Elephant-Abuse Bill, Sparked by Dunda Incident, Advances

The state Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for handlers to physically abuse elephants, legislation triggered by the treatment of Dunda the elephant at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

The proposed legislation, which now faces an uncertain future in the Assembly, passed, 31 to 4, over the vigorous objection of state Sen. Larry Stirling (R-San Diego), who claimed that “scurrilous charges” against Wild Animal Park personnel inspired the bill.

“In fact, the elephant in San Diego was treated appropriately,” Stirling told his colleagues during debate on the Senate floor. “The alternative was to kill the elephant.”

The bill leaves the Senate shorn of a provision that would have prohibited the use of elephants for public rides. The prohibition, opposed by zoos and circuses, was dropped last month by the Senate Judiciary committee.

In its existing form, the bill would make it a misdemeanor for any elephant handler to deprive the animal of food, water or rest. It also outlaws the use of electricity or anything that leaves scars or broken skin, as well as two types of restraints that limits an elephant’s movement.

Dunda became the subject of controversy last year when The Times reported that the African elephant was chained, pulled to the ground and beaten on the head with ax handles by Wild Animal Park employees for several days in February, 1988. She had been been transferred to the park from the San Diego Zoo.

The San Diego city attorney’s office investigated the incident, but decided not to press charges of animal cruelty.

Concerned about the reports, state Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) held Senate subcommittee hearings in Escondido last summer and decided to introduce the legislation after examining the welts on Dunda’s head, McCorquodale’s press secretary said Thursday.

Stirling, who voted against the bill, took exception to mention of the welts during his impassioned Senate floor speech. He argued that anyone who knows elephants would understand that the animals fight and butt things with their heads, which, he added, are their toughest parts.

The San Diego senator also said the bill is unnecessary because existing laws prohibiting cruelty to animals also cover elephants.

But a spokesman for McCorquodale said he does not think existing laws offer enough protection for the large animals.

McCorquodale said during floor debate that the San Diego Zoological Society endorsed his bill. He said there was no excuse for the way that Dunda was handled, noting that Marine World Africa USA in Vallejo had been given a rogue elephant but managed to tame it without resorting to beatings.

Contributing to this report was Times staff writer Paul Jacobs.