Senate Panel to Open Hearing Into Elephant Beating

San Diego Wild Animal Park handlers involved in the beating of Dunda the elephant and the San Diego Zoo elephant keepers who blew the whistle on the incident are among more than a dozen witnesses scheduled to testify today at a state Senate committee hearing.

San Diego Animal Advocates, an animal rights group, has announced plans to demonstrate at noon outside the hearing at Escondido City Hall. The hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., is to last all day.

The hearing was called by state Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose), chairman of the Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee, who termed the beating “shocking” and said he was dissatisfied with the results of an investigation by the San Diego city attorney’s office, which declined to press charges against any of those involved.

Documents Subpoenaed

In addition to issuing subpoenas for witnesses, including officials of the Zoological Society of San Diego, the committee has in the last month subpoenaed dozens of internal documents from the society, which operates both the zoo and the Wild Animal Park.

Although the committee has no power to prosecute, McCorquodale has said the hearings could result in tougher state laws regarding the oversight of zoos.

The controversy began last February, shortly after Dunda, an 18-year-old African elephant, was moved from the zoo, where she had lived for most of her life, to the Wild Animal Park, where she is to become part of a breeding herd. Keepers at the zoo say that Dunda became agitated when she arrived at the park, in part because she had been poorly prepared for the move.

At the park, Dunda was chained by all four legs, pulled to the ground and beaten on the head with ax handles by five elephant handlers over at least two days.

Dunda’s former keepers at the zoo heard stories about the beating, then photographed the visible damage to her head and complained to zoo officials. They claim their complaints were ignored by zoo officials until the first story about the incident appeared in The Times on May 25.

Zoological Society officials have firmly backed the keepers at the Wild Animal Park throughout the controversy and have rejected the allegations of the keepers at the zoo. Keepers at the park say the elephant was out of control and threatened their lives and that they used only necessary discipline.

Over the last two months, stories about the bitter controversy at the world-renowned institutions have drawn national attention, and the park and zoo have been swamped with angry letters.

Cleveland Amory to Testify

Also scheduled to testify today is Cleveland Amory, founder of the Fund for Animals, who has been highly critical of the Wild Animal Park keepers involved in the beating. Amory said his organization has received hundreds of letters from people all over the world who are “incensed” about the Dunda incident.

The hearing will begin with statements by Betty Jo Williams, president of the Zoological Society’s board of trustees, and Douglas Myers, the society’s executive director.

Also on the agenda is David Herbet, captive wildlife specialist for the Humane Society of the United States, a Washington-based group that was the first to investigate the incident. Herbet termed the beating “animal abuse.”

Officials of the San Diego Humane Society, an unrelated group, and the San Diego city attorney’s office also are scheduled to testify about their joint investigation into the incident.