eleblog

“The elephants at the Reid Park Zoo won’t be packing up their trunks anytime soon. The Tucson City Council voted 6-1 last week to move Connie and Shaba from their current half-acre enclosure to a new 3-acre savannah, rather than examine the possibility of sending the elephants to another zoo with more space, or to an elephant sanctuary.” - Tucson Weekly

“Reid Park Zoo will get an $18.6 million expansion that includes a new learning center and a larger enclosure for its two elephants thanks to a City Council vote yesterday.” - Tucson Citizen

“The Reid Park Zoo could begin a major expansion immediately if the City Council approves an $18.6 million financing plan tomorrow.” - Tucson Citizen

” Tucson city officials say they have little doubt about what should happen to the two elephants in the Reid Park Zoo — they’re staying.” - KVOA News 4

“The Tucson City Council will likely vote Tuesday on a city staff recommendation to keep the elephants in Tucson and expand their enclosure at Reid Park Zoo, giving them several acres of sand pits, pools, grass and a mud wallow instead of their current half-acre space.” - Arizona Daily Star

“The Tucson Zoological Society is sponsoring a glimpse at how Reid Park Zoo’s elephants, Connie and Shaba, live, work and play.” - Tucson Citizen

“The Reid Park Zoo will no longer attempt to breed its 26-year-old African elephant Shaba.” - The Arizona Star

“Connie and Shaba, the elephants at the Reid Park Zoo, have special admirers in Jeffrey Uhrig’s fifth-grade class at Bonillas Basic Curriculum Magnet School.” - Tucson Citizen

“In response to Star editorial columnist Jim Kiser’s Feb. 12 piece, quite frankly, deciding what to do with Reid Park Zoo’s elephants is not an “Enormous Dilemma,” as stated in the headline.” - Arizona Daily Star

“What’s best for Connie and Shaba? This is the primary question we should ask. More than 4,000 Tucson residents and zoo patrons have signed petitions urging the City Council to transfer the elephants at the Reid Park Zoo to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where they will have free access to hundreds of acres of natural habitat.” - Arizona Daily Star

“People have big hearts for elephants. I say that with some authority after seeing the response to my Feb. 12 column, in which I suggested Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo should give up its two elephants, for humane and financial reasons, and concentrate instead on improving conditions for its other animals.” - Arizona Daily Star

“The recent “controversy” about elephants is being created by a handful of animal-rights activists who have strategically chosen this species as their first target in a longer-term campaign to close zoos � all zoos. They claim that seeing an animal on television is just as good as experiencing animals in an up-close-and-personal setting. The American Zoo and Aquarium Association strongly disagrees.” - Arizona Star

“Should the Reid Park Zoo keep its elephants?” - Tucson Weekly

” Shaba and Connie have been at home at the Reid Park Zoo since most of us can remember. The City of Tucson wants to keep the two elephants, and a lot of Tucson seem to agree.” - KOLD