Maggie update

Here is the chronology of updates for Maggie, an elephant recently moved from the Alaska Zoo to the Performing Animal Welfare Society's sanctuary in San Andreas.

November 17, 2007 Maggie's Walk on the Wild Side (includes a video of Maggie's stroll, which is truly amazing and wonderful to see. She and the other elephants are developing a close bond and she is clearly entranced with her new expansive habitat.



November 10th - Maggie is settling in nicely - are we surprised? Nope :) Elegals and human residents are bending over backwards to make Mags comfy in her new digs. It takes a village! (of beings who know elephants inside out and these would include elephants, natch!)
November 7th - Pat Derby has a wonderful update. Maggie and the gals are bonding well.
November 5th - Pat Derby has an update!

SAN ANDREAS, Calif. -- Maggie, a 25-year-old African elephant, checks out her new home at Performance Animals Welfare Society, or PAWS, after the journey from Anchorage, Alaska, to here on a Air Force C-17 Globemaster III Nov. 2. Maggie's trainers from the Alaska Zoo said the elephant handled the trip well and will stay at PAWS for several weeks to help her adjust to life in the sanctuary. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown) full story

November 10th - Maggie the elephant rescued from the Alaska zoo is settling in nicely at PAWS. Are we surprised? Nope :)

Elegals and human residents are bending over backwards to make Mags comfy in her new digs. It takes a village! (Of beings who understand elephants inside out and these would include elephants, natch!)

A message for the troglodytes in Alaska who barraged PAWS with whinemail

The Alaskans who are in an uproar about being asked to restrict their viewing time should consider the following:

The expense for caring for Maggie is enormous and PAWS is assuming this expense for Maggie’s entire life. Had Bob Barker, a PAWS benefactor, not stepped up to the plate, it’s unlikely the Alaska Zoo would have let her go. The cost of the elecam is being borne by PAWS.

That residents of Alaska would demand that PAWS allow them indeterminate viewing time, as if Maggie is their property, is offensive to say the least.

Maggie never belonged in Alaska in the first place. She is not the property of Alaskans but an individual in her own right who, thanks to PAWS and animal welfare advocates who fought for her, has a home in a suitable place.

While it’s nice that so many Alaskans are eager to see Maggie, if they want to support her, they’ll also support PAWS and kick in some money to pay for that elecam service.

After all, they were willing to pay to see Maggie in the Zoo! Watching Mags on the elecam entertains the viewer; it doesn’t support Maggie.

You'd think Alaskans would have learned something from Maggie's story but I can see, from some of the comments below the article, that it's still all about them. Many of these whiners are the same people who fought to keep Maggie in a jail cell for their own entertainment. Now that she's safe in a sanctuary, they demand viewing time as if she's still their captive. Story follows...

Watch Maggie all you like, PAWS representative says

OOPS: Alaskans swamped the sanctuary with protests after its request to limit Web site use.

By BETH BRAGG
bbragg@adn.com

Published: November 9, 2007
Last Modified: November 9, 2007 at 08:39 PM

Spend as much time as you want watching Maggie on the elephant cam at her new California home.

Three days after a notice went up on the Performing Animal Welfare Society's Web site asking visitors to limit their Maggie fixes to 20 minutes, PAWS is backing down.

They got mail. From Alaskans.

"We are exploring options for reducing our costs," elephant trainer Pat Derby said in a written statement issued Thursday.

"We certainly do not wish to curtail any enthusiasm for (Maggie's) activities at the sanctuary, especially from her many loyal friends and fans in Alaska."

Fat chance of that.

Maggie moved to the San Andreas elephant sanctuary last week. Since then, huge numbers of Alaskans have been watching her adjust to her new life -- so much so that PAWS feared soaring satellite costs.

Tamara Wilder, a PAWS director, said some Alaskans were upset by the notice.

"We want them to know they're welcome to access that camera for as long as they want," she said.

The sanctuary is installing a second Web cam to cover a heavily treed habitat beyond the elephant barn. The animals are now blocked from view by trees when they roam in that area, Derby said.

Meanwhile, Maggie continues her across-the-fence flirting with her four African barn mates: Ruby, Mara, 71 and Lulu. On Wednesday, she reached under the fence to swipe a tree branch from Ruby, according to an update at www.pawsweb.org.

Later, as the elephants settled into their barn stalls for the night, Maggie and Ruby roared at each other.

At one point, "Maggie, Lulu and Ruby were all running around in their separate stalls rumbling, trumpeting, urinating and defecating as wild elephants do when they are excited," says a written report on the Web site. "To add to the excitement, 71 and Mara, who were still outside, joined in the display creating a cacophony which reverberated over the hills. ...We humans who were part of the scene were partially deaf for the next hour."

PAWS: Maggie Comes to San Andreas

Video by Mike Taylor

Click the play button to start. The video can also be watched on the full screen. Click icon at the far right of the bottom of the video for the options.

Maggie, a nearly 8,000-pound pachyderm who was the last of her species living in Alaska, has safely relocated to San Andreas.

In an unbelievable logistical maneuver, the U.S. Air Force, two cranes and two trucks helped Maggie make her journey to the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s Ark 2000 sanctuary in Calaveras County Friday.

This video, shot by Enterprise reporter Mike Taylor, follows Maggie as she first rolls into the 2,300-acre facility and eventually takes her first steps in the Mother Lode.

Also see Pat Derby's update on the PAWS' web site.

Maggie is moving

from this existence:


to this:


After years of living alone in conditions* pictured above (first photo), the Alaska Zoo has agreed to move Maggie, a captive African elephant, to the Performing Animal Welfare Sanctuary (PAWS) in San Andreas, California. The news is posted on the Friends of Maggie website.

There she will share a large habitat with three African elephant gals named 71, Lulu, and Mara.

This decision was made easy for the zoo, thanks to the generosity of Bob Barker who offered to donate $100,000 to the zoo to do with as they wish, and another $750,000 to PAWS for the ongoing care of Maggie. Bob has long been a supporter of PAWS and a fierce advocate for captive wildlife. (My guess is the Price was Right for the zoo! The pressure's been on the zoo for years to move her and they've refused to budge before now.)

Bob Barker's announcement on YouTube.


The state of Maggie in the Alaska zoo:
- Living alone is detrimental to the well being of elephants. They are social, highly complex creatures. In the wild they live in herds and have bond groups. Maggie has been without elephant companions for years.
- Living in a climate that forces her to be indoors for up to nine months of every year. The indoor life means a cement cell with only a few toys and, in Maggie's case, a treadmill for exercise. (Yes, the zoo spent thousands of dollars on a goddamn treadmill thinking that would do the trick. Maggie refused to use it. She has never used it.)

Life will soon be very different, Maggie. Relief from arthritis (caused by standing on hard floors), no more pressure wounds, no more bobbing and swaying, now more rubbing your flesh against concrete until it bleeds, no more grinding your tusks to stumps on a brick wall. No more despair and frustration. No more loneliness. (Oh, and no treadmills, just trails!)

* What you see in this photograph is typical of zoo life for most captive elephants, and indeed most captive wildlife all over the world. Many zoos still operate as if it's the nineteenth century, stuffing animals in inadequate spaces to be exhibited to the public. Although zoos now use the language of conservation and education to market their "product" and their breeding programs, they are first and foremost a business. Not surprisingly, most zoos do not make a lot of money - some barely break even. Most either cannot afford - or are unwilling to spend - what it takes to create a suitable environment for captive wildlife, and they always put the needs and interests of their human visitors first. Genuine sanctuaries are viable alternatives. (Note: unfortunately, some outfits are exploiting the Sanctuary label to make a buck. For example: the Scott Riddle "school of elephant management" in Arkansas. Riddle has a long history of cruelty toward elephants. If an organization is not recognized by TAO, it's probably not a sanctuary. Buyer beware!)

I'd like to add that many people who work with animals in these conditions often see nothing wrong with them and believe they are being kind and loving. I've met many zoo keepers and volunteers who genuinely love the animals in their care. (Most are powerless to do anything to change the conditions and merely do their best). What boggles my mind is anyone defending this as a way of life for an elephant. I'm appalled every time I hear someone claiming this is a loving or even an adequate environment when all the evidence screams it is the opposite. We wouldn't treat our dogs and cats this way but think nothing of throwing a huge wild animal in what is virtually a prison cell for its entire life. Who does the cage serve and benefit? Certainly not the animal.

Humans can be very strange and scary sometimes.

If someone put me in a cage and told me it was his or her way of loving me, that it was good for me I'd want to kill myself.

A big smoochy kiss to Bob Barker

for his tireless efforts to rescue elephants!

Come on, Alaska Zoo. This is a no-brainer. Release Maggie to PAWS now. (permanent news link)