With dispute settled, elephants will retire to Sierra sanctuary
           By Jim Irwin
           December 6, 2004

           Winky and Wanda, two aging, arthritic elephants, will spend
their
           retirement in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada
mountains,
           away from the cramped, cold Detroit Zoo.

           After months of wrangling, Detroit Zoo Director Ron Kagan
reached an
           agreement with two other zoos and an accreditation group to send
           Winky and Wanda to California's Performing Animal Welfare
Society
           sanctuary for a milder climate and more space.

           Wanda, 46, has arthritis and 51-year-old Winky has foot
problems.
           Both have surpassed the average 45-year life expectancy for
Asian
           elephants in captivity in North America.

           Kagan's decision to give up the elephants primarily on ethical
           grounds and send them to a sanctuary in a warm climate drew
praise
           from the public and animal welfare groups.

           However, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association ? the Detroit
           Zoo's accrediting organization ? decided Wanda and Winky should
go
           to the Columbus Zoo. Kagan opposed that recommendation, saying
the
           conditions and weather there would be scarcely different from
           Detroit's.

           Complicating the dispute was the fact that Wanda was on
long-term
           loan to Detroit from the San Antonio Zoo, which supported the
AZA's
           recommendation.

           A break in the impasse came when a test indicated that Wanda
either
           had the endotheliotropic herpes virus or had the antibodies to
it.

           The disease would not be detrimental to her health but could be
           fatal to young elephants exposed to it.

           "Since the Columbus Zoo has an active elephant breeding program
and
           a 9-month-old calf, we could not accept Wanda," Gerald Borin,
           executive director of the Ohio zoo, said in a statement released
           Friday.

           Winky and Wanda will be moved to the PAWS sanctuary about two
hours
           east of San Francisco as soon as the weather permits. Of its
2,300
           acres, about 100 are set aside for elephants. The sanctuary
           currently has six.

           Five U.S. zoos, including the San Francisco Zoo, have closed
           elephant exhibits in recent years amid public pressure following
           animal deaths or alleged mistreatment. A small animal sanctuary
in
           Georgia surrendered its elephants in February, partly because of
           space and cost concerns.