For Pet's Sake Column

Ruby and I have a lot in common. For one, we’re both 45 years old. Secondly, we spend a lot of time in the public eye – although Ruby is an unwitting participant.

You see, Ruby is a captive African elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo.

This precious gem has lived more than half of her life in the pachyderm prison – longer than any creature should have to spend in a smoggy, congested metropolis like L.A.

It has been said that elephants never forget and I have no doubt that Ruby remembers everything about her tumultuous life. She spent much of her youth performing with Circus Vargas before she was transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo in 1987. Then, in 2003, amid a firestorm of controversy, Ruby was torn from her long-time friend, Gita, a 45-year-old Asian elephant, and forced to relocate to the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee . Things didn’t go well for Ruby in The Marble City; she was often found “bossing around” the other elephants. I think it was her way of saying, “Hey folks, I’m really not happy here.” So……in 2005, she was once again loaded onto a truck and shipped back to the Los Angeles Zoo, where she was happily reunited with Gita; that is, until the elephant’s untimely and highly-publicized death six months ago. Since June, Ruby has essentially been living in solitary confinement, a fate worse than death for the highly social elephant. She has not been on public display for the past two years due to “the logistics of moving elephants around to accommodate the slow, complicated process of constructing the new pachyderm exhibit.”

John Lewis, the warden – excuse me – I mean the Director of the Los Angeles Zoo, has confirmed his desire to see Ruby continue to reside at a zoo although, because of increasing pressure from the public, it seems apparent she won’t be staying in her current digs. Pat Derby, the co-founder of the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a 30-acre animal sanctuary near Sacramento , California , has offered to give Ruby a much-deserved retirement at PAWS. A splendid idea, don’t you think? There’s just one hitch: Lewis has declared his displeasure at sending Ruby to this elephant-friendly facility. I can only speculate as to why, but it seems that wherever animal exploitation is involved, money is at the source of the scandal.

While Lewis continues to ponder this pachyderm predicament, Ruby languishes in loneliness along with the Zoo’s only other elephant, a 21-year-old Asian bull named Billy, who has a separate exhibit and remains on public display.

It’s obvious – to me at least – that the Los Angeles Zoo, or any zoo for that matter, doesn’t offer adequate space and enrichment for these magnificent mammals. In the wild, they roam for miles every day with their herd. In captivity, they often suffer from chronic physical and psychological problems.

It’s time that John Lewis does the right thing and allows Ruby to retire.

Let your voice be heard on behalf of Ruby. Call, fax, or email John Lewis, Director of the Los Angeles Zoo, at: (323) 644-4200 (phone), (323) 662-9786 (fax), jlewis@zoo.lacity.org.

What are your thoughts on elephants in captivity? Email your responses to Karen at karenleestevens@cox.net.