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Craig 04/16/2009 9:35:00 PM
Wow cdana - it took all of two mouse clicks to find out you are a moron and incorrect about no African elephants at the sanctaury. Did you make up everything or just the stuff you did not know.
It is a sanctuary for elephants. It does not seek to exploit them like the zoo.
and your logic of "we aready got a second elephant so now that will be alone" is idiotic at best. Just because that brainless clown Hudson went and make a second mistake does not mean we should hide his first. Hey, lets throw another prisoner in the cell so the first has company...but then we can never let either go. UNREAL!
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cdana 04/16/2009 6:47:00 AM
The whole point in getting another elephant was so that Jenny would have a companion. Sending Jenny to Tennessee would pretty much negate well, the purpose for the new elephant. Also, some key points Morin doesn't like to acknowledge:
* The sanctuary in Tennesse is actually run by a former circus elephant trainer. They say that she has changed her ways, but, this was just a few years ago in the 90's. She is famous for being the first and only elephant trainer to actually put her elephant on roller skates, complete with a shiny outfit and bullhook in hand....good call Morin. I'm pretty sure that she missed that part where the lady there is only used to handling Asian elephants.....big difference.
* Also, Jenny is an elephant...an animal who is pretty much at the top of the super smart scale. Does anyone remember when she used to paint pictures for childrens charities, play the harmonica, had the biggest birthday cake ever??? Although her conditions could have been tons better, she still is used to people and the socializing. Tennessee doesn't allow that in any way. Jenny would also be the only African elephant there....so she would be separated...and alone...again.(with the skating fiend)
Let's do a role play.....
Let's pretend Morin has had a tough life. She has been vigilantly trying to send Jenny to a reformed circus trainer for the past year. Its starting to wear her out. The only friends she has ever known...the ones who she sees everyday, talks to her, has lunch with, notice that Morin is just getting too tired to do this. So, because they have a year's worth of invested interest (some of of have known Jenny since the day she arrived from Florida), they decide that is best to just make a rash, unresearched decision. So they send her to a retirement home because they think thats what she needs....where she won't have to deal with anyone, literally. Nobody will be allowed to talk to her, nobody will be allowed to touch her. She gets to spend her last days in a place alone and unfamiliar.
Morin should really just be focusing on the Jenny's new home here, how she is accepting her new buddy, and understanding that Jenny can honestly feel the love she gets from her visitors. Jenny does deserve the best, so we should make sure the zoo is giving her that....at her home...with her dallas family. I think the new slogan should read "Pimp Jennys new habitat!"
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BRIAN 04/15/2009 2:46:00 AM
please city council find your humanistic qualities and rethink this tragic situation jenny is in.you can change her life for the better if you want
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Juli 04/15/2009 2:39:00 AM
From a cursory read over her City Council report, it appears the only incumbent with the sense to support Jenny's release is Angela Hunt. That doesn't entirely surprise me. She's often the lone voice of sanity down there, especially if it involves money.
But for the love of God, can someone tell me why anyone would oppose releasing Jenny? Where's the money/power angle (the only thing most of our so-called 'representatives' care about) in keeping her here and pissing off virtually every citizen who has an opinion on the matter?
Where's the upside in being a dick about this?
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Craig Bell 04/14/2009 8:04:00 PM
Both Leppert and Hudson are egomaniacs that care not one bit about Jenny or what the people of Dallas want, only their sense of power. They both should be unemployed. We can only hope that some day these clowns retire in an area the size of a closet to live out their lives. This is how Dallas repays 20+ years of service from Jenny...."no rest or retirement for you, just keep suffering..and thanks!"
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Veronica 04/13/2009 7:57:00 PM
City of Dallas and Dallas Zoo officials have continually contended that they have Jenny's best interests at heart, BUT ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
Have they really done right by Jenny when
1) the only time in the last 20 years that they expanded her tiny enclosure (and even then only by a few feet) was when they failed to meet even the pitiful AZA standards for accreditation renewal
2) they fail to address her psychological problems in any therapeutic manner
3)they continually keep her heavily drugged for periods lasting years for the sole purpose of controlling her, not treating her
4)they planned to send her to a substandard animal safari last summer because it was an opportune time to get rid of her after her companion KeKe died.
Do these sound like the actions of those who have Jenny's best interests at heart? It is no longer enough to SAY they do, it's high time that they take actions that PROVE IT. Jenny should be allowed to retire at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where she can heal and live out the remainder of her days in peace.
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Jason 04/13/2009 6:45:00 PM
Props to Ms. Morin but shame on the Dallas City Council - it's obvious that they kept this intelligent, sensitive animal in this hellish prison just to show "who is boss." Whatever happened to democracy? Clearly the overwhelming voice of the public does not resonate with the powers that be. What a disgusting example of selfishness and ego on the part of Dallas. Thank you, Observer, for keeping this story in the public light.
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Jani 04/13/2009 5:37:00 AM
Poor Jenny, she should be allowed the dignity and enjoyment of retiring to the santuary. What is the egomaniacal zoo director thinking?? It has been determined we don't have room for 1 elephant and now have 2 elephants to share the "teeny-weeny" space? There is NO way that extended exhibit will be done on time. Meanwhile, we have 2 troubled elephants "squeezed" into a small space. Add to the fact that we in Dallas cannot count; we layoff teachers but can keep buying zoo animals that we don't have room for.
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Sue 04/12/2009 7:15:00 PM
I always thought Dallas was a modern, well-educated city.
The horror I feel at the city council and zoo for not being more compassionate and letting Jenny go to the retirement sanctuary in Tennessee merely because they won't let an "activist" tell them what to do, and that is my opinion, is only overwhelmed at my great sorrow for Jenny herself.
Now they have brought another elephant into the space that is not nearly big enough for one elephant? Have they no shame and no heart?
Shame on Dallas, Texas!
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Wanda 04/11/2009 10:44:00 PM
I had never picketed in my life nor spoke at any City Council meeting anywhere.Jenny's plight moved me so that I did both. Margaret has been dogged in her efforts to help poor Jenny retire to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Thank goodness there are those like Margaret who believe people should act with compassion toward animals and who work tirelessly toward that end. There has to be something wrong with the council members and mayor who listen but refuse to hear the logical reasons this intelligent and troubled creature should be retired from a lifetime jail sentence to 2700 acres in Tennessee. Thank you too DObs for continuing to run stories and supporting the move to let Jenny go to Tennessee!
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Lisa 04/11/2009 9:47:00 PM
To Stacy from Flower Mound, I wish you DID live in Dallas. Then you could help to vote in a new City Council. For those who DO live in Dallas go to the new website, www.savejennynow.com, and check out the link on how to help Jenny. Listed you will find many City Council Candidates who are sympathetic to Jenny's plight, such as John Yourse, who is running in District 9.
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Stacy Smith 04/11/2009 8:50:00 PM
Thank you for keeping Jenny's story in your sight. And thanks to Margaret and all the members of the Concerned Citizens for Jenny for not giving up on her. None of them have anything to gain from it and have dedicated countless hours to her cause.
The actions and decision of the Dallas Zoo director, on the other hand, should prove to anyone paying attention that zoos have no interest in the welfare of the animals they keep, beyond making sure they are a good draw to bring people in. Their treatment of Jenny is unconscionable and the fact that they are allowed to bring more elephants into their care (and I use that term loosely) should make all of us step back and look at the laws regulating zoos.
As for the Dallas City Council, well...let's just say I'm glad I don't live there. When a city council is that unresponsive and uncaring about an issue that has touched so many of its citizens, it's time for them to GO.
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Eden 04/11/2009 4:49:00 PM
As is all too often the case, the uber rich and uber powerful and those who wish to seek favor from them ignore the public. The reason why Jenny didn't wind up being dumped in a broken down Mexican drive-thru zoo is because the public shamed Gred Hudson, but instead of doing what was really in Jenny's best interest, he was spiteful and made her stay all alone for another year. I would like to see Jenny's medical records for the last year - how much tranquilizer has she been given? These are our tax dollars being spent to tranquilize an emotionally troubled elephant at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars just so Greg Hudson, et al. don't have to do the right thing by Jenny. Oh, and just so you know, the reason Greg Hudson decided to dump Jenny in Mexico (remember his big campaing about what a wonderful "home" this would be and how sending her to Mexico was the "best" thing for Jenny?) was because she was a "troublesome elephant and not a good candidate for breeding and he knew no other zoo in the United States would take her. It's all in her previous medical records which are available from idausa.org. Read for yourself. I would like to see just once the uber rich and uber powerful and uber selfish and their butt-kissing disciples do the right thing. Save Jenny Now, send her to The Elephant Sanctuary. Send Gypsy, too. Save the citizens of Dallas $30 million dollars.
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Kathryn Sansone 04/11/2009 4:37:00 PM
I was disappointed to learn that the Dallas City Council has approved a multi-million dollar expansion for its elephant exhibit at the zoo. When the Dallas budget deficit is at least 100 million dollars. How does the the Dallas City Council explain spending all this money, when it is needed desperately elsewhere. In the best interest of Jenny and the citizens of Dallas the economical thing to do is simply move Jenny, to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
Zoos are an educational tools that should benefit the animal as well as the people that see them If there are to be zoos, than all animals need to be treated in a humane way, that means more than enough room to move around, enough food and good medical care, Also a stress free environment.
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Linda Scullary 04/11/2009 3:35:00 AM
It's time to end Jenny's suffering and let her live in peace, with space to roam, as elephants should. It's a just and reasonable cause, and a battle worth fighting.
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Lisa 04/11/2009 2:47:00 AM
Yes, the Council CAN retire Jenny, and they should. For 22 years she has been trapped in a quarter-acre mind-numbingly boring pen. Jenny is not your easy-going elephant, and even the zoo's planned 4-5 acre area will be too close for comfort for an elephant like Jenny to share with 3-5 other elephants. She needs the expertise and the 300 natural acres that The Elephant Sanctuary can provide disturbed elephants like Jenny.
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Judy 04/11/2009 2:06:00 AM
Kinky Friedman for Governor! He's on Jenny's side.
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Tessa McKenna 04/09/2009 12:50:00 AM
Thank goodness Margaret Morin hasn't given up on Jenny - without hope there often is nothing. If Jenny knows, she appreciates it.
Morin has a wonderful vision for Jenny and she won't give up. We need more people like Morin who fight for what is right, even when the system is designed against what is right. Failure is giving up. Keep fighting - Jenny is worth every bit.
