Lincoln Park Zoo to go Elephant-Free

By Andrew Peerless in Miscellaneous on Apr 27, 2005 1:50PM

What an awful year for the Lincoln Park Zoo. In their quest to spread free animal love throughout Chicagoland, they've become a target of animal rights activits and - at the end of the day - won't even have any elephants to show for it.

Chicagoist has told you about the deaths of Tatima and Peaches, two-thirds of the zoo's elephant population, and now Wankie - its final resident pachyderm - is being sent to live at Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo. To avoid protests and disruptions to Wankie's already upsetting departure, the zoo is making no public announcements as to the date or time when she'll bid Chicago adieu...

Chicagoist has a heavy heart about this entire elephant situation... we positively adore the Lincoln Park Zoo, and we've never been too terribly fond of PETA, but must admit that a recent visit found Wankie looking distraught, listless and rather lonely. Elephants are apparently not well-suited to cold weather and are social creatures that thrive in herds, which makes Wankie's situation all the more heartbreaking. If the zoo is planning to bring on more elephants to populate its Regenstein African Journey exhibit, we hope it is a mutually beneficial agreement for all parties involved, including the elephants.

Image courtesy of UCSB's Ocean Physics Laboratory