In reply to the Sept. 5 story printed in The Columbian “Zoo helps boost elephant numbers,” breeding elephants in captivity has been a failure. For every elephant born in a zoo another two die, yet zoos continue to churn out more cash cows. According to investigative reporter Michael J. Berens, the overall infant-mortality rate for elephants in zoos is an appalling 40 percent — nearly triple the rate of elephants in the wild.
Artificial insemination in elephants involves the insertion of probes, catheters and scopes in an elephant’s rectum and complex vaginal opening. There is nothing straight-forward about this procedure. Elephants are often chained by their legs while giving birth.
Chai, an elephant at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, has been subjected to traumatic artificial insemination 112 times, with only one successful birth — a calf who later died. In a 25-year period at the Houston Zoo, 14 out of 14 elephant calves died: a 100 percent failure rate.
No elephant born in a zoo cage will ever be released to their African or Asian homeland, much less do anything to help their wild brethren. Instead of continuing to keep elephants confined in cramped and unnatural spaces, zoos would serve elephants more responsibly by funding efforts toward reducing the key factors for their decline — poaching and habitat loss.
