SEATTLE — Moving two Asian elephants from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to San Diego to Oklahoma proved to be a huge expense.
The Seattle Times reports (http://bit.ly/1FCcXpx ) that the cost of moving Chai and Bamboo from San Diego to the Oklahoma City Zoo was $88,000. That’s in addition to the $106,000 bill for the first attempt to move the pair, which was waylaid by bad weather.
If the Oklahoma City Zoo does not pay a share of the costs, Woodland Park’s total expenditure will be $141,000.
The female elephants’ trip began in April after a federal appeals court declined to block the transfer. The move was opposed by animal rights activists and at least one member of the Seattle City Council.
A storm diverted the pachyderms to San Diego, where they had stayed for a few weeks.
