City Prosecutor Briefed in Elephant Abuse Case

Investigators for the San Diego Humane Society have held a “preliminary” meeting with the San Diego city attorney’s office to discuss the alleged beating of an elephant by handlers at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, a spokesman for the group said Wednesday.

The meeting, held Tuesday at the city attorney’s office, centered on the group’s findings “as they may relate to California law for the prevention of cruelty to animals,” said Larry Boersma, a spokesman for the group.

The Humane Society of the United States, which is not related to the local group, issued a statement Tuesday calling the incident an isolated case of animal abuse.

The San Diego Humane Society has interviewed 14 people about the incident over three weeks, and the investigation is continuing, Boersma said. “The more information we can bring to bear on this situation, the better we can understand it,” he said.

Boersma said the San Diego group plans to conduct a more thorough inquiry into the alleged beating of the elephant, called Dunda, as well as the planning and procedures used to transfer her from the San Diego Zoo to the Wild Animal Park on Feb. 16.

Stuart Swett, senior chief deputy city attorney, said Wednesday that the discussion Tuesday had been general and that the local Humane Society had simply notified him of the inquiry. “I told them I appreciated them letting us know, and I told them I would be ready to meet with them again in a week or two to review reports and make a decision,” Swett said.

The city attorney’s office prosecutes only misdemeanor cases, while the district attorney’s office prosecutes felonies. Felony animal abuse charges would be brought only in cases where there was a deliberate attempt to injure or kill an animal, Swett said.

Regarding the Dunda case, Swett said, “If it’s a crime at all, I’m sure it would be a misdemeanor.” The transfer and disciplining of the elephant have caused a bitter dispute between elephant handlers at the zoo and the Wild Animal Park. Keepers at the zoo say that Dunda was transferred without proper preparation, including time before the move to adjust to her crate and meet her new keepers.

Extremely Frightened

Once at the Wild Animal Park, Dunda, by then extremely frightened, was chained by all four legs, pulled to the ground and struck on the head more than 100 times over two days with heavy sticks or ax handles, the zookeepers say. They add that their complaints to superiors at the zoo, first voiced in late February or early March, were largely ignored.

Keepers at the Wild Animal Park deny that any abuse occurred and have been backed up by Douglas Myers, executive director of the San Diego Zoological Society, which operates both the park and the zoo.

The San Diego Humane Society also will look into why more than two months elapsed from the day zookeepers first voiced complaints to management to the day the society was notified, Boersma said.

The San Diego group began its investigation into the incident May 12 at the request of Myers, Boersma said. Myers requested the investigation several days after The Times and the Humane Society of the United States began making inquiries about the elephant.