WHAT⇣DOES⇣THE⇣FUTURE HOLD. Bamboo, a 38-year-old elephant, stands at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, where various groups decide what is best for the animal.
When is all said and done, the bottom line about Bamboo, the elephant who was transferred from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, centers on what is best for the endangered animal.
But that is just where the problem lies.
On Dec. 20, members of Northwest Animal Rights Network met with David Della, Chair of Seattle City Council Parks Committee to discuss the fate of Bamboo.
NARN members presented video footage, written opinion and documents detailing Bamboo’s symptoms of what they believe to be neuroses, stress and obesity.
If all was perfect to the group, they would have the 38-year-old elephant released to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, a 2,400-acre natural habitat designed to alleviate these symptoms.
“We’re not elephant experts,” said NARN President Diana Kantor. “So we’ve spent the past several months doing ground work by taking time to look into the situation and videotaping her. We feel comfortable with what we have seen to stand behind our decision.”
On Dec. 18, the group made one of their regular visits to the zoo to monitor Bamboo’s progress. They watched her make the same repetitive motions, eat her daily lunch and take breaks to pace, as well as rock and sway while she had her feet groomed.
But according to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium staff, Bamboo is adapting well to her new home.
“We’re not putting a timeline on her,” said Craig Wilcox, elephant manager for the zoo. He has worked with elephants for 14 years, and is starting his 20th year at the zoo. He said he sees no reason for concern about her well being.
“For the third day in a row she’s ventured out into the backyard area outside,” he said. “It’s a big step for her and we believe she’s proceeding very well, actually better than we anticipated.”
Bamboo first arrived in Tacoma in late August after elephant experts from PDZA and Woodland Park Zoo studied the herds at both zoos for more than a year, and determined that Bamboo would be more compatible with the elephants in Tacoma than with the existing Seattle herd.
Bamboo has never reproduced, and is considered past breeding age.
“Our elephant keepers are impressed with Bamboo’s intelligence and‑playful spirit. She is displaying healthy curiosity about her surroundings, and is responding well to the four keepers who work closely with her,” stated information about the elephant on the PDZA web site.
It reported that the staff is working to gradually socialize Bamboo with the other Asian elephants at PDZA, Hanako and Suki. The keepers are taking their cues from the elephants and allowing the socializing to proceed on “Bamboo time.”
They emphasize that elephant-keeping staffs from both zoos continue to work closely together to ensure that Bamboo’s introduction into the PDZA elephant herd‑goes well.
But NARN members disagree. They claim that Bamboo is not adapting well to her new less than an acre of outdoor space at PDZA. They say that she still remains separated from the other elephants and spends the majority of her time pacing in small, counter-clockwise circles and abnormally shaking her head, a behavior she began several years ago at Woodland Park Zoo.
“They say we are being too impatient with Bamboo and need to give her more time to adapt to her surroundings,” Kantor said. “But four months is long enough for an elephant to make no progress.”
Kantor said she knows zoo staff wants what is best for the elephant and said if she saw progress in her adaptation, there wouldn’t be any reason for concern.
As time goes on, support for Bamboo has increased.
The group produced a web site titled “Free Bamboo Now” where they show footage of her erratic behavior.
Even if Bamboo isn’t sent to the sanctuary, Kantor said the effort is not lost. She said that raising public awareness and support for animals and elephants is also a positive step.
“(Animal rights) is something that hasn’t been active lately with the war,” she said. “We didn’t expect to see this much support be given.”
A group that supports NARN’s decision to release the elephant is the lowbrow surrealist artists at Seattle’s Roq La Rue Gallery. Roq La Rue Director Kristen Anderson organized an auction of lowbrow art recently which helped to raise $4,000 for the campaign.
Kantor said that the sanctuary will pay for all the necessary expenses to transport the elephant, but the funds will be used to generate awareness about Bamboo including bus advertisements and public outreach.
“We’ve tried to keep the campaign at a conversational level with the zoo,” she said, saying they have deterred from doing demonstrations.
But if she doesn’t see progress with the elephant she isn’t ruling out demonstrations in the future.
For more information about Bamboo, visit www.pdza.org or the Bamboo campaign at www.freebamboo.org.
