BREAKING NEWS: We lost the final appeal in federal court today for an injunction to stop the elephants move to OKC Zoo.
Despite this loss city officials could have used their authority to send the elephants to sanctuary. However, they have failed their constituents' conscience and refused to take action to help the elephants, and Bamboo and Chai are being loaded on transport vehicles for OKC Zoo at this very moment.
Woodland Park Zoo elephants on Wednesday began their moved to Oklahoma, hours after an appeals court denied a motion to stop the move to an Oklahoma City zoo.
Woodland Park Zoo elephants on Wednesday began their moved to Oklahoma, hours after an appeals court denied a motion to stop the move to an Oklahoma City zoo.
The view from SkyKING over the zoo showed activity as the zoo prepared 48-year-old Bamboo and 36-year-old Chai to be moved via truck.
Just before 6:30 p.m., a flatbed truck carrying the elephants' climate-controlled crates left the Woodland Park Zoo on the 2,000-mile trip, expected to take about 40 hours.
It was an emotional moment for both zoo staff and people who wanted the elephants sent to a sanctuary. Some people were in tears.
"Very sad, this means we lost," said Nancy Pennington of Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants. "We worked so hard and done so many things to try to get these elephants to a better life and we failed."
The zoo said at Oklahoma, the animals will have an opportunity to live and socialize with more elephants.
"They're going to join a family of Asian elephants - there's two adult elephants and two female elephants there and they'll be able to become the older animals in that herd and become part of a multi-generational herd, which has been our goal all along for these two animals," said Woodland Park Zoo President and CEO Dr. Deborah Jensen.
Animal advocates have said the trip to Oklahoma would endanger the elephants' health and that their quality of life there would be worse than in Seattle.
Jensen said a lot of planning has gone into preparing for the move.
"We're working with an animal transporter, we have staff traveling with them, we have two veterinarians traveling with them and we have stops along the way. They'll stop every couple of hours to check in on the animals and make sure they're doing well. They have water all the time, they have climate-controlled crates, they have a camera in the crates."
have a herd that the animals could join.
"And they certainly don't have a multi-generational herd," she said. "And because we have the opportunity to have Chai and Bamboo become part of a herd with young animals and moms, and they could become the aunties, that's the ideal circumstance for female Asian elephants."
