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Gray Matters - Elephant Breeding
Out in the central Florida hinterlands, the Ringling Bros. circus operates the most successful Asian elephant breeding operation on the continent.
Pachygerms
Lately, though, no one’s been going on the road from the center. Last year, routine testing found Osgood and another elephant had carried tuberculosis, and the state put a quarantine on both them and 25 elephants exposed to them. Another five elephants at Williston are under quarantine. Quarantines last usually for more than a year, until a treatment regimen is completed for those infected and until exposed animals test negative for a period of time.
The TB incident provides fodder for groups opposed to circus animal acts such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “We think it’s ludicrous for Ringling to attempt to put a conservation spin on its elephant-breeding program,” says RaeLeann Smith, PETA’s circus specialist. “Every move is dictated and manipulated,” Smith says. “They’re stressed; they’re bored; they’re abused. Everything that is natural to them has been taken away.”
Williams says that those who oppose keeping elephants in captivity don’t care how well the center may treat the animals. “If they’re anywhere but in Asia, they’re not happy with it.”
Feld also is undeterred. “I will tell you that I’m more proud of what we’re doing at the Center for Elephant Conservation than anything else,” he says. “We have the largest gene pool of Asian elephants in the Western Hemisphere. We’re the leader in Asian elephant conservation. We are making a difference.”
 “Only a third of the elephants that we have ... end up being performers. They’re like people. They don’t all take to it,” says Janice Aria, director of animal stewardship and training. [Photo: Jeffrey Camp] |
