Bowmanville says no, but Tennessee yes
Ontario zoo director withdraws shelter offer after 'lies' told

Nicholas Read
Vancouver Sun

Friday, May 30, 2003

Tina, the Asian elephant, could be off to Tennessee soon. It could take up to four days to transport the pachyderm south.

Tina, the Greater Vancouver Zoo's Asian elephant, is not going to the Bowmanville Zoo in Ontario, and Carol Buckley, director of the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee is hopeful zoo managers in Aldergrove will decide today to send the ailing pachyderm to her instead.

On Tuesday the Greater Vancouver Zoo said it would send Tina, who suffers from chronic and debilitating foot problems, to Bowmanville, east of Toronto. That provoked complaints from animal welfare advocates who warned that Tina would be used for entertainment in Bowmanville and that Michael Hackenberger was known to strike his animals.

Hackenberger announced Thursday morning that because of the "lies" told about his zoo, he had withdrawn his offer to take Tina, who has infections and arthritis in her feet.

Buckley said later she was told by Greater Vancouver Zoo officials Wednesday night that they had told Hackenberger Wednesday Tina would not be sent to Bowmanville because of Hackenberger's claim to the media that Tina would be used in amusement rides and shows in the zoo's amphitheatre.

Zoo general manager John Lee would not confirm that on Thursday, saying only that he didn't know who at the zoo phoned Hackenberger.

"I don't have any idea who called [Bowmanville]," he said in a phone interview. "But it was not me."

He did add, however, that he was concerned about claims Tina would be used for entertainment, saying: "I didn't get full information about Bowmanville."

He then said: "That's why we're leaning toward the Tennessee Sanctuary."

Hackenberger did not return a phone message left by The Vancouver Sun asking if the Greater Vancouver Zoo had withdrawn its offer to send Tina to him.

Buckley said Thursday on her way to catch a plane to Vancouver that she was told Wednesday that providing she can meet all the conditions the Greater Vancouver Zoo has set for Tina's care and transfer, the zoo would send her to Tennessee.

"I have provided all the information they need," she said. "I don't see any reason why they wouldn't say yes."

She is due to meet Lee and other zoo officials at 9 a.m. today to discuss the details.

Jamie Dorgan, the Greater Vancouver Zoo's animal-care manager, initially said he was concerned about the time it would take to obtain permits to move Tina across the border. He also was worried about how long it would take to get her to Hohenwald, the nearest town to Buckley's sanctuary.

But officials at the Convention for the International Trade in Endangered Species said it would take six weeks to obtain a permit, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife department has said no permit is required.

Buckley said it would take up to four days for her to haul Tina to Tennessee in a specially designed semi-trailer because even though a non-stop journey would take only 40 hours, Tina would require regular rest breaks.

Public concern about Tina has been overwhelming. Lee said the zoo has been inundated with calls and e-mails from members of the public concerned about Tina's fate.

Lee admits the public outcry has concerned the zoo, but said Tina's interests have always been central to the zoo's decision about where to send her.

With Bowmanville out of the running, Lee said the zoo has no other alternatives to the Tennessee Sanctuary.

"For the time being, I don't have any other ideas. We're just considering the possibility of the Tennessee Sanctuary. If the conditions are met, we are going to send her there."

Hackenberger issued a press release Thursday morning saying he had voluntarily withdrawn his offer to take Tina.

"In light of the media frenzy and the public circus which has developed, we are no longer able to assist this elephant," he said.

Later in a phone interview, he said because of "the level of slander and lies," he could not take Tina, adding: "It's not the Canadian way and I'm not going to do it."

On Wednesday afternoon, Hackenberger told The Sun he had intended to use Tina in amusement rides and in "educational" shows.

He also said he does hit his elephants when necessary, particularly when one is behaving aggressively towards a human being or another animal.

On Thursday, Nova Scotia veterinarian Hugh Chisholm told The Sun he had inspected Hackenberger's elephants when Hackenberger took them to Halifax for a circus performance in 1997, and that two of them were chained even though Hackenberger promised him he never chained his elephants.

Chisholm also said Hackenberger told him then that he beat his animals.

"I talked to Mr. Hackenberger and he told me if he had an elephant with aggressive tendencies, he would go in and beat it and had no problem with that."

Hackenberger told The Sun on Wednesday that he did beat his elephants when he was "younger and didn't know better," but now would hit them only when necessary.

On Thursday, the Greater Vancouver Zoo moved Tina briefly to a grassy enclosure that would be easier on her feet, but moved her back to her concrete facility in the afternoon. Lee said she would be moved back and forth between both enclosures in future.

Veterinarians say because the elephant gets little or no exercise, her blood doesn't circulate properly which means her body can't fight off infections the way it should.

As a consequence, what should be minor infections get worse to the point that Tina could become so sick that she'll no longer want to eat. Then she will have to be destroyed.

That's why, says Buckley, it's imperative that Tina make it to her 1,200-hectare sanctuary because there she will have plenty of room to move around and get adequate exercise.

In the wild, elephants can travel up to 100 kilometres a day.

Currently there are seven Asian elephants at the Tennessee sanctuary, all of them female and all of them rescued from different circumstances. One lived for over a year in the back of a delivery truck in California. Another developed chronic food rot after being declared useless by a circus. A third almost drowned in a flood in Texas.

Buckley says it costs over $600,000 Cdn a year to maintain the facility, and that all of it comes from donations. She also said it has no trouble maintaining that level of support.

"That's why we can afford to rescue new elephants like Tina."

Julie Woodyer of Zoocheck Canada, one of the animal welfare groups opposed to Tina going to Bowmanville, said she was cautiously hopeful about Thursday's news.

"We're hopeful that this is a sign that the zoo is going to make the choice of sending Tina to Tennessee, which everyone knows will be in Tina's best interests.

"But we'll remain concerned until we hear the word that Tina is going to the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary."

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