Washington's long history of keeping elephants in zoos is near its end. The death this month of an elderly Asian elephant in Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo leaves just one ill elephant in its care, Suki.
Tacoma's zoo has rightly chosen to close and transform its elephant exhibit area--eventually. Suki has tuberculosis and cannot be shipped out of state to an elephant preserve. Point Defiance Zoo plans to maintain her home the rest of her life, then remake the elephants' space into a habitat for animal species more suited to zoo life.
This conversion is a necessary, and overdue, evolution for how zoos operate. Elephants thrive in multigenerational herds with freedom to roam; city zoos rarely provide even a modicum of this. Woodland Park Zoo's abhorrent handling of its transition away from elephants--sending the last two, Bamboo and Chai, away to an Oklahoma zoo, where Chai died--need not be revisited. Point Defiance Zoo should improve on that tragic legacy by fulfilling its commitment to Suki's geriatric care.
Woodland Park Zoo's conversion of the former elephant space to the Assam Rhino Reserve is an example for how Tacoma's zoo could approach the post-pachyderm era.
Woodland Park Zoo chose to introduce rhinoceroses in part because they are generally not social animals and require less roaming space, zoo spokesperson Gigi Allianic explained. Rhinos also share elephants' troubled status as species threatened by poachers, she added.
"Having rhinos here allows us to still educate our visitors about wildlife trafficking," she said. "Rhinos are an iconic symbol."
The reuse of the exhibit space has an important place in zoos' mission of education for visitors of all ages, from children learning about the diversity of species to adults learning the importance of protecting wildlife from man-made and other threats. Rhinos are one of several potential choices Point Defiance Zoo can make for its next phase.
Editorial on 02/27/2020