There are many controversial elephant exhibits in zoos. What do you guys think are the worst of the worst
Well, I've never been here, but I know it's a roadside zoo in Virginia that has one African Bush Elephant. The left portion is used for elephant rides and the right is when she isn't being used for rides.
Wow this sounds really bad I cant belive that this place is allowed to have the elephant this might be the worst but what about RW commerford and sons in Goshen Ct Ive never been there but it looks bad... like really bad
Can’t find a picture of the whole exhibit, but most elephants out of the AZA don’t have good enclosures. Luckily there aren’t very many left outside of the AZA.
And very few of them are controversial among people who aren't advocating for elephants to rise up against their human overlords. Most US elephant exhibits are fine, it's just that animal rights activists claim they are bad. The only ones that come to mind that are truly bad are is MAYBE Natural Bridge, though I haven't been there so I cannot say for sure.
Whether or not the exhibit alone is bad. The husbandry of the animal is definitely not good. This is an elephant that does not have access to other elephants, does rides all day, probably does not have sufficient enrichment or diet, and has no barn/indoor holding space. The living conditions of this elephant are bad whether you're an animal rights activist or not.
Natural Bridge Zoo is the same zoo that recently has had tons of USDA fines for letting visitors ride an elephant without a handler, improper veterinary procedures, and smashing guinea pigs into the ground as a form of euthanasia... Needless to say there's more than just an elephant Exhibit controversial at this zoo that claims USDA inspections are unreasonably hard and "out to get them".
Being hyperbolic doesn't help anyone. They have never been fined or cited for letting people ride the elephant without a handler. The elephant related citations have been for the handler leaving her alone while doing other work; the area she's been left in has only one or two electrical wires, so if she was spooked, she could likely get out. As for the guinea pigs, that's an accepted way of culling rats and mice for animal feed, just not guinea pigs (I don't agree with it, but it isn't up to me). They haven't had guinea pigs since 2015. They've had tons of citations in the past, possibly more than anywhere currently open, but they haven't had any citations since June 2017.
Do not forget poor Bubbles at Myrtle Beach Safari. She lives their all alone and is forced to let people use her as a playground. She never gets days off or time to be alone with other elephants. Also the 38 year old elephant has not been with any other elephant since her arrival in 1984.
Here's the article I found. I wasn't being hyperbolic, simply stating facts. Natural Bridge Zoo fined for animal welfare violations
This line in the article is interesting: "In the past, inspections of zoos have been posted online, and the USDA was more open about investigations. That changed under the current presidential administration, Leahy said."
I don't understand that part, either. There was a period where they weren't available, and many old ones still aren't able to be downloaded, but it doesn't coincide with any presidential administration. I can pull up every one of this zoo's inspections, and follow ups, going back nearly a decade.
I don't know anything about this (not being American) but how do you know they are all available if you said "they haven't had any citations since June 2017" - which coincides with the period for what has been the term of the article's "current presidential administration"?
Every inspection is posted, in PDF form. The inspections include the mammal inventory, location, the inspector's name and who they worked with at the facility, and any citations. Follow-ups, usually a few months later (amount of time is specified in citations), include the same stuff, but the inventory is only the species involved in the citations.
Yes I realise that, but I think I wasn't clear in my question. I was more just asking "have the USDA posted zoo inspection reports in the last couple of years", given the combination of the quote from the article about them no longer being posted openly and your comment on this zoo's last citation being from 2017. But I had a look and they are being posted, so that's answered for me.
