Connie is an Asian elephant. Shaba is African. For nearly three decades, they shared a half-acre allotted to them at the Reid Park Zoo.
“Shaba has a lot of respect for Connie,” said Gale Ferrick, who spent more than two decades caring for the animals. “She will always wait until Connie’s done with a toy before she goes after it. At night, when they’re inside, Shaba will roll her toys out of her stall, across the aisle and into Connie’s stall.
“Their bond is very deep,” Ferrick added. “If Shaba makes even the slightest noise, any kind of alarm, Connie rushes over to her and stands guard over her.”
Ferrick made those remarks in 2005 to the Arizona Daily Star.
So essential was this “bond” that zoo officials and their bosses at the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department endlessly and publicly pimped it, while raising millions of dollars to expand the elephant enclosure to 3 acres.
Driving this was a mandate by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums—which accredits Reid Park and some 200 other American zoos—that fertile elephants such as Shaba be bred to keep captive populations from dwindling. But without extra space, AZA officials warned, she might need to be moved elsewhere. In response, schoolchildren wrote letters supporting the expansion, and civic groups pumped flesh to raise the needed millions.
At the same time, animal-rights activists floated the idea that Connie and Shaba might be happier at a 2,700-acre elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. But in response, zoo director Susan Basford spoke about the importance of keeping this pair intact and keeping them at the Reid Park Zoo. “We have such a perfect place for elephants,” she told the Tucson Weekly in 2006. “Perfect climate, great keepers, two animals that are acclimated to each other, or bonded to each other and to their keepers.”
In the end, the city pledged $8.5 million to enlarge the elephant enclosure, with about half of that coming from private donations—all to ensure that Connie and Shaba would remain together. That price tag has since grown to $9.7 million.
But by 2006, Basford pulled the plug on efforts to impregnate Shaba. Even more surprising was how seamlessly the zoo then rearranged its priorities: The former obsession with keeping Connie and Shaba together—and the importance of their bonding—suddenly wasn’t so critical after all.
That became clear recently when Basford announced that, after all those decades together, the pair would soon be split apart. The reason, she explained, was that AZA standards require Asian and African elephants such as Connie and Shaba to be kept separately.
One could be forgiven for looking a bit askance at this new Asian-African emphasis—particularly since it garnered nary a peep during the zoo’s 2005 fundraising frenzy.
Meanwhile, when animal advocates reiterated the same point that Basford had trumpeted not so long ago—namely, that Connie and Shaba were quite bonded after rubbing shoulders for 29 years—zoo education curator Vivian VanPeenen promptly called them “animal extremists” who wanted nothing more than to shut down the zoo for good.
Either way, it appears that the zoo’s flip-flop may just have been calculated strategy. Consider that Reid Park officials had long been in negotiations with counterparts at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to import a small herd of African elephants to Tucson, and to dispatch Connie to San Diego. Just how long is unclear; Basford remains vague about when those talks actually began.
Ward 2 City Councilman Paul Cunningham views this byzantine pageant with a slightly jaundiced eye. “There’s definitely an argument that there is ‘science of convenience’ here,” he says of the zoo’s sudden concern over the Asian-African standard.
At the same time, he agrees with Reid Park officials that bringing in new elephants will revitalize the zoo, and that separating Connie and Shaba now—by sending Connie to live with other Asian elephants in San Diego—is preferable to waiting until she dies, leaving Shaba alone. (Connie is 44 years old, while Shaba is 31.)
Still, a bad taste lingers.
“I think all those years ago, if they exploited the relationship between the elephants to raise money for the zoo, and now they’re separating them, that’s a shame,” Cunningham says.
Basford says the goal behind expanding Reid Park’s elephant exhibit—to make the zoo a more-robust partner in AZA breeding efforts—has not changed since the expansion was first floated. “Certainly at the time, we anticipated keeping those elephants together. But in the six years between then and now, lots of things have changed.”
Among them is San Diego’s African elephant breeding program. That effort has proved so successful, she says, that the growing herd needed to be split. What better place to send that overflow than to Tucson, with its expanding elephant showcase?
“We were a great option,” Basford says. “For the first time in any U.S. zoo, we are looking at a chance to bring a cohesive breeding herd—probably two females, youngsters and a male—to (our) zoo, which is probably the way things split off in nature, and certainly was our goal all along—to be able to do things in a more-natural way for the animals.”
Though Cunningham supports the zoo’s move, he also thought the shifting rationales deserved another hashing out. So he placed the issue on a Nov. 22 City Council study-session agenda.
The zoo responded by flying in a bunch of heavy-hitters, including celebrity expert Jeff Andrews, associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo.
Critics of the plan to send Connie away had no chance to speak before Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik cut off discussion with a motion to support the transfer. The move was unanimously approved.
Among those muzzled at the meeting was longtime animal-rights activist Jessica Shuman. She says the whole session devolved into zoo officials merely “reaffirming their views to their own colleagues.” That was despite the fact that council members reportedly received 16,000 emails from the public about the elephants.
To critics such as Shuman, this whole saga doesn’t pass the smell test—though it might deserve honors for sheer audacity.
“It’s easy, when you get 16,000 emails, to write them off as an emotional plea,” she says. “But the emotional plea is based on everything the general public knows about elephants, and it’s based on science—the science we got from the experts who are now contradicting themselves.”
This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2011.
The San Diego Zoo has an African with it’s bonded Asian herd mates of 27 years (http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/2009/03/16/elephants-a-zoo-family/). While no zoo can truly meet the needs of elephants, if Connie and Shaba were BOTH integrated at the San Diego Zoo, they would be TOGETHER in a more humane space yet experience being with their own species, Reid Park Zoo could get their breeding herd, San Diego could split theirs. This is a “real world” solution. It is within City Council’s realm to negotiate with San Diego! Please contact the Mayor and City Council at cityclerk@tucsonaz.gov (they will distribute it to Mayor and Council) and urge them to find a way to keep Connie and Shaba together.
Thank Tim – I just posted an essay about this with people to contact — http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201112/arizona-zoo-plans-separate-shaba-and-connie-elephant-friends-30-years — Shabe and Connie must be kept together …
AZA is a trade organization which ignores science at the expense of elephants to advance their own agenda. All one has to do is look at their outdoor requirement for elephants: 1/3 of an acre. Shameful for this far-ranging, intelligent being.
Connie and Shaba should be retired to PAWS in San Andreas, CA. They would be in separate habitats but they would still be able to see and smell each other.
African elephants carry EEHV, and are not affected by it – Asian calves die quickly from it. So zoos are being tough about keeping the species apart. Really, they should retire the pair to a sanctuary where they could at least be aware of each other’s presence, even if kept in different enclosures. And there would be no babies to worry about. But when you see how AZA & CAZA are battling tooth and nail to keep the Toronto elephants from going to a sanctuary, you see the enmity of the zoo system to sanctuaries. Though some, like Alaska & Detroit are very happy with having sent theirs to PAWS. The zoo science smells – it is so self-serving as to be useless. As are the AZA & CAZA zoo elephant standards. The only reason exhibits are improving is because space = better elephant health = babies. And so far the zoo elephant population is not-self-sustaining – without much more breeding success, the zoos won’t have elephants in the not-too-distant future. Importation is becoming very difficult, I believe.
Last month Umoya, one of the San Diego Zoo’s female elephants, was killed in a suspected fight with another elephant, leaving behind two young calves.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011…
Things like this happen because zoos don’t have enough space for animals to retreat from conflicts. The zoo has not been forthcoming so we may never know what happened.
At one point the San Diego Zoo packed off three older elephants to the Lincoln Park Zoo to make way for the younger elephants they have now (who, by the way, were assured of a home in Africa). All three elephants died within a year. This does not seem to be a zoo that truly values its elephants as individuals.
Last month an op ed in the Arizona Star had a wonderful suggestion for a way for the zoo to keep Connie and Shaba together. Of course, that would require a little creative thinking.
http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/we-need-…
I want to see them sent to P.A.W.S. Perhaps something can be done there to keep them together. Reid Park put Connie and Shaba through enough by keeping them on a mere .5 acre for over three decades. It’s time to retire these poor girls.
The Reid Park Zoo director should stop trying to use the AZA standard that Asian and African elephants must be kept separately. If that were true then Tembo, an African elephant at the San Diego Zoo wouldn’t still be with the zoo’s herd of Asian elephants at their Elephant Odessey exhibit. Also there is a good chance that Connie won’t fit in or be accepted by the herd at SDZ, as all elephants have a position in the herd hierachy.
It will be interesting to see what elephants are sent from San Diego’s Wild Animal Park since all but one of the elephants there were fathered by the same male. So to diversify the genetics to increase the population of zoo elephants, they would need to bring the other male elephant who hasn’t sired any offspring to date. As well any females brought already have their hierachy established so Shaba would be the lowest and as it’s been shown at the Wild Animal Park already the lowest female there is somewhat of a loner now.
I would have to agree with the majority of comments posted that either Reid Park keep the two elephants as they have their deep bond or send them to one of the two sanctuaries where they can have vast areas to live as elephants were intended to do.
Tuscon City Council and Greed (Reid) Park Zoo should be sued for extorting money from an unsuspecting public who thought their contributions were to keep Connie and Shaba together. After 30 years what idiot decided it’s time to separate these two elephants. Most of the braindead flatliners making decisions that affect Shaba and Connie today were still filling their diapers when these elephants were first put together. I contend that Tuscon City Council and Reid Park Zoo have an overabundance of sociopaths who lack the capacity for compassion, empathy, sympathy, or humane treatment of animals. Because of the comment policy of this website I have restrained what I really want to say about the goons making critical decisions in this city.
When humans can play russian roulette with the lives of elephants by holding them in captivity in a 1/2 acre prison for 30 years and then one day deciding they need to be transported somewhere else and separating them it borders on the pathological. Unfortunatley it is the lack of good sense on the part of humans that now creates a lose-lose situation for the 2 elephants. Friendship, love, trust, respect for and between the elephants is ignored and the prevailing egos of the humans involved becomes the center stage.
We need to abolish elephants in zoos and circuses and we need to look at the science and research that repeatedly shows that holding these fine creatures in captivity reduces their years of life and quality of life. We need to fund sanctuaries and private lands that will protect them in the wild and keep them from the poachers. I just heard today on NPR that elephant killings were the highest in 2011 since 1989 when ivory was first outlawed internationally. The poachers are killing them in the wild and the zoos are providing them with dismal living environments. We as a people must do better than this.
I hope all you money hungry people are happy that you finally killed Connie, Why couldnt you just leave them at the zoo and build another area for your new money making elephants. I hope you sleep well at night and before you know it the shabba will be died and that will be on your shoulders also.