Elephant Was Beaten 4 Days, Wild Animal Park Worker Says

An elephant handler at the San Diego Wild Animal Park said he saw colleagues carry ax handles into the barn where they were disciplining an African elephant called Dunda last February and that ax handles are commonly used at the park when elephants misbehave.

The handler, Steve Schwenn, said in an interview Friday that the beatings occurred in the early morning hours before the park opened to visitors and that the beatings were administered over a four-day period, not one or two days as zoo officials have said.

Handlers sometimes emerged from the African elephant barn after the sessions complaining that their arms ached from the strain of beating the elephant, Schwenn said. He said he was not involved in the beatings, but spoke to other keepers who were.

Several Investigations

The discipline used to control Dunda in the days after she was transferred from the San Diego Zoo to the Wild Animal Park in February has become the subject of several investigations.

Officials of the San Diego Zoological Society, which operates both the zoo and the park, have said they believe no abuse occurred and that the controversy is a result of a factional dispute between keepers at the park and at the zoo.

However, Schwenn said Friday that he and some other elephant handlers at the Wild Animal Park agree with keepers at the zoo who have complained that Dunda’s transfer was poorly planned and that she was beaten severely and unnecessarily.

The Humane Society of the United States said Tuesday that the Dunda incident was an isolated case of animal abuse.

The San Diego Humane Society, an unrelated group, has completed an investigation, but has not yet issued its report. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also began an investigation Tuesday, but no conclusion about the incident has been reached, according to Dr. Frank Enders, the veterinarian in charge of the department’s San Diego area. Schwenn said Friday that he has been troubled by the incident for several months and decided to come forward in an attempt to encourage others to say what they know.

“I think it’s everybody’s responsibility, whether they were involved or not, to come forward,” Schwenn said. “I’m making a statement because I think it’s our responsibility as elephant keepers and handlers. There’s no sense lying about it. If we want the public to know the truth, we should tell the truth.”

Dunda Appeared Calm

Schwenn said he believes the elephants at the park generally receive good care under the direction of Alan Roocroft, the supervisor in charge of elephants. “I don’t have any dislikes for Alan or anybody there,” he said.

“I think people should know that elephants are dangerous. . . . But I think you only resort to beating an elephant when there is no other means to handle the situation. There were other means to resort to first.”

Schwenn said he was working at the Wild Animal Park on Feb. 16, the day that Dunda arrived, and that she appeared to be calm as she worked off the effects of a tranquilizer that had been administered for her trip from the zoo.

“When I observed her that evening, there was no damage to her at all. They even said she walked in like a baby,” Schwenn said.

Schwenn said he didn’t see Dunda again until more than a week later, when she was finally let out of the barn and allowed to mingle with the rest of the African herd.

“The day they brought her out, she was putting her trunk on her head and feeling the sore spots. She kept putting mud on her head,” he said. “You could see the swollenness. You could see by her actions that she was in some kind of pain. She was going by the water a lot and putting water and mud on her head to relieve some of the pain.”

The beating sessions began several days after Dunda arrived at the park and lasted for four days, Schwenn said.

Besides to Roocroft, Pat Humphrey, Schwenn’s immediate supervisor, and trainers Lou Bisconti and Jack Crayon participated in the sessions, Schwenn said.

No Further Comment

Schwenn said he does not remember who among the group carried the ax handles to the African barn, but he recalls that he “saw the ax handles go up (to the barn) a few days after she arrived.”

“Pat (Humphrey) said to me one time they were hitting her in the face, and they would hit her in any spot that they could get to because she lashed out at them,” Schwenn said. Once, after a session, Humprhrey “said his hands were so sore he couldn’t hold a pen,” according to Schwenn.

Roocroft was out of the country Friday and attempts to reach Humphrey, Bisconti and Crayon were unsuccessful.

Tom Hanscom, a spokesman for the Wild Animal Park, said Friday no further comment would be made about the matter until the San Diego Humane Society releases its findings, possibly sometime next week. Hanscom said he did not know whether ax handles were used to discipline elephants.

However, Schwenn said three or four ax handles are normally kept in a locker in the office of the Asian elephant barn. Schwenn, 34, said he has worked with elephants since he was 18 and has spent the last three years as a handler at the Wild Animal Park.

In that time, he said, he has seen Roocroft and others strike misbehaving elephants with the handles on a number of occasions.

Another handler at the park, who spoke on the condition that his name not be used, said he, too was disturbed by the handling of Dunda and that he took one of the ax handles home one day as evidence because he suspected that there might be repercussions from the incident.

The handle, made of hard, polished wood, is about 2 1/2 feet long and resembles a baseball bat.

Patty Stowbridge-Gough, an elephant trainer at the zoo in Abilene, Tex., said it is not uncommon for elephant handlers to use wooden handles or sticks to discipline elephants. She said she did a survey of American zoos four years ago and found that many handlers keep sticks around.

‘It Sounds Bad’

“An ax handle is real typical,” she said. “It sounds bad because people think of an ax. Ours are made of hickory wood.”

However, she said elephants should never be struck with sufficient force to cause injury.

“There’s a point where you quit,” she said. “It’s like disciplining a child. After a point, you’re not disciplining them anymore. You’re just making them angry. . . . When it gets to the point where you’re causing swelling, I just can’t see to the point.”

She added that keepers should “take the time to let the animal adjust.”

Schwenn said he and others at the park believe the trouble with Dunda could have been avoided if her move from the zoo had been handled more slowly. He said he agrees with those who advocate “crate training,” in which elephants are allowed to inspect and get used to their transfer crates for several weeks before they are moved.

Once Dunda was at the park, the keepers should have used beating as a last resort to bring the frightened animal under control, he said. Instead of being isolated in the barn, Dunda should have been allowed to be around an elephant called Peaches, the 40-year-old matriarch of the African herd, who “could have kept her in line,” Schwenn said.

“Peaches would just have to bump against her,” Schwenn said, “or just her presence might do it. It’s kind of like a child in the presence of a mother.”

The beatings failed to calm Dunda, and Peaches and another elephant were brought into the barn, he said. After one night in the presence of the other elephants, Dunda was under control, he said.