[Greens-Media] Injunction plans to stop Taronga holding Thai elephants

[Lee Rhiannon]

MEDIA RELEASE
20 August 2006 

Injunction plans to stop Taronga holding Thai elephants 

Greens MP and animal welfare spokesperson Lee Rhiannon today congratulated Animal Liberation NSW’s move to explore legal action to stop Taronga Zoo’s importation of five Thai elephants now in quarantine in the Cocos Islands.

 “Animal Liberation NSW is seeking legal advice from a Sydney barrister on the possibilities of obtaining a Supreme Court injunction to stop Taronga keeping the elephants on the grounds it will breach NSW animal cruelty laws,” Ms Rhiannon said.

“This will be a ground-breaking case. Animal Liberation will use international experts to prove that the elephants would suffer not just physical but psychological cruelty by being kept in the small new elephant enclosure at Taronga zoo. 

“The Greens plan to assist this campaign by using NSW Parliament to require the government to release confidential documents held by Taronga Zoo that will show how this controversy is being played out behind the scenes.

CEO of Animal Liberation NSW, Mr Mark Pearson, says the injunction will be one tool in his campaign kit to stop this barbariac, purely profit making venture from going ahead.

“Once an injunction is obtained the case will then go on for a full Supreme Court hearing to prove animal cruelty,” Mr Pearson said.

“There is a massive rainforest conservation area in Thailand now willing to accept all eight Thai elephants heading for Sydney and Melbourne zoos.

“In the wild elephants can roam very long distances every day, which they cannot do in Taronga’s  shoebox sized enclosure. 

“In captivity elephants have a lonely and miserable existence, receiving inadequate exercise and suffering a wide range of psychological problems like depression. 

“Captive breeding programs for elephants are also notoriously difficult,” Mr Pearson said.

The Greens are calling on the government to cancel its importation plans and put funding into overseas conservation programs instead. 

Lee Rhiannon has also been campaigning to use the $40 million Taronga zoo elephant enclosure as a retirement home for six circus elephants in NSW now nearing retirement age.

For more information:  Lee Rhiannon 0427 861 568, Mark Pearson 0417 252 107