It may be helpful to watch the two recent documentaries on elephants in captivity for a balanced perspective on the debate. The CBC one is available on vimeo here :
[ame=http://vimeo.com/53512233]Private Video on Vimeo[/ame]
Password : 5thelephants
Also the recent documentary made by Seattle Times in concurrence with the investigative report on zoo elephants in USA conducted by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Michael Berens. Glamour Beasts, the dark side of elephant captivity.
Link :
Glamour Beasts: The dark side of elephant captivity | Special reports pages | The Seattle Times
Regarding radicalism, it is interesting to note the commentary of Danny Westneat in the same newspaper. This is an extract : "Keeping elephants in captivity clearly isn't working. This is true regardless of how you feel about animal rights or welfare. As Seattle Times reporter Michael Berens documented, getting elephants to reproduce in captivity is so problematic that zoo elephants are going extinct. For each of the past 50 years, zoo births have never exceeded deaths. For each one born, two die. So even if you have no qualms about it, it isn't succeeding. Locally, the story is cringe-worthy. Berens revealed that Woodland Park Zoo has artificially inseminated the elephant Chai 112 times without a birth. Then there's a sure sign the zoos know they have a problem. They are resorting to spin and PR campaigns to attack their critics. Berens described one: When the Association of Zoos and Aquariums decided that, despite a soaring elephant death toll, they were going to "speak and act with a unified voice" in claiming the elephants were thriving. Central to the plan was marginalizing critics of elephant captivity as "extremists." It wasn't long before that was put into action here. A member of the Woodland Park Zoo board used that exact phrasing in a letter to the Seattle City Council, which Fortgang shared with me. It claimed activists here were essentially a front for an "organized, well-funded movement by animal rights extremist groups" with the sole mission to "attack zoos."One councilman, Richard Conlin, fired back. He scolded the zoo for using "the pejorative 'extremist' " as a blunt instrument to beat down legitimate questions." The full article can be viewed here :
Elephant 'extremists' in Seattle now feeling vindicated | Danny Westneat | The Seattle Times
Regarding zoo directors and curators like David Hancocks, Ron Kagan, Colleen Kinzley and Patrick Lampi, none of them have ever said they want to close down all zoos when they have cooperated/cooperate with animal rights/welfare people. They have only showed a willingness to engage with the animal welfare/rights organisations who have a legitimate viewpoint as much as proponents of keeping elephants in captivity in zoos and circuses.
These are the statements on Oakland Zoo from In Defense of Animals and PETA.
"Director Joel Parrott has gone out of his way to improve the quality of life there," said Elliot Katz, president of Mill Valley's In Defense of Animals."
Nicole Meyer, elephant specialist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said, "PETA does not believe elephants belong in captivity, but we recognize Oakland's efforts to provide more space. And the Oakland Zoo has pioneered protected contact, while other zoos are beating elephants with bull hooks."
David Hancocks' book 'A DIFFERENT NATURE : The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future' is a summary of his views on what zoos are and what they ought to be. Closing down all zoos is not an idea he has mentioned in the book, nor anywhere else. It is a book that ought to be read by anyone with even a passing interest in zoos. It is a classic book on zoos, although he remains opposed to displaying animals like elephants, polar bears and cetaceans in zoos.
