The Friends of Ruth & Emily are fundraising to bring an independent veterinarian to inspect Ruth & Emily, two Asian elephants, who have been stuck at Buttonwood Park Zoo for 35 years.
Life in a zoo is hard on elephants. They evolved over millenia to walk miles, grazing on grass and browsing on tree branches. Because Ruth & Emily can do neither on their small exhibit, they suffer physically and mentally.
Much of their time is spent inside a concrete barn in 20'x40' stalls, surrounded by bars when the zoo is closed. Elephants are ~12' long. This space is all they have for 16-18 hours every day.
About 35-40 lbs of food is left for them to eat, a small fraction of what an elephant would normally eat during 16 hours.
The inability to move has caused chronic joint pain in their feet and legs. The dirt floor is not cleaned of dung during this time and so they get frequent foot and skin infections.
This past year was the worst. Ruth's left foot was horribly damaged by an infection. The Zoo denies this and claims it's due to old age.. But she's only 61. Elephants, like humans, are a long lived species. Like humans, they can live to 70-80 years.
A non-zoo, independent veterinarian is needed because zoo veterinarians are trained to ignore the root causes of these problems.
In fact, at Buttonwood Park Zoo, past veterinarians have failed to identify, diagnose and treat Ruth's lameness. Neither elephant received radiographs for four years. Yet the zoo makes blanket claims the the elephants can't be moved to a more appropriate setting.
Please join us in getting Ruth & Emily a veterinarian experienced in diagnosing and treating elephants.
Thank you for being a Friend!
Happy Earth Day!
