Dulary

A local victory for those of you from Philadelphia, we are honored to introduce Dulary!

 

 

This 46 year old Asian elephant was born in Thailand, captured when she 6 months old and brought to the United States on a boat. In the ‘60’s elephants could be purchased and imported anywhere in the world - she was placed in the Philadelphia Zoo on May 25, 1964 and remained in their ¼ acre exhibit for 42 years. Managed with bullhooks and sharing her enclosure with 3 African elephants, Dulary looked miserable.

 

Below is photo of a bullhook which is commonly used in circuses and zoos as a fear based – negative reinforcement - training instrument. It is a heavy rod with steel pointed ends intended for hooking, stabbing and/or beating elephants to inflict pain and dominate them. There are numerous training videos which clearly show that bullhooks hurt the elephants. Some of the more progressive zoos have phased out the use of such painful, fear-based management but many still rely on this form of punishment to control their elephants.

 

Fortunately, in May 2007 Dulary was moved to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where they DO NOT use bullhooks! Dulary shares thousands of acres with a herd of female Asian elephants. Her best friend is Misty and the two of them roam the property chirping and purring to each other. Please visit their website www.elephants.com  and enjoy numerous photos and videos of Dulary and the other elephants living there…including the founding el named Tarra and her dog-friend Bella!

 

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