US ignores scientific opinion and approves import of Swazi elephants to US zoos Melissa Reitz, Conservation Action Trust January 27, 2016 Despite worldwide opposition, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has approved permits to import 18 wild elephants from Swaziland to three US zoos. Conservationists, scientists and public opinion is overwhelmingly against the importation of the elephants, with 83 percent of the almost 8 000 comments sent to USFWS opposing the import, and only 14 percent in favour of the move. A statement signed by over 70 ecologists, elephant and animal welfare experts’ highlighted concerns over the elephants’ welfare and emphasised the fact that alternative locations in Swaziland had not been considered. The zoos applied for the permit to import the elephants from Swaziland’s Big Game Park’s (BGP) managed game reserves, Hlane and Makaya, claiming that due to overpopulation and the severe drought that Southern Africa is now facing, the survival of the elephants and their environment is threatened. According to BGP the elephants have nowhere else to go and would have to be killed if the zoos did not home them, a claim disputed by conservationists who argue that there is space in three other Swazi parks.The import has also been motivated by a claim to make more room for the endangered black rhino in the area. “Of course the zoos need elephants to generate income through more visitors, as they have clearly admitted. This is an issue about money and not about the elephants and one wonders why they asked for public comment in the first place?” says Marion Garai of the Elephant Specialist Advisory Group, which also issued a statement detailing the welfare concerns of removing elephants from the wild. But welfare and animal rights groups are threatening to take legal action to block or delay the relocation – Animal Rights Groups Oppose Importing 18 African Elephants to US. “We’re going to attempt to mobilise a strong media campaign in the US and elsewhere, to highlight to the public the travesty that is taking place with the incarceration of these elephants in US zoos, and that this is not sound conservation and tremendously cruel,” says Jonathan Tager, CEO of Group Elephant. http://conservationaction.co.za/media-articles/us-ignores-scientific-opinion-and-approves-import-of-swazi-elephants-to-us-zoos/ Groups could challenge plan to bring elephants to Omaha zoo Associated Press January 23, 206 OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Legal challenges from animal rights groups could delay plans to bring elephants from southern Africa to the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha. The zoo and two others in Dallas and Wichita, Kansas, received federal permission to import 18 elephants. The Omaha zoo is planning to get six elephants. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permits approved this week will allow the zoos to take the elephants from Big Game Parks, an independent nonprofit that manages several wildlife parks in Swaziland. The park was planning to kill the elephants as a population control measure because the growing elephant herd was degrading the park's food supply and endangering other animals. As part of the partnership, the three zoos will send about $450,000 over several years to Big Game Parks for black rhino conservation. But animal-rights groups argue the exchange is a commercial transaction forbidden by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Omaha World-Herald reported (http://bit.ly/1PLhuH3 ) Saturday. The Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other groups have tried to delay, alter or cancel the import since plans were first announced in 2014. "This is sending a really dangerous signal to other African countries that there is money to be made by sending elephants to American zoos," said Rachel Mathews, PETA Foundation counsel. PETA representatives said the group doesn't plan to take legal action, but the Animal Legal Defense Fund said it might. "(The zoos) intend to use the elephants for breeding programs to repopulate a dwindling inventory of captive elephants and boost ticket sales with the birth of baby elephants," said Stephen Wells, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, in a statement. Dennis Pate, CEO and executive director of the Omaha zoo, denied that the money for the rhino conservation trust constitutes buying of elephants. "Lots of good things come out of this," Pate said. "No. 1, you save elephants from being culled in Swaziland. No. 2, we get to help rhinos at the same time. And No. 3, we strengthen the genetic pool of elephants in North America and make them more sustainable." http://www.theindependent.com/news/state/groups-could-challenge-plan-to-bring-elephants-to-omaha-zoo/article_f2d18361-15c3-5015-b0fa-0cae5ef54713.html U.S. Says Yes to Importing 18 Elephants From Swaziland Christina Russo, National Geographic January 22, 2016 Despite protests from wildlife activists, the animals will be moved to zoos in Dallas, Omaha, and Wichita. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved an application to import 18 African elephants from Swaziland to three zoos in the United States. Since plans were announced to move the elephants, conservationists and proponents of the import have battled over whether the elephants should be transferred to zoos or remain in the wild, where they were born. The three male elephants and 15 females are estimated to range from 6 to 25 years old. They’ll be sent to the Dallas Zoo, the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, and the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. A private nonprofit trust in Swaziland called Big Game Parks now manages the animals. The Service said it granted the permit because it determined that the import would satisfy requirements under the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the body that regulates international wildlife trade. Under CITES regulations, a country importing wildlife must consider whether the import would be “detrimental to the survival of the species,” among other requirements. Room for Rhinos, a partnership between the zoos and Swaziland officials, is overseeing the project. “Our goal is to get these elephants to their new homes as quickly as possible," said Mark Reed, executive director of Sedgwick County Zoo, in a statement put out by Room for Rhinos. Room for Rhinos says the move is essential because elephants are crowding out rhinos and damaging the parks. If the elephants aren’t moved, Room for Rhinos claims, they’ll be killed. Some 80 conservationists signed a letter last October condemning the proposed import. They argue that removing elephants from their home ranges is unethical. There’s no proof that Swaziland and the zoos explored alternative options for the elephants, the conservationists assert, such as relocating them to other parks within Africa. The zoos agreed to give Big Game Parks $450,000 in exchange for the elephants, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Whether zoos are able to adequately care for elephants and other large mammals has been hotly debated. In 2012, an award winning specialseries in the Seattle Times found that the infant mortality rate of elephants in U.S. zoos was nearly triple that of elephants in the wild and that most elephants “died from injury or disease linked to their captivity.” (Read: Should US Zoos Be Allowed To Import 18 African Elephants?). “We are taking every step possible to ensure the transport of these elephants is humane and does not place them at undue risk or endanger their health,” said Laury Parramore, spokeswoman for Fish and Wildlife Service, in an email. “I am heartbroken and devastated by this decision,” Paula Kahumbu, CEO of the Kenya-based nonprofit WildlifeDirect, wrote in an email. “It must take a very cold heart to condemn these emotional babies to a life in a prison camp knowing it will kill their spirit.” American zoos, she said, “should be ashamed of themselves.” http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160122-Swaziland-Elephants-Import-US-Zoos/ ------------------------------------- This news service is provided by Save the Elephants. 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