil-ities, and safety is a big part ofeverything we do out therearound those animals.”

Zoo inspected in wake of deathNo non-compliant itemsfound, according to report

By Thomas GounleyTGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Patience has been kept away fromthe viewing area at Dickerson ParkZoo since the incident. VALERIEMOSLEY/NEWS-LEADER

Everyyear, InDefense ofAn-imals, a California-based animalrights organization, releases alistof the“TenWorstZoosforEl-ephants” to expose “the suffer-ing endured by elephants inzoos.”

Dickerson Park no longermakes those lists. Instead, it’sbeen permanently enshrined inthe organization’s “Hall ofShame.”

The zoo’s entrymakes note ofthe fact that, in 2001, in responsetoacomplaintofabuseofChai—an elephant on loan from Seat-tle’s Woodland Park Zoo forbreeding purposes—DickersonParkpaid a $2,000 fine to theUS-DA, according to News-Leaderarchives. It also was required tospend $3,000 to hire a consultantto review its elephant programand train staff on protected con-tact, a management style inwhich there is nearly always abarrierbetweenanelephant andany people.

The complaint was filed byVirginia-based animal rights or-ganizationPeople for theEthicalTreatment of Animals, whichbased it on the statements of twopeople it identified only as“whistle-blowers.” The com-plaint contended that Chai wasbeaten with bull hooks andpieces of wood for nearly 21hours, three days after arrivingfromWoodland Park.

Dickerson Park Zoo DirectorMike Crocker and a WoodlandParkofficial deniedanyabuseatthe time. Crocker told theNews-Leaderin2001thatthecomplaintwas referring to a five-minutedisciplinesessionthat tookplaceafter Chai knocked head ele-phant keeper Jeff Glazier to theground twice.

TheWall of Shame entry alsonotes Dickerson Park’s historywith elephant endotheliotropicherpesvirus.

“Despite being a herpesvirus‘hotspot,’ the zoo continued itsbreeding program for years, of-ten transporting female ele-phants to and from other zoosand circuses,” the entry reads.

A 2007 report by In Defenseof Animals cites a study pub-lished in the scientific journalZoo Biology in 2001, whichwarnedof“substantialrisks”fortransmission of EEHV by trans-ferring elephants between insti-tutions. The report, which alsosingled out the Houston Zoo andRosamond Gifford Zoo in NewYork as EEHV hot spots, called

for “an immediate halt to thebreeding of Asian elephants andasevererestrictiononAsianele-phant transfers between facili-ties.”

That halt never occurred.Ga-ry S. Hayward, a co-discovererof EEHV, downplays any riskfrom transfers.

“Not a single instance hasbeen found where a particularstrain of EEHV1has been trans-mitted between twodifferent el-ephant housing facilities, al-though several examples of twoanimals at the same facility be-ing infected with an identicalstrain have been documented,”Hayward writes on a websitelaunched following the AnnualInternational EEHV Workshop

in 2011.A May 1998 document ob-

tained by the Seattle Times re-garding the transport of Chai,however, indicates that she wassent to Dickerson Park with thebelief that“it’spossiblethatChaicould bring the virus back intoour collection.” The zoo decidedthat thechanceofobtainingaba-by elephant outweighed thatrisk.

Hayward also challenges thenotion that EEHV is linked tocaptivity,writing that it is “natu-rally occurring in both captiveandwild populations.”

Crocker echoed those points,saying he doesn’t feel EEHV oc-currence is a reflection of Dick-erson Park’s elephant program.

“We know more about it inzoos becausewe’re able to studyitmore closely in zoos,” he said.

Whatever issues animalrightsgroupschoose to focuson,Crocker said — whether it isEEHV, the space that elephantshave in zoos, the amount of exer-cise they get or something else— they’re really only interestedin one thing.

“Theirgoals is toget themoutof zoos and get them out of cir-cuses,” he said. “They just don’tbelieve that zoos can provideproperly for elephants.”

Nicole Meyer, director of InDefense of Animals’ ElephantProtection Campaign, said theorganizationfeelsthatelephantsare “poorly suited for captivity,”but, in the case of those alreadyinzoosorcircuses,advocatesforwhat it considers more humaneconditions, typically placingthem in sanctuaries.

“It is grossly irresponsiblefor any zoo with a history ofEEHV to continue attempting tobreed elephants, putting morevulnerable elephants at risk forcontracting the virus,” she said.

Group’s criticism revolves around virus, 2001 fineBy Thomas GounleyTGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM HALL OF SHAME ENTRY

In Defense of Animals states that its Hall of Shame is “a special hon-or reserved for the worst repeat offenders that have made little or noprogress improving conditions for elephants.” It currently comprisesTopeka Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, ElPaso Zoo, St. Louis Zoo, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Dickerson ParkZoo.

The entry for Dickerson Park, inducted in 2008, reads:“This zoo has a terrible record with elephants. Of 10 elephants born

at the zoo, only two are alive today. Five calves were stricken with thehighly fatal elephant herpesvirus, with all but one dying from the dead-ly infection. Despite being a herpesvirus ‘hotspot,’ the zoo continued itsbreeding program for years, often transporting female elephants toand from other zoos and circuses. Only after the death of 16-month-oldNisha in December 2007 did the Dickerson Park Zoo put a temporaryhold on elephant breeding. Meanwhile the four adult female Asianelephants at this zoo languish in a cramped one-acre exhibit and con-crete-floored barn. Dickerson earns additional Hall of Shame stripes forits 2001 beating of the elephant named Chai, who lost 1000 pounds, anda history of painful foot problems, psychological problems, aggressionand premature deaths that have plagued its elephants over the years.

Update: The Dickerson Park Zoo is a known ‘hot spot’ for the deadlyelephant herpes virus; now you can add tuberculosis to the diseasesfound there. In January 2010, 60-year-old “Ol’ CC” was prescribed ninemonths of quarantined treatment for the disease, which is found inelephants in zoos and circuses. In July Ol’ CC fell and injured her back,possibly due to the anti-tuberculocidal medications. She died threeweeks later, in August.”