Elephants to get more space at San Francisco Zoo

San Francisco zoo must get rid of Lulu (above) until it can provide her with more room. Picture / Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO - Elephants must receive hundreds of times more space to live at San Francisco's zoo or not be kept at the facility, city legislators say, in legislation that could effectively bar pachyderms for good.

Animal rights advocates had sought a permanent ban - which would have been a first for an urban zoo - but the city's Board of Supervisors came up with a compromise to require the zoo to provide elephants 6ha.

At present the zoo, considered one of the best in the United States, devotes about 63sq m to elephants, said Amanda Kahn, an aide to Supervisor Bevan Dufty who brokered the compromise rules.

Manuel Mollinedo, zoo president, said it was planned to have elephants again in the future. But animal rights advocates hoped the 6ha requirement would prove too onerous.

"I hope it is going to be too much space and too expensive for them to turn [6ha] into an elephant exhibit," said Elliot Katz, president of In Defence of Animals. "I hope it does turn out to be an elephant ban."

Mollinedo said the zoo would need to raise US$17 million ($23.9 million) to US$20 million for the new elephant area, and gave no target opening date.

Zoo officials say the elephant ban idea comes from a vocal minority of activists who want to close all zoos.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association counts 295 elephants in 78 accredited North American zoos, and says they are well treated.

- REUTERS