Elephant Murders at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo
Elephant murders at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo are testimony to what happens when money is the bottom line and the corrupt Cook County Democratic Party places its unqualified precinct workers in the dump positions to take care of helpless animals in zoos, a practice that occurs in all municipal zoos.
Peaches, Wankie, and Tatima by the Incompetents at Lincoln Park Zoo and Animal Crematorium (Chicago)[edit]
Despite the best efforts of IDA and the Coalition to Save Wild Elephants, the young Swaziland elephants were brought to the zoos in 2003, but not before San Diego had moved its four long-term resident elephants Chico, Peaches, Wankie and Tatima out to make room for them. Already ailing, Peaches, Wankie and Tatima were shipped out of sunny San Diego and into Chicago’s frigid winters at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The three elephants did not last even two years there. Tatima died in October 2004; like Chico she was found collapsed on the floor when the keepers arrived in the morning. Cause of death was infection with a bacterium similar to tuberculosis (Mycobacterium szulgai). Peaches followed only three months later, purportedly due to “old age.” She was 55; African elephants can live to be 65. During the ensuing uproar by elephant welfare advocates, Wankie was secretly loaded onto a truck during the last chilly night of April 2005 and shipped to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah, despite the fact she was recovering from colic (a painful condition that can cause an elephant to collapse). She was found kneeling in the truck, a potentially dangerous situation, somewhere around the midway point of the 22-hour trip, with temps in 20 to 30 degree range and no heat. After one more stop, the decision to continue driving sealed her fate, and she was euthanized upon arrival at the zoo. A final report showed that Wankie died of the same bacterial lung infection that killed Tatima, and that the infection coupled with “stress of shipping” may have caused her collapse.
Zoo Response[edit]
Yet Lincoln Park Zoo publicist Kelly McGrath, a political appointee to the Chicago Park District position in rewards for her working for the corrupt Cook County Democratic Party, steadfastly said, "Their deaths resulted from genetic defects, not because of mishandling, being confined to concrete-floored cells for their lives, sub-zero Chicago temperatures, Lake Front wind chill reaching -50 F, or incompetence on behalf of any of our highly skilled employees."
All these elephants – Peaches, Tatima and Wankie – were victims of a zoo industry that values female elephants over males, babies over adults, and, always, money over the animals that they claim to care for. Their story should never be forgotten. Nor can we let our guard down when it comes to the capture of wild elephants for the purpose of restocking zoos – a practice that continues today.
See also[edit]
- List of individual elephants
- Topsy (elephant)
- Mary (elephant)
- Chunee
- Peaches, Lincoln Park Zoo murder
- Tatima, Lincoln Park Zoo murder
- Wankie, Lincoln Park Zoo murder
- Chico, the murdered elephant
References[edit]
External links[edit]
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