Lucy (elephant)

Lucy
Species	Asian elephant
Sex	Female
Born	Approx 1976; Sri Lanka
Captive at	Edmonton Valley Zoo, Canada
Captured at	Sri Lanka
Capture age	2 years
Capture date	1977

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Lucy is a 47-year-old Asian elephant who lives at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Canada. She was captured at the age of two from the tropical forests of Sri Lanka and has been living at the zoo since 1977.^[1]

History

Edmonton Valley Zoo (EVZ) ordered a baby elephant from a wildlife dealer who obtains Lucy from the Notorious Pinnwala Elephant orphanage although it is known at that time the centre did breeds and sell elephants.

The EVZ order said it did not matter if the baby was still nursing so it may be lucy was taken from her mother. The EVZ paid approximately $8500 for Lucy. When Lucy arrived in EVZ the zoo keepers used the method of elephant “crushing” and Lucy it is recoded was beaten winched and chained. This process is traditionally to break the spirit of an elephant and at that time was commonly used in circuses and in Asia where elephants were regularly taken from the wild.

Lucy’s role at EVZ :

EVZ used lucy to ride and to be a star attraction performing tricks. The early EVZ staff records detailed lucy having frostbite and displaying sterotypical distress behaviour.

EVZ Elephant Breeding :

EVZ decided to acquire a second elephant. They bought a baby African elephant called Samantha (also known as Nekanda Niki) . Lucy an Asian elephant and Samantha an African elephant lived together in the 0.3 acre yard and elephant barn.

Lucy was sent twice to the Calgary zoo to be introduced to other elephants with the EVZ hope that Lucy would become pregnant . Lucy travelled well without any travel training and arrived reported by Calgary zoo staff not stressed at all.

Lucy failed to get pregnant.

The 2005 Edmonton Council Zoo Plan : an important source of information.

EVZ in 2005 had a council meeting and detailed in the Edmonton 2005 council plan pages 36/37/38 options for both elephants. For Lucy this included being sent away to another zoo or sanctuary and or having the companionship of other Asian elephants. Detailed in the plan was also many pros and cons such as keeping Lucy alone despite it being illegal in Canada to keep any elephant alone due to the known cruelty issues. The plan also included details of knowing EVZ would need to “be ready in a proactive manner” to address PETA, CAZA, AZA, issues arising from keeping Lucy alone.

Controversy:

There have been 40 years of continuous cruelty complaints relating to Lucy. Detailed staff records from 1980-2004 show lucy has daily had infections, swellings, pus from various body part infections, arthritis, blocked trunk, unable to eat, sleep, and many more are detailed.

The main FOI EVZ records were obtained by Zoocheck who led a campaign to have the EVZ face cruelty charges and this ended up in the Queens Court of Alberta Canada.

The expert witness spanned experts from other zoos and advocates to release lucy to a sanctuary. The detail obtained for the first time gave the world a view of Lucy’s care and life relationship with the zoo keepers.

The documentary evidence states many times lucy has been aggressive to her zoo keepers and the court documents give details. The court case ended by the judges saying that Zoocheck brought the case under the wrong law. One judge stated they didn’t know why lucy was still at EVZ.

Zoocheck also gave a statement detailing their efforts for Alberta zoo standard law to be upheld by the agencies listed upon the Alberta Government website. If any government owned animal is seen in mental or physical distress and a member of the public reports a concern then there must be an independent investigation.

Those agencies are the RCMP, the ASPCA Peace Officers, CAZA, Edmonton Police.311. Zoocheck reported that the RCMP and Edmonton Police said it was the duty of the Peace Officers and CAZA. The ASPCA say it is not their duty so that left CAZA. It is documented in the court documents that CAZA has many times not upheld their published standards and the directors of CAZA were also EVZ directors.

More Recent Complaints include:

Lucy ref Alberta Health and Safety department has no legal ventilation and sub standard living facilities (she had no medicine for a 70lb uterine tumour for 10 years. Tef Dr London 2022)

This happened at the time when each time a complaint about EVZ was sent to CAZA , CAZA still accredited EVZ and Lucy did not receive improved care.

Critisism:

EVZ faced regular Criticism from Animal Rights Activists who had requested that Edmonton City Council allow a true independent examination of lucy to see if she would be able to transfer to a sanctuary. After decades of advocacy in 2022 lucy received her first ever True independent veterinary examination. Dr Patricia London and Ingo Schmidhinger both experts in transportation of elephants to sanctuaries gave the reports that lucy could safely travel And it would be better than her staying in EVZ. Because of these vets Lucy for the first time received proper medical treatment for her 70lb Uterine Tumour.

The EVZ were also able to bring in their choice of vet and chose an Elephant Zoo breeding vet even though Lucy is not of breeding age. Their vet was Frank Goeritz who said lucy was unable to travel. EVZ chose to take the zoo breeding vets opinion over the two independent elephant transport vets much to the dismay of Animal Rights Activists.

In 2023 the World renowned elephant expert Lek Chailert visited Edmonton to offer her expert opinion and advice to Edmonton City council and EVZ. It is reported that neither would meet with Lek Chailert much to the dismay of local people and global activists.

Lucy before this was only evaluated by zoo vets and as discussed previously in the Zoocheck court records by expert witness Margaret Whittaker it was common for zoos who did not want to lose a star attraction to hire vets without the knowledge of safely transporting elephants. Then a no vote could be obtained.

For many years EvZ obtained Lucy’s evaluation from a Dr Oosterhuis a ex circus vet and one who had testified in court that it was acceptable to hit elephants on a certain point on their heads for control reasons. Dr Oosterhuis was one of 11 vets hired by the Alaska zoo to determine if their lone elephant Maggie could be safely transported to the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary. Dr Oosterhuis made exactly the same report as he did every year for Lucy at EVZ that both elephants would die if moved both were bonded to the respective zoos. Alaska chose to go with the other 10 more experienced vets who said to move Maggie. And so they did, and Maggie transferred safely to the Elephant Sanctuary and lived another 20 years. It is known that sanctuary elephants on average live 20 years longer than zoo elephants. Despite this evidence EVZ and Dr Jane Goodall continued to use the opinion of Dr Oosterhuis to refuse lucy a move to a sanctuary. In 2023 the EVZ announced they had donated 7 million dollars to conservation charities and at the same time asked the Edmonton City Council to fund a ventilation system for Lucy (still not done). The Alberta Health and Safety department in May 2023 found zoo staff and Lucy were in danger of inhaling lung disease causing silica toxins in the Elephant barn at EVZ. Due to the lack of lawful ventilation when Lucy was playing with the silica sand the toxins were airborne as a result lucy is still inhaling these toxins and awaiting a change of sand and a ventilation system the zoo staff now wear masks. Lucy was used for decades to perform tricks in demonstrations and regularly the zoo staff smeared toxic paint around her nostrils and sometimes lodged paint brushes and music sticks in her trunk. To sell pictures lucy was taught to smear paint on canvas and these pictures were sold apparently to buy the other zoo wildlife enrichment items and donate to conservation charities. Lucy has been filmed over the years swaying displaying clear sterotypical behaviour known to be a sign of mental breakdown. The CBc fifth program filmed in 2016 The Elephant in the Room and on that film lucy is filmed swaying. The film also highlighted the issue of Dr Oosterhuis and the Alaska zoo and asked EVZ why they employed him. Lucy has also been filmed in her yard swaying in mental breakdown in front of tourists. Lucy has a lifetime history of foot abscesses and foot pain but can be seen paraded daily walked on hard surfaces which the vet Dr London reported was causing Lucy foot pain. Many care failures were reported in Dr Londons report. Perhaps significantly Dr London stated that the EVZ had failed to implement any of the vet recommendations over the years from vets for or against moving lucy her conditions were sub standard and never met zoo standards or her personal needs. It is in government records now that Lucy could safely travel in 2005 ( Edmonton City plan) in 2016 ( Queens Court Expert vets) 2022 Dr London, Ingo Schmidhinger and in 2023 Lek Chailert that Lucy in their opinions can safely travel. To date the EVZ refuses to invite back the vets and experts who say that lucy can safely travel.

Health concerns

Lucy’s health has been a topic of concern. She is now breathing solely through her mouth due to a narrowing of the nasal passage, a condition first reported in 2009.^{[citation needed]} Her breathing problems have worsened over time, leading to very severe hypoxemia and hypercapnia — low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels in her blood and tissues. The root cause of this condition remains undiagnosed.

In addition to her respiratory issues, Lucy also has a large uterine tumor (leiomyoma), which is common in female elephants who have never given birth. This tumor is being treated with a vaccine recommended by the visiting veterinarian.^{[citation needed]}

Lucy also has arthritis.