FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN THE MATTER OF THIKA, IRINGA , TOKA AND PAWS SANCTUARY DURING THE TIME IN WHICH ANNIE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE QUARANTINED @PAWS THE FACILITY ONLY HAD ONE BARN FOR THE ASIAN AND AFRICAN FEMALE ELEPHANTS AND ONE BULL BARN. THE BULL BARN WAS OCCUPIED BY NICHOLAS AND GYSPY WHO WERE BROUGHT TO ARK2000 ON Nov. 23, 2008. GYPSY MOVED INTO THE ASIAN HERD ON JAN. 13, 2009 AND NICHOLAS CONTINUED TO OCCUPY THE SOLE BULL BARN. NICOLAS WAS FORMERLY DIAGNOSED WITH TB IN 1997 HIS MOTHER IS NOW TB+ (LOCATION TES). THE SECOND FEMALE ELEPHANT BARN FOR THE ASIANS WAS NOT COMPLETED UNTIL SOMETIME IN LATE 2009. DOCUMENTED FACT. Some elephants may have arrived at PAWS tuberculosis + but Annie was not one of them. Toronto Star June 19, 2012 PAWS took in more elephants than they had room to house, some of these animals had Tuberculosis risk factors. PAWS had 2 facilities, Galt and ARK2000, why did they move both species of elephant into one barn when they did not have to? As of Maggie’s arrival in 2008 the sanctuary still only had one barn, you can see the Asian barn under construction behind the African barn. Mara, Maggie and Lulu the current African residents @PAWS have all shared a barn with the Asian female herd. That Asian herd of 3 has 2 stat-pak reactive elephants and 1 tuberculosis + elephant. Knowledge of TB’s affects on African elephants is limited.
3 known elephant penmates; Only Annie, Gypsy and Wanda were the remaining female Asian elephants @PAWS at the time of this investigation and report into human TB transmission risk factors @PAWS. All 3 are PRIOR TRUNK WASH AND STAT-PAK NEGATIVE WHAT WAS ANNIE IN QUARANTINE FOR? HERPES DOES NOT REQUIRE SUCH AND EXTREME QT AND TO DO SO WOULD BE INHERENTLY CRUEL TO ISOLATE AN ANIMAL ALONE FOR THAT LENGTH OF TIME. THERE ARE ZOOLOGICAL PROFESSIONALS AND AZA ELEPHANT MANAGERS IN THE ROOM TODAY WHO COULD BE ASKED ABOUT HERPES TREATMENT AND QUARANTINE PROTOCOLS. IT HAS BEEN EVIDENCED THAT ANNIE WAS IN FACT NOT IN QUARANTINE FOR 3+YRS AS PAWS CLAIMED.
THE AFRICAN ELEPHANTS AT PAWS LIVED IN AND SHARED ONE BARN WITH THE ASIAN ELEPHANTS FOR ALMOST 5 YEARS. DOCUMENTED FACT. Annie in the “Jacuzzi” in the African Barn Rebecca — Deceased Arthritis?/TB Minnie — Deceased 71 Deceased Tammy — Deceased
January 13, 2009 Asian Barn construction Complete. Ruby, Maggie, Mara, Lulu (71) all lived in the same barn as AFRICAN Minnie, Annie, Wanda and Gypsy and Rebecca ASIAN Arrivals: Ruby (D) May 15, 2007 Maggie November 2, 2007 Mara January 23, 1990 Lulu March 10, 2005 71 (D) August 8, 1986 Rebecca (D) September 21, 2002 Minnie (D) January 20, 2004 Annie (TB+) September 30, 1995 Wanda (SP+) April 8, 2005 Gypsy (SP+) April 2, 2007 This means that the African elephants were exposed to tuberculosis exposed or formerly TB+ elephants over the course of a number of years @PAWS Ark2000. TB is a slow growing disease and we know very little about African elephants with TB. That risk level was created by PAWS when they http://www.youtube.com/watch? housed both species together. It is v=KM1f7Ry7nq0&feature=player_embedded innate and cannot be taken back. February 13, 2008 Asian Barn under construction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY5CmFIm-uE The Jacuzzi is located n the African Barn. The video tagged date is 2007. Almost 2 years before the Asian Barn was built. As you can see this is an Asian elephant in the Jacuzzi. Tuberculosis at the Tennessee Sanctuary was transmitted via water droplets created when staff used power washers in the barn. TB can be trans- mitted in water. Which elephants used this trough and when? What were the cleaning and sanitation procedures? Was this shared by both species?
Excerpts from article written by Pat Derby Full document available via City Clerk Evidence written by Pat Derby herself that the African and Asian Elephants not only shared one barn but also shared it with Rebecca who was just completing Tuberculosis treatments having been diagnosed+ in 2002. Tammy died in 2003, Rebecca started treatment for TB in 2002 and by 2003/2004 (PAWS records of these dates appear to be inconsistent) Rebecca was living in the shared barn at ARK2000.
With over 2000 acres on which to build habitats and barns why did PAWS AFRICAN choose to build the African ASIAN and Asian Habitats and Barns so close together? 36’ - 56’ for a distance of 500’ along the fenceline is distance between the African and Asian outdoor habitats @PAWS. PAWS offers public tours at a cost of $250 a day per person. It could be argued that the barns and habitats were built close together in order to accommodate visitor experiences when visiting the sanctuary. Much like a zoo except much more expensive and elitist.
PAWS CLAIMS ANNIE WAS IN QUARANTINE FOR THE LAST 3+ YEARS. REQUESTS VIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION TO CALIFORNIA STATE HEALTH AND CALAVERA’S HEALTH DEPARTMENTS EVIDENCE THAT NO PUBLIC RECORD EXISTS ABOUT ANNIE REGARDING TUBERCULOSIS AS WOULD BE REQUIRED BY LAW FOR ANY ANIMAL WHICH TESTS POSITIVE FOR TUBERCULOSIS. THE ONLY REASONABLE AND REALISTIC REASON FOR A 3+ YR QUARANTINE AS CLAIMED BY PAWS WOULD BE DUE TO TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENTS AND CONSISTANT POSITIVE STATPAK AND/OR TRUNKWASH RESULTS. OTHERSWISE PAWS IS IMPLYING THAT ANNIE EITHER ARRIVED FROM MILWAUKEE ZOO WITH TB OR SHE CONTRACTED IT VIA ONE OF PAWS OWN RESIDENT ELEPHANTS PRIOR TO 2009. IF SHE WAS IN QUARANTINE WHERE ARE THE MEDICAL REPORTS AS REQUIRED BY STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS TO SUPPORT THIS CLAIM? IF SHE WAS IN QUARANTINE WHERE WAS SHE HOUSED? IF Annie WAS in quarantine then PAWS can claim that NO DISEASE TRANSMISSION HAS OCCURRED ON SITE AT ARK200. However if Annie WAS NOT in quarantine then there was disease transmission @PAWS from Rebecca to Annie, Wanda and Gypsy. Annie is now tuberculosis + It would also appear that Rebecca, Sabu did not respond to treatments. Both Sabu and Rebecca died. Are were dealing with multi-drug resistant strains of tuberculosis? Annie began treatment likely as early as June 2011 or earlier, and one year later she still had a conversion from being only stat-pak reactive to Tuberculosis positive. Are we going to take a risk without knowing the nature of the strains of tuberculosis on site? We do not know what strain of tuberculosis Annie has. Is it the same as Rebecca? Without these missing pieces to the puzzle you cannot send our elephants to this sanctuary as you have no idea what is going with TB on site, the nature of it, how it was transmitted, or if it is an aggressive untreatable strain.
RUBY A DECEASED AFRICAN ELEPHANT MARCH, 2011 NO CAUSE OF DEATH DETERMINED ARRIVED AT PAWS IN 2007 AND SHARED A BARN WITH THE ASIAN/ AFRICANS FOR ALMOST 2 YEARS. DOCUMENTED FACTS. DESPITE LIVING WITH AN ASIAN ELEPHANT AT LA ZOO (GITA) WHO DIED FROM TUBERCULOSIS RUBY’S QUARANTINE PERIOD WAS ONLY 10 DAYS@PAWS. SHE WAS ABLE TO ACCESS THE OTHER AFRICANS THROUGH THE STALLS IN THE BARN DURING THIS QUARANTINE PERIOD. DOCUMENTED FACT. 10 days quarantine period for an elephant with a high risk exposure history. Her penmate Gita, at the LA Zoo died from tuberculosis. Ruby has other prior exposures to TB in her lifetime.
Ruby was able to interact with the other African elephants within the first hours of her arrival @PAWS. Tuberculosis easily transmitted at the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary throughout one structure (the barn and admin building) which was separated by full walls . Based on the outbreak which occurred at The Tennessee Sanctuary (the reason why TES was also not considered by the Toronto Zoo) it is not unrealistic to assume that disease transmission could have occurred @PAWS as a result of Asian and African elephants being forced to share on barn with elephants considered to be tuberculosis high risk animals.
TINKERBELLE TINKERBELLE ARRIVED @PAWS IN 2004. BEFORE PAWS SHE LIVED WITH AN ELEPHANT NAMED CALLE WHO DIED FROM TUBERCULOSIS. TINKERBELLE HAD NO QUARANTINE PERIOD AND WAS MOVED INTO THE BARN WITH THE ASIANS AND AFRICANS IMMEDIATELY UPON HER ARRIVAL. THERE WERE NO OTHER BARNS FOR QUARANTINE. CALLE DIED AT THE SAN FRANSISCO ZOO March 6, 2004 OF TUBERCULOSIS. TINKERBELLE ARRIVED @PAWS NOVEMBER 28, 2004 AND DIED MARCH 24, 2005. PAT DERBY CAN BE SEEN IN VIDEO EVIDENCE PHYSICALLY HANDLING TINKERBELLE BEYOND THE PROTECTED CONTACT BARRIERS WITH NO GLOVES AND NO MASK. IN A BLOG POST EUOLOGY TO TINKERBELLE WHO DIED JUST 3 MONTHS LATER PAT DERBY COMMENTS ON HOW TINKERBELLE COULD HEAR THE SOUNDS OF THE OTHER ELPEHANTS IN THE BARN, INCLUDING MARA AND 71 THE 2 RESIDENT AFRICAN ELEPHANTS AT THE TIME. DOCUMENTED FACT. T. Excerpt from Tinkerbelle’s Eulogy written by Pat Derby March 29, 2005 “After her companion, Calle, died, Tinkerbelle was alone at night when her keepers left for the day. At ARK 2000, she slept in the barn with five other elephants - Minnie, Rebecca and Annie, the Asian elephants, and 71 and Mara, the African ele- phants. Nights in our barn are filled with rumbles, squeaks, trumpets, snores and flatulence which delighted the newcomer who soon joined in and became the loud- est of the group. Tinkerbelle and our Asian elephants bonded quickly and she slept close to Annie every night.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZW8WWovAwc Activists fought for Tinker- belle’s “freedom” despite the fact that her foot ailments were so severe she should have been euthanized at the zoo and never moved. Activists hailed this transfer as a victory yet Tinkerbelle had to suffer being transported while in great pain and spend the last 4 months of her life trying to adapt to a new environment. She died 4 months after arriv- ing at PAWS.
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