Zoo Official Says Wild Animal Park Trainers Injured Aggressive Elephant

Trainers at the San Diego Wild Animal Park used “excessive force” while disciplining an elephant shortly after it was transferred to the park from the San Diego Zoo three months ago, according to an official of the San Diego Zoological Society who investigated the incident.

“I think they lost their tempers, but I think one can empathize,” said Werner Heuschele, a veterinarian and director of research for the Zoological Society, which operates both the zoo and the Wild Animal Park. “They chained the animal on all four legs then pulled it to rest and whacked on its head,” he said.

The elephant had become aggressive, Heuschele said, and had threatened the lives of the keepers by attempting to slam them against a wall in the elephant barn at the park.

The Humane Society of the United States also is looking into “numerous complaints” that as many as six trainers at the park “went too far” in disciplining the elephant and that there may have been inadequate preparation for the elephant’s transfer, said David Herbet, captive wildlife specialist at the society’s Washington headquarters.

The Humane Society is concerned that “normal elephant management procedures in the transfer were not followed and that resulting from that, possible abuse of the elephant occurred,” Herbet said. The society will send an investigator to San Diego within the next week, he said. Officials and trainers at the Wild Animal Park vehemently deny that excessive force was used on the elephant.

Alan Roocroft, supervisor in charge of the elephants at the Wild Animal Park, said any damage done to the elephant was “superficial.”

He acknowledged that the animal was struck on its head with an elephant hook, a leather-covered baton with a steel hook at one end. He called the procedure a routine form of discipline for elephants out of control.

At the center of the controversy is an 18-year-old African elephant called Dunda, short for Madundamela. She was captured in the wild but spent most of her life with a small herd of elephants at the San Diego Zoo. The elephant is now living among a breeding herd at the WildAnimal Park. Ragged areas of skin are visible where injuries have not fully healed.

Dunda was abruptly transferred to the Wild Animal Park on Feb. 16, according to three elephant trainers at the zoo who were contacted by The Times. They said that neither zoo nor Wild Animal Park officials ever consulted them about the transfer, which they believe was poorly planned. The quick transfer did not allow for a transitional period during which Dunda could become familiar with her new keepers as well as the crate in which she was to be transferred, they said.

The incident has caused a bitter dispute between elephant keepers at the zoo, who say they never had any trouble with the animal, and keepers at the Wild Animal Park, who say the elephant was out of control. Keepers at the zoo say their complaints about the matter have been ignored and that they have been told by management that they are behaving “hysterically.”

“What has developed here is a bit of a turf war between facilities,” said Tom Hanscom, a spokesman for the Wild Animal Park, an 1,800-acre preserve near Escondido. “An animal came up here from the zoo. It needed some training. It had to be trained up here for its own safety.”

Douglas Myers, executive director of the San Diego Zoological Society, said Tuesday that he is conducting “an extensive investigation,” the results of which may be available by the end of the week.

“My investigation is not complete,” Myers said. “I can respond that yes, discipline is used and will continue to be used. . . . To date I feel that everything was handled properly. . . . The park is probably the world’s leader as far as elephant handling and elephant breeding. Any mistreatment of any animal in the organization is a big concern.”

Myers said the elephant will become part of a breeding program at the Wild Animal Park and was transferred because the herd at the zoo was becoming too large for its space.

Asked whether sufficient preparation was made for the transfer, Myers said: “I think we can probably second-guess ourselves till the elephants come home. It was very successful.”

Myers said he has received Heuschele’s report and is conducting further interviews.

Steve Friedland, senior elephant trainer at the zoo, said Dunda’s transfer should have been carried out gradually, over about a month’s time, but instead was “done cold.” On Feb. 15, the night before the move, a crate was left at the gate to the elephant enclosure at the zoo and about 6 a.m. the next day Dunda was tranquilized, chained and walked into the crate, Friedland said. The crate was then lifted by crane onto a flat-bed truck.

None of the trainers from the park had gone to the zoo before the day of the transfer to allow the elephant to become familiar with them, Friedland said. “They never looked at her except to estimate her length for the crate,” he said, adding that none of the zoo trainers, who were well-known to the animal, were permitted to go along on the trip to the Wild Animal Park.

Very Frightened

He described the animal as “extremely frightened” when it left the zoo.

Within a few days of the transfer, rumors that the elephant had been beaten began to circulate, said Lisa Landres, senior elephant keeper at the zoo.

About three weeks after the transfer, Landres went to the Wild Animal Park and photographed the elephant, she said. “I’ve been working with her for six years and I’ve known her for 10 years,” she said. “She happened to be a favorite of mine.

“What I saw was an animal that had a tremendous amount of damage to her head. She appeared to be injured. Her face was swollen and puffy.”

Now, three months later, “the scarring is incredible,” Landres said. “She still continues to throw dirt on it and rub it.”

Elephants treat their wounds by coating them with dirt and mud, Friedland said.

Exhibited Photographs

Landres said she had the photographs developed and showed them to Friedland and Pat Hogg, another elephant keeper at the zoo.

“We all agree that discipline (of elephants) is necessary in some form at some time,” Friedland said. “But this case is extremely brutal. It is not normal. There is no debate about it. I’ve never seen anything close to this before.”

Copies of the photographs were given to zoo officials, who at first promised to investigate, Landres said, but later told them they were “anthropomorphizing”--assigning human emotions to animals.

“We tried to do everything we could by going through our supervisors,” Hogg said. “Basically we were told we were hysterical.”

Friedland said, “It seemed we were the ones who were being disciplined, chastised for having brought it to their attention.”

What actually happened in the elephant barn at the Wild Animal Park remains unclear.

Herbet, of the Humane Society, said that according to complaints he considers “reliable,” keepers at the park, “after short-chaining the elephant and stretching it out, disciplined it and appeared to have gone too far.”

Different Viewpoint

Roocroft, of the Wild Animal Park, said he was in charge of the transfer and that no unnecessary discipline was administered, “We love these animals,” Roocroft said.

Roocroft declined to say how many times the elephant was struck, or to name others who were involved in the transfer.

Roocroft said the transfer was done in a “professional manner” and that he disagrees with those who advocate gradual moves, allowing the animal to get used to its keeper and to eat meals in its crate for several weeks before the move. “You can banana them into a crate all you want, but when the door goes on behind them, they just come unglued,” he said.

Heuschele of the the Zoological Society said he reached no opinion about the manner of the transfer and said there should be no permanent physical damage to the elephant.