Friday May 25, 2007, 10:46 am
He's a hero for using his power for good!

Friday May 25, 2007, 10:46 am
wow fantastic. finally someone with some clout on Maggies side.

Friday May 25, 2007, 11:06 am
Is Pat Lampi an IDIOT???? "The decision will be based on facts not threats"......What does he think Richard Donner would present in a film about Maggie....the FACTS speak Loud and Clear that Maggie NEEDS OUT OF ALASKA. I wish Maggie could understand that her life will be better soon....because we will not give up on her.....

Friday May 25, 2007, 11:30 am
Yes-Mr Donner! :)

Friday May 25, 2007, 12:27 pm
TIME SENSITIVE ... May 29

The Alaska Zoo board will decide on Maggie's fate this coming Tuesday, 5/29. The zoo is interested in hearing from the public. Anchorage Daily News

EMAIL: directors@alaskazoo.org (NOTE: No threats, please.)

As this weekend is a holiday, PLEASE SEND EMAIL ASAP! They need time to read all the comments prior to Tuesday's meeting.

Also, if you haven't yet, please sign the Petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/588753326

Go to: Friends of Maggie for more info and updates.

Friday May 25, 2007, 1:57 pm

I love Donner!!!

Perhaps I should fly to Alaska, chain myself to the zoo's gate and go on a hunger strike.... I want Angelina Jolie to play me :P

Friday May 25, 2007, 2:06 pm

I was out all day and couldn't stop thinking if there were any updates....I never expected something like this! Thanks, Echo!!

I like the concept of a Free Maggie movie. It would be a way of educating the public on the plight of elephants...that's if the Hollywood execs don't cut the "educating" part out.

Thanks, Blue for spreading the message...and for the 'live' links. You have to teach me how to do that. lol

Friday May 25, 2007, 3:52 pm
I agree with Marjorie: --- Zoo Director Pat Lampi says Maggie's future will be based on facts, not threats.--------

How about forgetting the facts, threats, ego, and money and making a decision on compassion, understanding, morals, ethics and throw in a bit of love (that would help )and he would have a better recipe
for making a decision.

I think they should make a movie about Maggie anyway.

Friday May 25, 2007, 4:24 pm
Have sent 10 emails today. They better let her go!

Friday May 25, 2007, 4:34 pm
*noted* *sign* Taken care of, fwds.

Friday May 25, 2007, 4:43 pm

Marjorie, Pat Lampki sounds like Karl Rove...spin, spin, spin and hope that everyone needs a lobotomy so we buy his crap. For someone making a statement that defies logic, he sure sounds cocky.

Friday May 25, 2007, 5:10 pm
That's a GREAT RECIPE for making a decision Eleni....got to LOVE IT. A Movie would be Great.....and I would hope that Annabelle the Elephant who came to the Alaska Zoo first...and died there at the young age of 33 would be included....she was a good natured Asian Elephant. Sammye Seawell won baby Annabelle in a contest and had her shipped to Alaska. She lived in a barn for quite awhile until the Elephant Bunker was built. Annabelle had many unpleasent experiences at that Zoo....where she was the very first attraction. And who knew how to take care of an Elephant back then? The Zoo began with that one Elephant, Annabelle. For a few years, an Elephant handler from India (I think) was brought there to handle Annabelle. That man was away from his own family for the years he stayed in Alaska.....Sammye didn't want him to leave. I don't think his practices were all that kind to the Elephant. At some time before her death, another man who was her handler taught her how to Paint with Acrylics, which she seemed to enjoy......and her paintings sold in a gallery in Anchorage. I remember the year that Annabelle's Paintings earned over $20,000 for the year.....and I as an artist made a few hundred :) I am not sure why Annabelle died but I think it was the foot problems. Annabelle and Maggie shared the Elephant Bunker. For years until Maggie arrived Annabelle was the Lone Elephant at the Zoo. So, Yes there is a lot of information and material to create an Elephant movie....what a Blessing to Elephants to have their story told. I'm with you Nadia .....Angelina Jolie!!

Friday May 25, 2007, 5:44 pm
I applaud the movie director for this action. I think the boards response referring to it as a "threat" speaks for itself. They seem to be using that word a lot these days. Mr. Donner can respond by saying right back at them..... that the movie will be based on FACTS ... facts this board & the Zoo owners should consider threatening to themselves quite frankely. If I was them, I'd feel "threatenend" by the facts & truth & all of it being exposed. The FACTS are threateneing & troublesome, until now only to Maggie's life. The TRUTH will set this elephant free.

Friday May 25, 2007, 6:53 pm
I would go to see a movie about Maggie, I would love that. Noted!

Friday May 25, 2007, 7:25 pm
I hope and pray they free Maggie!! Noted!!!

Friday May 25, 2007, 7:44 pm
More people need to stand up for animals this way! Bless all that do! Thank you for this post! I will continue to do all that I can for the" HELPLESS"! May the restless that are not " ours" be SET FREE TO LIVE!!!!

Friday May 25, 2007, 8:11 pm
Maggie is a real beauty.... Our petitions do help and bless you all

Friday May 25, 2007, 8:11 pm
Eles,This is excellent news. I'm all for anyone with any kind of power ,famous,a celebrity that cares enough to help in this case Maggie !! I don't care if someone does it for the attention but this is definitely not the situation here. I am very excited to be kept updated.

This would be a dream come true and I hate to speak too soon but I am being extremely positive about this and I also would lovee seeing a Documentary movie and feel it would be almost a necessity for education.

Someone else commented on the same thing. i'm all for educating. People just don't get it...

Thank You for posting this,Eles !

Friday May 25, 2007, 8:26 pm
I hope they listen and free Maggie. It's horrible for her not to be with a herd.

Friday May 25, 2007, 8:48 pm
Way to go Donner!
Bring it all to light . The sooner Maggie is free the better!
God bless you dear one.

Friday May 25, 2007, 9:00 pm
Wonderful news! I hope this will let the whole world know about her life story and then the decision they make next Tuesday they will be forced to stick with for good. I don't believe they will dare make an adverse decision it is they who will look bad in this movie in the future. My hope for Maggie is improving with every piece of news so far. NOTED

Friday May 25, 2007, 10:40 pm
Yea! Good news! I think people need to know more about elephants than just what they have seen in the circus or the zoo! A Free Maggie movie would be good!

Friday May 25, 2007, 10:44 pm
Thank you for the update Blue...*S*
This is just so great. There are still good people to step up to the plate....thank you Donner...*S*

Friday May 25, 2007, 11:26 pm
GOOD NEWS Elephant need there familys ~I NOTED~

Saturday May 26, 2007, 12:48 am
You gotta ask why does Alaska have a zoo and how did these assholes get a licence for it in the first place. This is really what we should be looking at. It is pitiful how many hellholes called zoos that we petition against. It would be good to make a movie tagging the idiots who mete out public policy and licence these hellholes as well as the doorknobs who have as their only aim "cash money" LOL

Saturday May 26, 2007, 1:21 am
I've been out all day and just got to check messages, THIS IS FANTASTIC NEWS!!!! I am so glad that someone with clout is on Maggie's side and hopefully will follow through to tell the story of imprisioned elephants! I work with many wild animals and educate with them, but elephants are a special case. They really can not be kept in captivity except at places like these sanctuaries and San Diego's Wild Animal Park where they have acres to roam and a herd to be with. Hooray for Mr. Donner!!!

Saturday May 26, 2007, 1:53 am
Marjorie - this is what IDA says about the death of Annabelle -
In December 1997, Maggie's long-time elephant companion, Annabelle, also collapsed and could not right herself. News reports indicate that Annabelle was "so sick with infection in her foot and hurting so badly that she couldn't stand up anymore." She was euthanized at age 33, half an elephant's natural lifespan.
What an absulute tragedy that this is still being allowed to happen - and will continue as long as elephants are kept in these cruel and inadquate conditions.
At least it looks as though there might be some hope for Maggie (I'm afraid I'm never game to be too optimistic!)
Thumbsup and a big hug for Mr Donner.

Saturday May 26, 2007, 2:56 am
Mr. Donner is a "saint,

I recall an event many years ago when his beloved sportscar was stolen from the parking area while I was attending an acting seminar hosted by Mr. Donner.
He continued the evening as a true professional ....without so much as a hint as to his own personal loss.
If he actually commits to the making of this film as to the exploitaton and horrendous treatment of elephants it will raise global awareness on a massive scale.
Mr. Donner is a brilliant director. He can reach millions of people in the length of time it takes to watch a film!!
Let's all pray he will work his magic.The elephants will have a voice of grand proportions!!
Regards,
Carole Lorraine Sipos

Saturday May 26, 2007, 9:39 am
i think maggi should go in a sanctuary to spend her last few years, and just enjoy life, that is something she never had until now, poor thing. making a movie with her would kill her, as she broke down twice before. i think she should spend her last years just having the freedom to enjoy good gras, healthy sunshine, clean water and people who love her and really care for her, and if possible with other elephants around of course. she has been in isolation jist with humans much too long, she needs that elephant company to repair her soul!!

Saturday May 26, 2007, 9:44 am
Nurith, I think the film director would use other healthy elephants to "stand in" for Maggie if he made the film; hopefully the Ala$ka Zoo's Board of Director$ will wake up and release Maggie to a sanctuary on Tuesday; let's keep the pressure on!

Saturday May 26, 2007, 10:20 am
Animal Profile: Maggie

Maggie is an African Elephant from Zimbabwe, Africa. She came to the zoo in 1983. She needed a home because her herd was culled, or selectively destroyed to reduce numbers. She was brought to the zoo as a companion for Annabelle, our Asian elephant that died in December of 1997.

. . . . .
Distribution

The African elephant is found south of the Sahara Dessert. African elephants used to be found in many areas of Africa, but because of poaching, wild elephants live only in national parks and reserves. They can live in a wide variety of habitats, from deserts to grassy savannas. Wild elephants live up to 60 years and those in captivity have lived more than 65 years.

Read the rest of the Ala$ka ZOo's "page" on Maggie ...

http://www.alaskazoo.org/willowcrest/maggie.htm

and do NOT forget to write a letter/email/FAX for Maggie's release:

TIME SENSITIVE ... May 29

The Alaska Zoo board will decide on Maggie's fate this coming Tuesday, 5/29. The zoo is interested in hearing from the public. Anchorage Daily News

EMAIL: directors@alaskazoo.org (NOTE: No threats, please.)

As this weekend is a holiday, PLEASE SEND EMAIL ASAP! They need time to read all the comments prior to Tuesday's meeting.

Also, if you haven't yet, please sign the Petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/588753326

Go to: Friends of Maggie for more info and updates.

Saturday May 26, 2007, 10:23 am
And what a film/story "Maggiels" life" would make ...

Activists, zoo officials fight over fate of state's lone elephant

Sheila Toomey / Anchorage Daily News / February 13, 2005

If you don't count the Craig teenager charged with killing her mother, the Alaskan currently attracting the most Outside media attention is Maggie, the African elephant who lives at the Alaska Zoo.

She's not as famous as Jewel. But Google the words "maggie elephant alaska," and you get 9,180 hits. The New York Times wrote about her last month, and both Jay Leno and David Letterman told the same Maggie joke in their monologues.

It went something like this: Officials at a zoo in Anchorage, Alaska, are trying to figure out why their African elephant is depressed. Well, duh. You think it has anything to do with being an elephant in a zoo in Anchorage, Alaska?

The issue is whether the Alaska Zoo can provide a decent life for Maggie, a 22-year-old native of Zimbabwe, and no one involved thinks the question is funny

Should Maggie stay in Alaska or be sent to a zoo in a warmer climate, one that has other elephants? How close to natural habitat must a zoo get to be considered a fit home for an elephant, especially a female African? What's more important for Maggie, to remain in the life she knows or to be moved to a life experts believe she wants?

It's not just Alaska. Elephant fires are burning all over the country as scientists, zoos and animal interest groups try to provide humane and appropriate care for Earth's largest, and some of its most intelligent, land animals, whose survival in the wild is threatened by loss of habitat. The arguers range from those who feel elephants should never be in captivity to those who believe captive breeding programs will be the salvation of the species.

After a year of agonizing over whether to keep Maggie or send her somewhere else, after listening to experts on both sides, the Alaska Zoo board decided last summer that Maggie would not like to be shipped to a strange place full of strange elephants.

Maggie has never known any other life and is happy where she is, the board concluded. So they are keeping her here for at least three years while efforts are made to upgrade her environment, including building the first elephant treadmill so she can exercise during the winter, said zoo director Tex Edwards. In three years, the board will re-evaluate the situation.

'A MORE NATURAL LIFE'

It was a tough call, said Edwards.

"We are comfortable with the decision we made," said current board president Vince Curry. "I understand that some people don't agree with the conclusion."

One of those people is Penelope Wells, a local artist, wife of a retired orthodontist, and a reluctant activist.

Wells says the zoo made the wrong decision and it's dangerous to wait to find another home for Maggie. She's relatively healthy now and at least two good warm-weather zoos with elephants want her. If she gets sick, those opportunities will disappear, Wells said.

"This is Maggie's chance. It's her window to get back to being an elephant, to live a more natural life."

Wells is one of the founders of Friends of Maggie, a local group with a dozen or so active members who believe Maggie must be relocated to a place where she can live a life more like the one experts say elephants require in order to thrive. This means being with others of her kind in a climate where she can walk around outside all year.

According to Wells, Friends of Maggie worked behind the scenes with a zoo committee for about two years, gathering expert information for a proposal to move Maggie. But the zoo board refused to let them make a presentation.

That was because a majority of the board concluded there was no point talking to Friends of Maggie, Edwards said. The group made it clear the only acceptable outcome was to move Maggie, he said. "They're not open-minded. We are."

There is some truth to what Edwards says. As far as Wells and her colleagues are concerned, the evidence in favor of relocating Maggie is overwhelming and the zoo has chosen to ignore it. It's an ethical matter, says Wells. Friends of Maggie can't just abandon Maggie. The group has to do something. So it has decided to take the issue to the public.

"Scientists have learned so much about elephants," Wells said during a recent visit to Maggie, who lives in a building that is larger than national standards but is still a chilly concrete cage with bars where she bumps into things and often has to back up like a big truck to turn around.

Maggie's longtime keeper, a man everyone agrees she is very fond of, has taken a job with the Department of Corrections, but he still works with her about 20 hours a week, Edwards said. During Wells' visit, two other keepers were with her, one cleaning the barn and the other engaging Maggie in games meant to exercise her trunk and her mind. As quickly as a keeper put forkfuls of hay in tires hanging from the ceiling, Maggie snatched bundles out with her trunk, eating some and flinging some around. She was lively, snuffled a lot and seemed to be having a good time until the keepers left for other duties.

'A BUNCH OF FUSS'?

The battle over Maggie's future heated up in January when the American Zoo and Aquarium Association took sides. In a letter to the Alaska Zoo, the association said Maggie should be moved.

The Jan. 13 letter is very diplomatic, deliberately so, according to Sydney Butler, American Zoo and Aquarium Association executive director. It does not say anything bad about the zoo, but the message is unequivocal.

"We do not doubt your commitment, but we must express concern that, despite your current efforts, Maggie will continue to live a solitary life in extremely challenging conditions."

Two American Zoo and Aquarium Association zoos that specialize in elephant care are willing to take Maggie, the letter says. "We believe that such a new location would be in Maggie's best interest."

The letter matters, because the association is not a radical animal rights organization or a group of romantic do-gooders who want to send all elephants back to Africa. Its members are professionals who run 78 zoos and more than a hundred aquariums across North America, including leading zoos like San Diego, Busch Gardens, the Bronx Zoo, Disney Animal Kingdom, Denver and Oakland.

There are no solitary female African elephants in any American Zoo and Aquarium Association zoos, said Alison Stevenson, a spokeswoman for the organization.

Edwards and Curry felt broadsided by the association letter and its publication by Friends of Maggie. They saw it as an attack on the whole zoo.

Edwards agrees that female African elephants in the wild are very social animals and don't live alone. But people just assume this "principle applies to every individual animal in every situation on the globe," he said.

Maggie hasn't lived that life. She has been shaped by the life she lives here and is used to it, he said.

"I don't intend to give any kind of credence to a group of people who like to raise a bunch of fuss," Edwards said.

SHE CAN'T FORGET

Raising a fuss is not Wells' preferred way to accomplish things, she said, but the zoo hasn't left Friends of Maggie much choice.

Born in South Africa, daughter of a British military family, she designs those wildflower bookmarks sold in tourist shops. Her father was a fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force in World War II in the African campaign against Gen. Erwin Rommel. After the war, he flew a Tiger Moth for a while in the Umfologi game reserve in Zululand, South Africa. Wells lived with animals much of her youth.

She landed on the North Slope in 1972 as an oil company employee. She has a master's degree in art history and is a former executive director of the Alaska World Affairs Council. She seems a little uncomfortable with the prospect of organizing a community drive to move Maggie:

"I've never taken on something like this."

But she also seems determined. "I know if the people of this community understood, they would convince the zoo to let Maggie go."

Edwards said the zoo board only wants what is best for Maggie and the evidence is not conclusive for either choice.

"We're doing our absolute best for her," said Curry.

Wells said that no matter how well-meaning the zoo is, it can't change the weather and it can't afford to create a huge winter habitat or get more elephants. Which means, as long as Maggie is here, she will be cold, cramped and alone.

"I go to bed at night," Wells said, "and I think, 'She's right here, standing on concrete.' "

Daily News reporter Sheila Toomey can be reached at stoomey@adn.com .

http://www.wolfsongalaska.org:80/wolf_misc_maggie.htm

That story is from 2005 ... the Ala$ka Zooofficals watched Maggie unable to get up by herself ... called firemen to come and put her in a sling, twice!!! And they still charge people money to come to see her ... greedy ba$tard$!

Saturday May 26, 2007, 11:48 am
Nurith....Maggies last few years may be as many as 40 years....IF she is freed from her cold, concrete Bunker home at the Alaska Zoo.

Saturday May 26, 2007, 4:00 pm
well that's just fair then to send her to a sanctuary, for these years in the isolation jail she deserves the very best!!! justice for maggie, just imagine you have done nothing except being alive and for this you have to live in a place like that and in isolation, even as you are a very social kind who needs the family members. well i hope this mr. donner can do something about it that this director of the zoo gets some sense in his head....

Saturday May 26, 2007, 4:42 pm
I'm so glad that someone famous has stood up and waved a flag. I sure hope Maggie gets a great retirement. Noted, and forwarded. Thanks Echo.

Saturday May 26, 2007, 7:10 pm
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=6561571&nav=menu510_2

Maggie needs our help - she should be allowed to live out her remaining days living in grace, freedom with medical care that she should have already had! the sanctuary in Tennessee is ready to receive her - all that needs to happen is for the Alaska Zoo to set her free. Maggie has been imprisoned long enough. Compassion is what is needed now!

Saturday May 26, 2007, 9:15 pm
If anyone can do this for Maggie ,Mr.Donner can and I hope he does.

Sunday May 27, 2007, 9:39 am
2003 Alaska Zoo Report Admits Inability to Care for Maggie the Elephant A 2003 Alaska Zoo Board report acknowledged that the Zoo could not properly care for Maggie the elephant, In Defense of Animals (IDA) revealed today. In a letter to the USDA, IDA charged that, by its own admission, the Alaska Zoo has been violating the

Sunday May 27, 2007, 4:04 pm
Thank you everyone! Please keep writing all weekend and ask more to write! Tuesday is the meeting. Also thanks to everyone noting this story, its at the top of Care2's news page

Dont forget to note this one too please!

http://www.care2.com/news/member/736437017/385501 It needs equal exposure!

Sunday May 27, 2007, 5:18 pm
I hope they take him up on his offer. A Maggie movie is a splendid idea!

Monday May 28, 2007, 8:14 am
Ah, send her to Sanctuary.

Monday May 28, 2007, 11:44 am
Zoo Discusses Elephant's Fate - President Predicts Board Will Bow to Pressure and Move Maggie Out of State ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Zoo's board of directors met Thursday to decide whether the state's only elephant should be moved south, and the board's president predicted she would be.

Monday May 28, 2007, 11:54 am
ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Zoo's board of directors met Thursday to decide whether the state's only elephant should be moved south, and the board's president predicted she would be.

Sound off on the important issues at
Dick Thwaites, who has been on the board 20 years, said criticism of keeping Maggie the elephant in a cold climate, where she spends months in a concrete enclosure, has been unprecedented. Board members have been personally threatened, he said.

"I'm not sure the board is inclined to keep her," he said. "The board is bowing to the pressure regardless of what the experts say."

Zoo board members have long maintained that they have the backing of elephant experts in their decision to keep Maggie at the zoo.

Sammye Seawell, founder of the zoo, said Wednesday her vote remains the same regardless of the concentrated pressure.

"I would never, ever vote to ship Maggie out," she said.

Calls to send the elephant to a sanctuary in a warmer climate accelerated after the 8,000-pound animal twice last week lay on her side and could not get up. Anchorage firefighters and a wrecker company helped lift her to her feet.

Zoo officials said she probably went down the first time because of a stomach ache caused by a change in her hay. The second time, she probably went down from the stress on her muscles of the first incident, zoo officials said.

For a few days, Maggie was held up by a sling. She continues to wear a harness that would make it easier to lift her if she lies down again.

Local groups and national animal rights organizations have pressured the board to move Maggie. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals offered zoo director Pat Lampi a free trip to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee to see where Maggie could be placed.

The Anchorage Assembly, which has no authority over the issue, on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution calling for the zoo to consider moving Maggie soon.

"Everyone is inundating everyone with information," Thwaites said.

The dozen or so volunteer board members are feeling pressured, Thwaites said.

"I'm probably in a situation of losing more board members than one can afford to lose in a small group because they are getting called at home, they are getting e-mails, they are getting all kinds of stuff."

The zoo is again consulting elephant experts in advance of the meeting, Thwaites said.

"I know what they said the first time and my inclination would be to let her stay and work through the whole program they wanted us to go through and see how she comes out," he said. "But that doesn't look like an option right now.

"And, I think for the zoo's safety and health, it probably needs to look at how the public is looking at it. ... Which is a shame."

Board member Michelle Nelson said she had not received any pressure and had not yet made her decision, which will be based in part on what she hears from experts, she said.

Seawell called the resolution by the assembly "way out of line."

"They had no right to do that," she said. The city contributes no money to the zoo and has no authority over its board.

Thwaites said he regrets not accomplishing what elephant experts recommended to the zoo more than two years ago to improve Maggie's living conditions. The high price of steel and other funding issues kept the zoo from accomplishing all its goals, such as putting soft floor cover in the elephant's enclosure. Thwaites said he is worried about the effect on the health of the elephant if the board decides to move her.

The zoo is collecting public comments by e-mail at directorsalaskazoo.org and printed comments in a box outside the zoo's main entrance.

Tuesday May 29, 2007, 2:55 pm
eaked Memo: "the Alaska Zoo’s Board Ignored Experts’ Advice on Maggie the Elephant" . . . report says seven of eight experts consulted by the board in 2004 recommended moving the elephant to a warmer climate and the company of other elephants. One scientist said Maggie could remain in Anchorage, APRN’s story says, “provided the zoo...

Tuesday May 29, 2007, 2:56 pm
Leaked Memo: "the Alaska Zoo’s Board Ignored Experts’ Advice on Maggie the Elephant" . . . report says seven of eight experts consulted by the board in 2004 recommended moving the elephant to a warmer climate and the company of other elephants. One scientist said Maggie could remain in Anchorage, APRN’s story says, “provided the zoo...

Friday June 1, 2007, 12:33 pm
Alaska Zoo Report Admits Inability to Care
for Maggie the Elephant
"Take Action" to urge Zoo Board to transfer her to a sanctuary

IDA recently revealed a 2004 Alaska Zoo Board report in which officials acknowledge that the Zoo could not properly care for Maggie the elephant. In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), IDA charged that, by its own admission, the Alaska Zoo has been violating the federal Animal Welfare Act for years by failing to provide adequate care and conditions for the 27-year-old elephant. IDA also emphasized that the two recent critical incidents, during which Maggie was found prone and unable to stand back up on her own, made this a life and death situation.

IDA is therefore calling on the USDA to immediately remove Maggie from the Zoo. "It is outrageous that the Alaska Zoo selfishly refused to move Maggie despite its own acknowledgement that it could not properly care for her," said IDA president Elliot Katz, DVM. "Given the death of Maggie's companion Annabelle ten years ago from zoo-induced foot disease, the Zoo's decision to keep Maggie could literally have been a death sentence."

In a June 9, 2004 report, an Alaska Zoo Board of Directors committee that included former director Tex Edwards and board member John Seawell, admitted, "Our management system is limited to our resources and training. We are currently unable to do basic health management procedures." Edwards appeared to anticipate future health problems related to Maggie's captive conditions, noting, "Maggie is healthy now, but if she develops a medical condition that would be alleviated by a different climate or other winter housing she should be moved as soon as possible."

The IDA letter cited additional documentation of the Zoo's inability to care for Maggie, including:

Lack of emergency equipment and protocols: Alaska Zoo had to call in the Anchorage Fire Department, and firefighters were forced to search the Internet for ideas on how to lift her.

Lack of equipment necessary to manage and monitor Maggie's health: The Zoo lacks an elephant restraint device for veterinary treatment and husbandry purposes, and a scale, which is necessary for determining drug dosages.

Lack of a veterinarian with expertise in elephants.

"The USDA should have held Alaska Zoo accountable years ago for violating the Animal Welfare Act by failing to adequately house and care for Maggie," said Katz. "Now the situation is life and death. The USDA must take immediate steps to ensure that Maggie is transferred to a sanctuary without delay."

A copy of IDA's letter to the USDA is available online. For more information, please visit www.helpelephants.com.

What You Can Do

- The Alaska Zoo Board of Directors met on Tuesday, May 29 to discuss Maggie's condition and situation, but decided to put off any decisions until next week so they can consult elephant experts and gauge public opinion on the matter. Please "Take Action" to urge the Board to send Maggie to a sanctuary where she can enjoy wide open spaces in a warm climate with other elephants.

Also please "Take Action" to urge the USDA to immediately remove Maggie from the Alaska Zoo and send her to a sanctuary. Also follow up with a polite letter, phone call, fax, or email to Ron DeHaven, a USDA official with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Ron DeHaven
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
4700 River Road
Riverdale, MD 20737
Tel: (202) 720-3668
Fax: (202) 720-3054
Ron.DeHaven@usda.gov

Friday June 1, 2007, 5:02 pm
SIgned, sealed and delivered to both.
I do have faith in USDA. They still are investigating our case witha popular airline regarding our 3 our pets that were in their care for a very long flight. The USDA investigator told us that the issue wil never be NOT dealth with.

Thursday June 21, 2007, 11:48 pm
How Do You Move An 8,000 Lb. Elephant? - Maggie! The Wrong & Right Way to ZOO It

. . . . .

What is most needed are better attitudes. The first and most important would be to put the needs of the animals above all others, using nature as the yardstick to assess their quality of life, rather than just zoo standards, which have never been enough.

For example, as greater knowledge emerges about wild elephants and their extraordinary social, psychological, behavioural and emotional complexity, more wildlife scientists are declaring that urban zoos cannot provide satisfactory conditions for these beings. Several progressive US zoos have agreed and have closed or are phasing out their elephant exhibits. But most zoos have responded defensively, saying the scientists understand only wild elephants, not zoo elephants, as if they were different species.

. . . . .

The simplistic aim of too many zoos is to attract hordes of visitors, to whom they offer non-organic, non-free-range food items, and entertain them by revealing little more than the size, shape, and colour of the animals.

Zoos often claim, however, to be conservation centres. But "conservation" for most zoos just means "breeding", which is merely basic zoo business: zoos must breed their animals to preserve their collections. Hardly any animals born in zoos are introduced to the wild.

They nonetheless loudly position themselves as leaders in wildlife conservation. In truth, government and non-government agencies are most successful in restoring habitat and reintroducing wild species. Zoos play an occasional minor role - and want all the glory.

Interestingly, if zoos saw animal welfare as their central goal, they might become more effective conservation leaders. The exhibits, interpretation strategies, education programs, husbandry and collection would all be quite different in a zoo focused upon welfare.

Taronga and Melbourne zoos, for example, recently imported elephants from Thailand (at incredible expense) for "conservation" reasons. A zoo devoted to welfare would not do this. Indeed, it would not contain elephants at all. Certainly, Taronga's $50 million elephant exhibit would not be confining five elephants in a mere quarter of a hectare if animal wellbeing was its central concern.

With new attitudes and intelligent philosophies, zoos could make wonderful contributions to society. They could help lead visitors to a greater awareness and comprehension of nature, revealing complex interdependencies, and showing why a healthy relationship with the natural world is our best guide for a more complete and satisfying journey through life.

Perhaps with such changes, zoos truly could enliven the minds, enrich the hearts and feed the souls of those millions who visit them each year, hungry for a clearer understanding and better connection with that other world of nature.

David Hancocks is an architect and former director of Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle (1975-84), the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, (1989-97), and Werribee Open Range Zoo, Victoria (1998-2003). His most recent book is A Different Nature: the Paradoxical World of Zoos.

Friday June 22, 2007, 3:20 pm
Blue,
Lord love a duck, politics rein in every step that the zoo has to complete before releasing from her prison.
You don't think the zoo is under the mistaken impression that because we're quiet right now that they will up and change their minds do you?

Saturday June 23, 2007, 9:27 pm
Wolfsweeps, the ALa$ka Zoo changed its mind about providing rubber cushioned flooring for Maggie's cement floored "cell" ... they'll be keeping her for the $ummer vi$itor$ ...

We must keep the pressure on ...

Sunday June 24, 2007, 1:24 pm
LET'S RAMP UP THE PRESSURE. WE SEEM TO BE IN GRIDLOCK WITH MAGGIE'S FORWARD MOVEMENT OUT OF THERE.
HMMMM?

Sunday June 24, 2007, 3:11 pm
You're right, Carolelorraine ... please, everyone, watch this video AGAIN:

Audio/Video: Maggie the Elephant - Walls of Stone

I think our best bet is through the Department of Agriculture, to get inspectors up to the Ala$ka Zoo; please write a polite letter, phone call, fax, or email to Ron DeHaven, a USDA official with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Ron DeHaven
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
4700 River Road
Riverdale, MD 20737
Tel: (202) 720-3668
Fax: (202) 720-3054
Ron.DeHaven@usda.gov

4 years ago, the Ala$ka Zoo board admitted their failure to care for Maggie ... we must keep the pressure on ... they admitted they can't maintain her health and yet they're allowed to keep her isolated ...

2003 Alaska Zoo Report Admits Inability to Care for Maggie the Elephant A 2003 Alaska Zoo Board report acknowledged that the Zoo could not properly care for Maggie the elephant, In Defense of Animals (IDA) revealed today.

Sunday June 24, 2007, 3:29 pm
THANK YOU BLUE B. FOR THE CONTACTS! LET'S ALL START WRITING THESE PEOPLE. DON'T LET THEM THINK WE CAN BE OUTWITTED BY THEIR CLEVER MANIPULATIONS. MAGGIE NEED US!!!!!!!

Sunday June 24, 2007, 10:28 pm
Blue,

Thanks for the info , and I'll get more time tomorrow to sit down and get a writng emails and other contacts.
How about we start and email compaign to the USDA as well....give them a push....so to speak?

Monday June 25, 2007, 8:02 pm
I agree, Wolfsweeps ... I think a letter writin gcampaign will keep the pressure on.

I email the Anchorage press, the board of directors of the Alaska Zoo, and the USDA at least once a week to inquire about progress being made towards transferrin gMaggie.

Perhaps the USDA's inspectors can convince the Board of Directors at the Ala$ka Zoo that they ought to get the veterinarians up there to examin eMaggie a little more quickly ... they still haven't done it!

Thursday July 19, 2007, 6:35 pm
Alaska Zoo Board Delay Is a Death Sentence for Maggie Last week, the Alaska Zoo board of directors announced it would not make its final decision on a new home for Maggie, an ailing African elephant, until its next meeting on August 8th. This means that Maggie will probably not be relocated this summer to . . .