Lucy the Elephant in Edmonton

I grew up in Edmonton, Alberta.  The winters are very cold.  Temperatures get below freezing for weeks on end, and there is snow to contend with.  It sucks, but it must suck even more for Lucy, who is an Asian Elephant. 

Lucy had been orphaned in 1975 and was purchased in 1977 when she was just two years old and brought to the Edmonton Valley Zoo, which was known as Storyland Valley Zoo back in its early days.

Lucy has lived alone and the zoo claims she is not a social elephant and prefers to be alone rather than with other elephants.   I am not sure how they would determine that as she really has not been tested with other elephants.

 I have visited the zoo a few times and mostly would observe Lucy standing in her rather small and boring enclosure, however on my last visit we saw her walking around.  This was the first time I have ever seen this but apparently she goes for daily walks.  The handlers told me that they more or less allowed her to go on her own.  They did say that in the winter they have a spot where they can stop so she can take a break and warm up but did not say she hated the cold.  Her large size would help her stay warm, but I am not sure if they put a blanket on her back in the winter or not.

The Calgary zoo, which is further south in Alberta, decided to send their elephants to warmer climates and many are calling for Edmonton to do the same.

Personally I do not know what to think.  I am not an expert on judging if an elephant is happy or not.  I cannot tell if she is happy as an only elephant or not.  I do not know if she likes her daily walks, even in the winter. 

I do know that the staff at the Edmonton Valley Zoo do their best to care for Lucy.  She has arthritis, possibly related to a deformity she was born with, and has some breathing problems when stressed.  In fact this problem is one of the reasons why some people insist she should not be moved, they say the stress will be too hard on her.

As such, while there are many petitions to move Lucy to a warmer climate I am not really sure what is best for her.

I will say, however, that this is a fine example of why we need to stop taking animals from their natural homes and bringing them to other places just for our entertainment.

Other reading on Lucy

Beware of Offering Large Rewards for a Lost Pet

A woman in the city of Edmonton recently had her small dog go missing. She put up posters offering a reward.

A man called her and asked how much the reward was. She told him $200.00. He said he had her dog and to transfer half the money via e-mail. She did, and then he demanded the other half. At that point she questioned him to prove he really had her dog. He threatened to hurt the dog. She sent the other half, and needless to say, did not get her dog.

At that point she called the police.  Here is the actual news article.

Offering a reward for a missing pet is good, if a person found the pet and was thinking of keeping it, this can motivate them to do the right thing. Sadly, offering rewards has also created a problem of dog-napping; where people intentionally steal dogs for the purpose of collecting a reward.  Note of course that it is illegal to just keep a pet you have found, you are suppose to call the local animal shelter and report finding it or can bring it to them. 

author's pet cat

If you have lost a pet and do offer a reward it should be small and never give the reward to anyone until you actually get your pet back. If somebody contacts you about your missing pet and demands a higher reward, or seems suspicious, call the police.

I do hope the dog, named Piper, is found and returned to his owner, and I also hope the man who scammed this woman is caught too.

This article was originally published by me on Bubblews.