As the St. Louis Zoo celebrates the birth of a new baby elephant, a tragedy quietly unfolds -- the slow and painful wasting away of Clara, a 53-year old elephant at the zoo. Captured from the wild as an infant, Clara has spent her life in St. Louis confined to the Zoo's tiny yards and concrete barn stalls. 

For years, Clara has suffered from painful arthritis and chronic foot abscesses and sole erosions, a direct result of the cramped and unnatural zoo environment.
Since 2000, she has been forced to wear rubber-soled "sandals" due to the extremely deteriorated condition of her rear feet.

Today, Clara is about as sad and broken down as an elephant could be. She is wasting away and appears almost skeletal, her spine and skull bones protruding visibly. Each day she stands in her tiny zoo yard in St. Louis, in full sun and heat, barely able to move.

Everything about Clara's posture and behavior says she is in pain. She shifts her weight constantly from one back foot to the other, unable to bear her full weight on either one for more than a few minutes. Movement is visibly difficult for Clara, and it can take her 45 minutes or more to shuffle, slowly and painfully, from the yard to the gate that leads her back to her concrete stall each night.

Clara's Suffering Was Preventable, But the Zoo Failed to Act

Even five years ago, Clara had a chance to heal from her zoo-induced ailments, but it is almost certainly too late now. Instead of transferring Clara to a sanctuary with the space and natural habitat necessary for her feet to heal, the St. Louis Zoo chose to keep her in the very environment that that caused these problems in the first place. To mask her pain, the Zoo treated her with high doses of anti-inflammatory drugs that have poisoned her system -- causing bleeding ulcers, gastric distress and kidney damage, factors that likely contributed to her extreme weight loss.

Don't Be Fooled

The St. Louis Zoo says Clara's condition is a natural result of the aging process. But don't be fooled -- there is nothing natural about Clara's eroded feet and arthritic joints. And, Clara is not elderly for an Asian elephant, a species that has a natural lifespan of 70 years.

Elephants are Suffering in Zoos -- And It's Just Not Right

Elephants are big animals who need big spaces, and zoos are simply not giving them what they need. Look at Clara and see what 50 years in a zoo does to an elephant.

Like Toni at the National Zoo, Gita at Los Angeles Zoo and Pet at Oregon Zoo -- all elephants who died this year after intense suffering from joint and foot disease -- Clara's painful ailments could have been prevented had the zoo industry acted in her best interests. 

It's just not right. A new baby, Maliha, has recently been born into this life and faces the same fate unless drastic changes are made. If the St. Louis Zoo cannot provide the space and conditions elephants need to thrive, then it shouldn't have elephants at all.
 
Let's not let Clara's death, so obviously imminent, be in vain. Let's fight for a brighter future for the new baby and all the elephants at the St. Louis Zoo!

1. "Take Action" to express your outrage at Clara's suffering and demand that the new baby, her family and all the elephants at St. Louis Zoo be transferred to a sanctuary with the space and natural habitat elephants need. To have a greater impact, also call the St. Louis Zoo at (314) 781-0900 and ask to speak with President Jeffrey Bonner, and write to him directly at administration@stlzoo.org or at Saint Louis Zoo, One Government Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110.

2. Leave a comment on the St. Louis Zoo website

3. Send a letter to the Editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper