UPDATED: Feb. 7, 2020 at 4:15 p.m.

An animal rights organization listed Syracuse’s Rosamond Gifford Zoo as one of the top 10 worst zoos for elephants in North America after an investigator visited the zoo in November.

In Defense of Animals released its 16th-annual 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list in late January, giving the Rosamond Gifford Zoo the 10th spot. This is the fifth time the zoo has made IDA’s list.

The organization considers a number of factors to narrow down the list, including health, space, enclosures and climate in its assessment. The Rosamond Gifford Zoo was placed on the list primarily because of the zoo’s breeding program.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo responded to the ranking in a three-page statement, calling the list an “ongoing smear campaign.”

Laura Bridgeman, a representative from IDA, said IDA sent an investigator to the zoo in late November to observe the zoo’s treatment of its animals. The investigator spent six hours at the facility, and a Rosamond Gifford Zoo representative said a male elephant named Doc would be sent to another zoo soon, Bridgeman said.

IDA shared the video with The Daily Orange, but requested that it not be published in order to protect the privacy of the zoo’s representative.

In the video, the zoo’s representative states “he’s going to another zoo for breeding purposes.” The representative does not explicitly name Doc but previously mentioned the elephant seconds before, saying “Doc is one of our biggest elephants.”

“Doc isn’t going anywhere,” the zoo said in its statement. The zoo declined to comment further.

The IDA investigator also recorded the zoo representative pointing to a young elephant, Batu, and explaining that “he’ll be leaving in a couple of years. After five or six years, they go to other zoos because there can only be one male.”

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo confirmed this in its statement and said that Batu, almost five, will eventually be ready to leave his family and join a bachelor group.

Rosamond Gifford Zoo is one of only 72 zoos with elephants to receive accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is one of 11 to have surpassed all requirements to become a breeding facility, the statement said.

AZA facilities are dedicated to caring for animals in a humane and scientific manner, according to the AZA website. The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is accredited through September 2023.

The AZA also has a list of standards for elephant management and care. Facilities must allow for “adequate room” to easily move about and lie down, although there is no scientific data clearly indicating the amount of space needed for an elephant to be healthy and well adjusted, the site states.

The elephant herd’s night house at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo includes a 12,000-square-foot barn with heated floors and sand to protect the elephants’ feet. The elephants also have access to a nearly seven-acre preserve the zoo said it expanded last year, as well as a 50,000-gallon watering hole.

Bridgeman acknowledged that the Rosamond Gifford Zoo recently renovated its exhibit, but said keeping elephants on display and visible to the public is “very traumatic for elephants.”

“That’s really the heart of the matter,” Bridgeman said. “These elephants belong in a sanctuary. Sanctuaries often have hundreds of acres for elephants to roam, and they are not designed for people. Sanctuaries are designed for elephants.”

Bridgeman said the ideal outcome for the IDA would be for the zoo to send all of their elephants together to a warm weather sanctuary.

“I understand that zoos are doing, or trying to do, the best they can,” Bridgeman said. “But at the end of the day, there is no way that elephants can thrive in zoos. And that’s the bottom line.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Batu the elephant was misnamed. The length of time the investigator spent at the facility was also incorrect. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on February 4, 2020 at 9:09 pm