well there really is nothing orana can do about it is there? she is owned privately and unless they mistreat her there is nothing that can be done to force them to give her up.
there was articles online a while ago (a month) saying emmbers of the public had reported to rspca she was in harm, similary to arna and gigi, very vocal behaviour and in a small area. google it
Yeah, RSPCA inspected that claim and it was found to be false. they were complaining because she was chained up to the trailer just befoer the public arrives before a performance. they are also apparently spending $250,000 on a state of the art trailer for her and the temp enclosure looks larger than some zoos.
there is an article on the owner Tony Ratcliffe in today's Sunday Star Times. Whirling Bros Circus closed up in November 2007. He tried to sell Jumbo for $1 million but no takers. Then she was supposedly going "to an Australian zoo" but they backed out saying she was too old and wouldn't intergrate with other elephants. Now Tony and Jumbo have taken up with Loritz Circus where the elephant will remain as a performing animal. They are building a $300,000 trailer with shower and sunroof for her, and "plan" to set up an enclosure on a 10 acre section in Cambridge for the 3 to 4 months of the year when she won't be on tour. Tony is self-publishing an autobiography in October called "The Elephant Man: the true story of a New Zealand Circus icon"
this was on tv3 news tonight: 3 News > Lifestyle > Story > SPCA at odds with animal rights activists over circus elephant
from what I've read the circus is spending alot of money to make sure she gets the best. one article i read mentioned a figures well over a million dollars.
I saw Jumbo today. It was early morning, before the Loritz circus was open to the public, so she was chained inside her truck. I'm not one to be overly sentimental but it really was very sad. She was just rocking side to side banging against the side of the truck opening. If I was of the animal lib persuasion I would be wanting to break her out. I took some photos (a couple in the gallery) and watched her for about ten minutes but it was pretty heartbreaking to see her like that so I left http://www.zoochat.com/679/jumbo-elephant-58107/ http://www.zoochat.com/679/jumbo-elephant-s-pen-circus-58108/
She Really is quite a beautiful girl, I hear the circus looks after her very well but still a sad sight, nothing would be better than to be with other African Elephants.
Circus elephant in the middle of jumbo row - New Zealand, world, sport, business & entertainment news on Stuff.co.nz There are currently 17 comments posted on the article in the link, from both pro- and anti-circus people, many of them making very valid arguments. Now I don't usually go along with SAFE because they are all nutcases, but in this case I agree with them on most points. A quote from the article above: "Loritz marketing manager Paul Johnson said Jumbo, a 30-year circus veteran, had a purpose-built $300,000 home that she could retreat into at will. "It's not a tethering of the animal, it's an option to go in or out. I dispute any claim that she is tethered for any length of time." Jumbo was sometimes tethered for short periods for public safety, he said." This is quite plainly a lie. At the circus she is contained within an old truck trailer that would be cheap at $3000. She does not have the option to go in or out whenever she likes because she is chained all night and right into the morning (at the very least).
Well that's a subjective opinion. I have trouble remembering thirty years ago, and I'm sure other people would too. Elephants are individual's, and maybe her memory isn't as good as other elephants? And if she has been in captivity for 30 years, then she has to have become habituated to it by now (or else she would be a nervous wreck and completely unmanageable). 'Habituated' doesn't necessarily mean 'happy'. Chlidonias - I agree with your assessment of 'nutcases'. Having said that, there are people and organisations in the industry that do the wrong (for a variety of reasons) and it is sometimes difficult for the industry to legally clean it's own dirty laundry. Groups of well-meaning nutcases sometimes can bring enough pressure to bear and do what industry has not. Hix
Well can anything actually be done? If a zoo deosn't want her then it would be up to a private individual to house her. And who would be willing to fork out that cash. And it would be a big ask for any New Zealand Zoo to house her as that would mean building New Facilities.
They would have to send him oversea's, Auckland has facilities for three elephants and currently has two females but no way of keeping them seperate...
And I doubt the zoo would house an african with two asians. they have two choices, dubbo or a US sanctuary. but who's going to pay for that? Plus I doubt the circus would just give up the elephant. Surely they paid for her and would be expecting some kind of compensation for that.
various of the posters leaving comments on the article above were saying things along the lines of "then why doesn't SAFE do something about it instead of just protesting", but of course SAFE nor anyone else can do anything at all because the elephant is the property of the circus. They're not likely to just give her away even if it was in the elephant's best interests. Someone would have to buy her, and that of course is only dependant on whether the circus wants to sell her. Protests are all there is to try and shame the circus into providing her with a better home. Its all a bit moot really. Anyway, here's SAFE's web-page on Jumbo SAFE : Free Jumbo Campaign
and here's an article from 15 January (a couple of days after the last article I posted). The actions may or may not have been carried out by people connected to SAFE (it wouldn't surprise me) but its certainly not the right way to go about things Intruders' apparent bid to release elephant fails - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz
Animal rights protesters always go about things in the wrong way, simply put the most effective thing they could do would be to join as a zoo member and try and influence things from the inside because zoos are not going anywhere...
The biggest problem is the Circus legally own the elephant and have no intention of donating her to a zoo. The former owner is an awkward volitile guy to deal with, and apparently still has legal connection as well as contact with the ele. He's often said, and he's even told me himself, that he is the only person who can tell the elephant what to do and control her if she gets upset. However the Circus is determined the keep the ele, and the SPCa and MAf have checked her out a number of times and never found anything wrong. I've been present on two of these checks myself, back when Ratcliff had her in his circus. He says she has never had contact with other elephants, and couldn't settle in with other elephants, but even if that were true she could still settle in at some place like Orana Park. But as said, the circus won't be letting her go anytime soon.
