Elephant Exhibit Safe, U.S. Official Says

A federal investigator said Friday that the San Diego Zoo’s elephant exhibit does not violate animal welfare statutes, disputing charges leveled last week by the Humane Society of the United States that the exhibit is “grossly inadequate.”

Dr. Homer Malaby, an animal care specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said that his visit Thursday to the zoo revealed just one potential area for improvement--a narrow cat walk that zoo officials have said they already plan to widen. Overall, he said, the exhibit is satisfactory.

“In most zoos there are always some things you can do to make it nicer. You can always improve in that sense,” he said. “But, as far as the basics of elephant husbandry, they’re doing what most zoos do.”

The Washington-based Humane Society had requested Malaby’s investigation after the death last month of a 51-year-old Asian elephant named Maya, who was euthanized after she fell into the moat and crippled herself. The national animal protection group alleged that her death was the result of a flawed exhibit and listed what it considers several specific problems, including uninsulated floors and lack of heat in the elephant barn, limited outdoor shelter and the zoo’s daily reliance on chains to restrain the elephants.

But, on Friday, Malaby said he sees no merit in those charges.

“We did not get very accurate information,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s somebody out to get somebody. But certainly from what we found in the situation involving Maya, there was misinformation involved.”

A spokesman for the Humane Society said it will make no comment until it can review the USDA’s written findings, which should be available within a few weeks.

Steve Friedlund, a zookeeper who has also been critical of the elephant enclosure’s steep moats and lack of heat, said the USDA ruling only points up the limits of existing legislation.

“It shows weaknesses of the Animal Welfare Act, (which) doesn’t go far enough,” he said, maintaining that the 30-year-old exhibit was built to promote viewer access to the animals, not to protect the animals from injury. “The moats are too steep, and we’ve known it for a long time. But there is no legislation that specifically prohibits that. We need to strengthen the laws. But, until then, let’s hope no more animals fall in and die.”

But Jeff Jouett, a zoo spokesman, said Malaby’s conclusions vindicated the zoo by repeating what he has been saying all along.

“We’ve always said the exhibit was in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, and that we take good care of our animals,” he said Friday. “It’s nice to have that confirmed.”

Jouett continued: “The U.S. Humane Society’s motive was not animal welfare but self-promotion. . . . It was insulting to call Maya’s death preventable and to use it as an excuse to toss some lame accusations. It’s almost ghoulish, they way they swooped in with their self-righteous proclamations.”

He predicted, however, that this will not be the last time the zoo hears from the Humane Society. And, if their suggestions are useful, he said, the zoo would listen.

“We are open to constructive criticism,” he said. “I’ve said from the first that we’ll eventually widen the walkway when it bubbles to the top of the priority list. This is an excellent zoo with a good reputation, but it was built, by and large, in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. We’re spending millions of dollars each year to modernize it and make it live up to its reputation.”