Celebrated television personality and animal-welfare activist Bob Barker is going to “come on down” for Connie and Shaba so that Tucson’s beloved elephants can remain together—but will the City Council join him?

On a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, both the Reid Park Zoo and San Diego Zoo have refused to find a way to keep them together—and believe us, we’ve asked.

Aside from those zoos, no other accredited facility that houses African and Asian elephants together is remotely suitable for Connie and Shaba due to a small exhibit size, the use of bull hooks or requirements that elephants give rides and perform circus tricks. This speaks strongly to their so-called “rigorous” standards. Forced to reach beyond that system, we approached PAWS (the Performing Animal Welfare Society), which has agreed to provide sanctuary for Connie and Shaba—together—when no one else has.

The folks at PAWS know, as so many do, that their 30-year bond trumps all. Located in San Andreas, Calif., “PAWS can provide them with the nurturing care and space they deserve. Plans include a spacious barn and an expansive natural habitat designed exclusively for them,” says Barker, who is contributing $500,000 in matching funds toward the cost of construction.

Now, Connie and Shaba’s future is truly in the hands of City Council members, who can vote to send them to PAWS.

If four of them can summon the courage to take a stand and find it in their conscience to make the right decision, Connie and Shaba will never be at risk of being separated or transferred again. When Connie passes, Shaba would be integrated with PAWS’ African herd, an easier transition on such expansive acreage, compared to the close quarters at the Reid Park Zoo’s new elephant exhibit.

PAWS’ director and founder have more than 75 years of experience between them. The organization employs 17 keepers for nine elephants, and the dedicated staff monitors the elephants 24/7. Neither the Reid Park Zoo nor San Diego Zoo can offer this. PAWS is also renowned for its progressive foot and joint treatment for arthritic elephants.

Our proposal requests that the City Council allow Connie and Shaba to stay six more months in their current exhibit so the community can raise the remainder of the required funds ($500,000), and construction can be completed at PAWS. This is a relative bargain considering the cost of care per elephant ranges from $75,000 to $130,000 a year, and considering that the Reid Park Zoo’s new elephant exhibit cost more than $10 million, and has far less space and fewer amenities. The city of Tucson has agreed to give $400,000 a year to Reid Park Zoo for the maintenance of the new elephants. Connie and Shaba’s longtime residence is a walk from the new exhibit and will not impact the incoming elephant herd.

The Reid Park Zoo and San Diego Zoo have made a commitment to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and to the breeding of captive elephants, but the city of Tucson has a commitment to Connie and Shaba. Connie has served our city for 42 years, since the age of 2, while languishing on a third of an acre. Shaba has been here 30 years. Let’s give them a peaceful and dignified retirement together.

Please send letters of support to the City Council at tucsonaz.gov. We have an opportunity to unite and send a powerful message that Connie and Shaba’s future should not be dictated by a “recommendation.”

This is not about us versus them. This is about Connie and Shaba. That’s what it should always come back to. The act of moving and transitioning anywhere will be incredibly difficult, and they should face this challenge together. This is about their safety, and their physical and psychological well-being, which are intricately tied to their 30-year bond. And nothing—nothing—can replace it.

This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.

9 replies on “Guest Commentary”

  1. Can there be a petition for voters to vote on the issue of moving C&S to PAWS while getting an injunction to stop the move, until the vote in November? This will, at the least, force the city council to review the many dirty dealings of the AZA further and perhaps they will stop the move themselves while advocates raise the funds to give the girls a WELL DESERVED retirement.

  3. Please read further to compare the options and if you find it in your heart to contribute to the fate of these beautiful, intelligent, emotional creatures please speak up NOW !

    Reid Park – current home of Connie and Shaba –

    Enclosure approx. 1/10 of an acre with a waterless pool.
    Packed dirt (contributes to unhealthy feet), no foliage or grass.
    Barn/building size approx. 1600 sq. ft.
    No keepers monitoring elephants 24/7.
    If decision to stay – could at any time be transferred to another AZA facility.

    San Diego Zoo Odyssey – AZA planned future home of Connie and Shaba –

    3 Enclosures approx. 1/4 of an acre or less – not all have pools. 1 used for Bull elephant.
    Packed dirt (= unhealthy feet), no foliage or grass.
    Now only 5 elephants including 1 bull, due to the 2 recent (and too soon) euthanasia’s.
    Less area for each elephant than there is at Reid Park per sq footage.
    New socialization and separation = emotional distress and health decline – over crowding causes early death either from emotional distress or elephant attacks – like the one at San Diego’s other exhibit at the Safari Park in Nov. where there are now 2 motherless calves.
    Elephant Care Center size approx. 10,000 sq ft. – includes viewing areas for visitors so much less space for the elephants.
    No keepers monitoring the elephants 24/7.
    Possibility of another transfer to another AZA facility.

    PAWS – ARK2000 Elephant Sanctuary – PROPOSED future home of Connie and Shaba –

    Habitat (not ‘enclosure’) 100 ACRES with ponds/lakes, foliage, mature trees, real rocks, browse, grassy hills and valleys to roam and play – where Connie and Shaba can REMAIN TOGETHER FOREVER.
    Barn 20,000 sq. ft.
    Elephants monitored 24/7.
    State of the art medical care for arthritic joints and feet.
    AND hundreds of acres available for future expansion….

    Proven facts –
    – Elephants live in Zoos to die too soon.
    – Elephants can many times recover from zoo ailments to live free and happy in Sanctuaries such as PAWS. If they can’t fully recover, they still regain some physical health, but most definitely emotional health, happiness and without pain and human dominance.

    Connie and Shaba could easily have many years left to experience for the first time in their lives real freedom — behave with wild abandoned and dance and play in the only place that would truly be heaven on earth for them.

    They have ‘served’ their human purpose for over 30 years! It’s time to release them to freedom. It’s called humane evolution.

    Please take the time to consider using your voice to add to the many that feel this would be the only humane thing to do for these intelligent emotional and loyal friends.

  4. I could not say it better than Colleen and the journalists that wrote the article have said.

    I just want to add my voice in saying that to separate Connie & Shaba after 30 years of a loving friendship would be an abomination. They desperately deserve to live out the rest of their lives “Together” at PAWS where they can roam freely with 100 acres of beautiful land with lakes and ponds, trees, grass and a 20,000 sq. ft barn. Also, as Colleen stated, they will have access to excellent medical care for their arthritic joints and feet so they can finally be free of pain.

    To separate Connie & Shaba after being together over 30 years will certainly destroy them both emotionally and physically. Anyone that allows this to happen when they have the incredibly joyous opportunity to live a beautiful life at PAWS, simply has no heart and no soul.

  5. I am hearing that there is a motion to possibly move the Elephant girls to San Diego. I want to continue to encourage the Mayor and City Counsel and readers of this newspaper to think of the “best home” for these elder and very bonded Elephants. I’d like to ask the City Counsel to send a couple of their group to PAWS to survey the habitat. Please be neutral and open to all possibilities that our great state of California can offer Elephants.I encourage the counsel to research ALL options, not just AZA facilities.
    The point being is that San Diego nor any other zoo cannot compare in quality or space to the hundreds of acres and the peace that PAWS can offer. Additionally, the sophisticated methods of care available at PAWS is the state of the art and is an advantage for all Elephants.
    The aging population of Elephants in this country and the enormous health issues they all face is becoming the proof that the idea of holding them in a zoo does not work for their lives. Elephants in this country all suffer the damage of incarceration, i.e.: emotional trauma from being separated as babies from, and lack of socialization with, their natal family groups and being subjected to intimidating bull hook usage; and at a premature age they all show evidence of severe arthritis and most suffer from infected feet from standing and not being able to walk 20+ miles a day.
    Fundamentally, Elephants deteriorate in captivity, period. The vet records document their chronic health issues and emotional problems. Let us work toward retirement for the existing Elephants in this country and raise the funds to send them to PAWS, & The Elephant Sanctuary where they can join a herd of their own species and discontinue breeding them in captivity.
    And let’s transform our zoo’s into interactive destinations where live web cams will show you, in real time, Elephants in the wild in Africa and Asia. A very much more exciting opportunity to watch Elephants being Elephants with their families being vital and at their most vibrant in the wild. This would spark the imaginations of children and adults. And would be a much healthier experience for visitors to zoos.

  7. I thank the *Tucson Weekly* for publishing this lucid, impressive article. Sending these two elephant friends to PAWS makes so much sense — really a no-brainer.

    I watched CBS’s *60 Minutes* this past Sunday night, 1/22/12, and was deeply moved by the segment on elephant speech, some of it far below the range of human hearing but able to be caught on tape and amplified. A whole team of experts are now trying to decipher elephant language by correlating audio tapes with videos of what was happening at the time the sounds were recorded. The findings are remarkable and awe-inspiring. They reveal how emotional, caring, and intelligent elephants are. I know many people do not believe that animals are capable of feeling emotions as humans do, but an enormous amount of scientific evidence, gathered by carefully observing many species over a long period of time, shows otherwise.

    To translate Connie and Saba into human terms, however, imagine two elderly women who have been close friends and neighbors for 30 years. A time has now come when they are no longer able to live on their own. Thus, the two will be sent to nursing homes — not to the same one, but to two different ones, far enough away that the two old friends will never see each other again. We would need hearts of stone not to be able to sympathize with the plight of these women. But, for Connie and Shaba, it will be much the same. May we not only sympathize with them but, through the good sense of Tucson’s Council and new Mayor, may we soon learn that Connie and Shaba will be spared this lonely fate.

    Thank you,
    Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D.

  8. It would be too cruel to separate Connie and Shaba at this stage of their lives when they’ve been together so long, and it makes me want to cry to even contemplate how much they would suffer and pine. I beg the Mayor and City Council to do the right thing for these 2 old friends and allow them to remain together.

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