By John Di Leonardo
Officials have announced that Flaco, the Eurasian owl who escaped the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Central Park Zoo on February 2nd, will be allowed to fly free after repeatedly defying capture and proving that he can survive on his own despite earlier claims from zoo officials that he would likely starve if not captured quickly. This surprising turn of events raises concerns about other animals that zoos work so hard to hold onto, including elephants Happy and Patty who remain imprisoned in solitary cells at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo despite officials promising years ago to free them.
Abducted from the wild in the 1970s along with six other baby elephants, Happy and her compatriots – named after the dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves – were beaten with bullhooks – heavy metal batons with a hook and spike on one end – and forced to perform tricks and give rides, becoming caricatures of their wild selves. Sleepy died during his first year in the US. In 1977, Happy and Grumpy were sent to the Bronx Zoo, where they were even forced into degrading “tugs of war”.
Acharya Tulsi Ji
In 2002, Grumpy was attacked by Patty and Maxine, two other elephants who had become increasingly frustrated by their captivity. Grumpy was euthanized due to his injuries and Happy was separated from Patty and Maxine, being introduced to a younger elephant named Sammie.
In 2005, Happy became the first elephant to pass the mirror self-recognition test, an indicator of self-awareness. That same year, Sammie died, and the zoo vowed to end its captive elephant program after another passed away, saying “it would be inhumane to sustain an exhibit with a single elephant.” Despite this vow, Happy was never retired and has spent nearly the last decade alone. In 2018, Maxine passed away, leaving Patty alone as well.
In the wild, elephants live in matriarchal herds and walk up to 30 miles each day. They mourn their dead and babysit each other’s children. In captivity, however, they suffer intense psychological stress, becoming neurotic, unhealthy, depressed, and aggressive because of the inhumane conditions in which they’re kept. Kept on unnatural substrates and unable to adequately exercise, they develop degenerative joint disease and arthritis at a young age and often die prematurely from foot infections and other ailments that are unheard of in the wild.
Zoos violate all the fundamental tenets of Jainism, from violently abducting animals from the wild (ahimsa or nonviolence) to stealing away everything that is natural and important to them (asteya or not stealing) and misleading the public into thinking it’s for the animals’ own good (asatya or lying). Zoos even drug and forcibly inseminate animals (violating brahmacharya or sexual restraint) to keep their “collections” alive while animals die prematurely from causes exacerbated by stress and confinement.
With Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus coming back animal-free and SeaWorld ending its sordid orca breeding program, it has never been clearer that the public is against the exploitation of animals for entertainment. If zoos want to survive in the modern age, they must shed their attachment to cruel models that breed animals into lifetimes of confinement (non-attachment or aparigraha) and release those they can (like Flaco) to the wild and free those they can’t (like Happy and Patty) to pinjrapoles (animal sanctuaries) or become animal sanctuaries themselves.
For this week’s Anuvrat, I urge you to vow never to visit a zoo and to write Mr. Jim Breheny, Executive Director of the Bronx Zoo ([email protected]), and Mr. Robert Menzi, Interim President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society ([email protected]), and urge them to free Happy and Patty to sanctuaries immediately.
John Di Leonardo is the founding director of Humane Long Island. He was previously the Senior Manager of Grassroots Campaigns and Animals in Entertainment Campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). He has a Master’s degree in Anthrozoology from Canisius College. He also earned a graduate certificate in Jain Studies from the International School of Jain Studies (ISJS) in India. John can be reached at [email protected].
