take action!

the free lucy campaign!
you can help give her a new life

Please support the Zoocheck Canada/Voice for Animals campaign to relocate Lucy, the sole remaining elephant at the Edmonton Valley Zoo, to one of the two accredited elephant sanctuaries in the United States.

All female elephants are highly social animals that live in matriarchal family groups their entire lives. They are always in contact with family members and are almost never alone.

When the Valley Zoo transferred Samantha, a female African elephant, to the North Carolina Zoo in 2007, Lucy was left alone. She is overweight, suffering from chronic arthritis and foot problems, lethargic and displays prolonged periods of abnormal stereotypic behaviours, such as rocking and swaying.

The Valley Zoo has repeatedly stated that Lucy is not a social elephant, that she is happy, that her keepers are her family and that it is in her best interests to stay at the Valley Zoo. These statements are definitive refutations of established science. But they keep saying them and offer no real proof or explanation.

The zoo and the City of Edmonton also make sweeping allegations about how uninformed their critics are, but, when challenged, they are unable to say why. They also refuse to acknowledge that many of the world's leading elephant biologists are highly critical of Lucy's lack of space, behaviourally impoverished environment and social isolation.

For more than a year, the Valley Zoo claimed that a mal-positioned molar in association with some kind of respiratory condition made it dangerous to move Lucy. They said Lucy had trouble breathing when stressed and that moving her would cause considerable stress with potentially fatal results.

The molar fell out and now the zoo is saying that their previous claim was a misdiagnosis, that Lucy's respiratory condition (for which they still offer no diagnosis) is still there and that it still poses a life threatening risk if she were to be moved. But they offer no evidence whatsoever that what they are saying is true and they refuse to provide independent expert elephant veterinarians an opportunity to examine Lucy.

The zoo continues to claim, without any proof, that Lucy is happy and healthy, but, at the same time, too sick to be moved, while they refuse independent veterinarians access to Lucy.

The Edmonton Valley Zoo is municipally-owned and operated, so the City of Edmonton has the authority to determine how the zoo operates and what decisions are made.

Please write to the City of Edmonton Mayor and Members of Council, to let them know that you want Lucy moved to The Elephant Sanctuary as soon as possible. Tell them that Lucy should not be kept alone; that Edmonton is too cold for elephants; that the zoo's elephant exhibit is too small; and that keeping Lucy is in contravention of Alberta's zoo regulations.

Mayor & Members of Council
City of Edmonton
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA  T5J 2R7

(Fax) 780-496-8297

(Email)
Mayor and Members of Council
City of Edmonton

Please send a copy of your email to Zoocheck