November 11, 2014
By Brian Stallard
The Pittsburgh Zoo (click here) is being investigated by the USDA after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a complaint against the zoo concerning its treatment of captive elephants. The animal rights organization has focused its complaint on the use of dogs to herd the elephants around....
The question is do the elephants experience stress from dog herding. Is there potential for danger to the dogs and their handlers if the elephants react badly?
Basically, is everyone safe in these practices?
Some time ago the Pittsburgh Zoo did experience a fatality. Some of that probably enters into the decision to use dogs.
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
By Ann Belser and Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writers
On mornings when weather permits, (click here) elephants at the Pittsburgh Zoo are brought out of their enclosure to walk with their keepers around the grounds.
Yesterday, two keepers were about halfway around the zoo with a 20-year-old mother elephant and her 3-year-old female calf when the mother elephant stopped near the Northern Shores Cafe building.
When the keeper urged her to move along, the elephant butted him and pinned him to the ground with her head, crushing him.
The trainer, Mike Gatti, 46, an elephant keeper at the zoo for nearly six years, was taken to UPMC St. Margaret, where he was pronounced dead....
It is unclear that using dogs will result in a safety zone rather than an antagonistic zone. This is a very different methods in caring for elephants by a zoo. I don't recall hearing about this method before, at least not with elephants.
This was four years ago. Obviously the elephants were not a problem then and the people enjoy them with their children.
It is unclear that using dogs will result in a safety zone rather than an antagonistic zone. This is a very different methods in caring for elephants by a zoo. I don't recall hearing about this method before, at least not with elephants.
This was four years ago. Obviously the elephants were not a problem then and the people enjoy them with their children.
