Time To Wake Up
Proposed law would ban elephant captivity in zoos in New York City
If passed, the bill would directly impact the Bronx Zoo, which is home to two elephants.
Brooklyn Council woman Shahana Hanif has introduced a bill that would ban elephant captivity in New York City.
The proposed legislation builds on existing city and state laws that prohibit the use of elephants in circuses. If passed, it would directly impact the Bronx Zoo, which is home to two elephants – Happy and Patty.
Happy has lived at the Bronx Zoo for 45 years. Last year, a New York court ruled she is not legally a person and must remain at the zoo.
Supported by the Nonhuman Rights Project and Voters For Animal Rights, the bill would be the first elephant captivity ban in the US passed in a city that currently has elephants in captivity.
Bill would impact the Bronx Zoo
Under the proposed legislation, all forms of elephant captivity are banned in the city. Anywhere that wants to keep an elephant would need to meet strict conditions. If these could not be met, the elephant would have to be relocated to a sanctuary.
"No other city has passed legislation to ban elephant captivity, and I'm proud New York City will be the first," said Hanif.
"I'm proud to introduce this new legislation today to set new humane standards around elephant captivity in our city.
"These regulations will ensurethe complex social-emotional needs of elephants are met and if they can't be, then this bill requires elephants be released to a sanctuary."
Wildlife conservationcharity Born Free released a report in 2022 that calls for a ban on keeping elephants in captivity. This year, the group has called for a ban on keeping polar bears in captivity.
"Elephants don't belong in captivity."
"It's clearer than ever that elephants don't belong in captivity and suffer greatly when deprived of their freedom," said Courtney Fern, the director of government relations and campaigns for the Nonhuman Rights Project.
"This bill is a profound step forward for animal protection and honors the complex physical, emotional, and social needs of elephants—thinking, feeling beings who deserve freedom," added AllieTaylor, the president of Voters For Animal Rights.
In a statement to FOX 5, the Bronx Zoo said it is"universally recognized as a leader in animal care, management, exhibitry, education and conservation".
"The bill is full of general,boilerplate language regarding elephants, references issues that are not relevant and does not consider our two elephants as individuals with distinct personalities," the statement said.
Source: BLOOLOOP
As a zoo and aquarium community We need to give the visitors the right information based on facts, It is getting more and more obvious, when we look at what has happened in the last 5-10 years but now most recently to the Elephants in Bronx Zoo, with an ever-growing anti zoo/aquarium movement, that we need to be better at communicating why we have the animals in the zoos and aquariums. We must tell our visitors what those animals can teach us, how we can help their conspecifics in the wild, what we can do to understand this animal, and what/why it is that this animal is so special that we must have it in a zoo.
I think it is safe to say that we would all love it if there was room for all animals in nature, that there were no animals there under threat - from pollution, climate change, humans, loss of habitat, deceases and so on. The real fact is that the majority of the animals we have in zoos and aquariums are under a constant threat from all those things, we have climate change that is destroying animal habitats every day, we have deforestation happening around the world, we have pollution of the oceans by plastic, we have diseases in animal groups we are trying to understand and finding out ways to cure it, and hunting/poaching are still common practice in large parts of the world.
We need to educate people so if they raise their voice,they do it on a educated level instead of something they have read on the internet, It is important to Educate the visitors that elephants do not "need to" walk long distances every day, they "Have to" they do not do it for exercise but for survival to get enough food and water.
We are already as a zoo and aquarium community collecting all the information, but the problem is how to give this information to the visitors. We need to be better and come up with new ways to give the visitors this information, maybe not when they are in the zoo but then when they come home and have more time
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Other attractions using the Aratag app gets in average 28 minutes of information out to the visitors.
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Contact us today, to know more about Aratag and prices, and find out what you can do for your visitors to get them to understand the importance of zoos and aquariums.
Best regards
The Aratag team.
* We can only create text content for Zoo's, Aquariums, Botanic gardens and national parks here in the beginning.