Activists: No safari for troubled elephant

DALLAS, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Animal rights groups and elephant experts are fighting to stop the Dallas Zoo from transferring a mentally troubled elephant to a Mexican safari park.

Concerned Citizens for Jenny, a local group that formed as part of the effort to keep the elephant, Jenny, from going to an exhibit at the African Safari Park in Puebla, Mexico, said the pachyderm has in the past suffered from depression and symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder that included self-mutilation using her tusks, The New York Times reported Friday.

The group and other activists and experts are lobbying the zoo to cancel its deal with the safari park in favor of sending the distressed elephant to a 2,700-acre sanctuary in Tennessee that houses 17 distressed elephants that are cared for in seclusion.

"Jenny is a special-needs elephant," said Margaret Morin, a Dallas nurse and leader of Concerned Citizens for Jenny. "She's unique; she's afflicted with crippling depression. The elephant sanctuary is the right choice."