DETROIT, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- There is a disagreement concerning the future of two elephants at the Detroit Zoo: a sanctuary or the Columbus Zoo.
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association in Washington has directed the elephants -- 51-year-old Winky and 46-year-old Wanda -- be transferred to the Columbus Zoo. But officials at the Detroit Zoo want to send the elephants to two sanctuaries, one in Tennessee and another in California.
Detroit Zoo Director Ron Kagan said a growing body of evidence shows zoo enclosures of any kind are incapable of meeting elephants' physical, mental and social needs, reported the Detroit Free Press Saturday. However, that belief is rejected by many zoo directors.
Kagan wants to send the elephants to a sanctuary that has dozens of acres of soft ground for the arthritic animals to roam. He said a hard concrete surface, such as at the Columbus Zoo, would inflame the animals' arthritis. He also said that on a per-elephant basis, there is no more room at Columbus' facility than exists in Detroit.
