Related articles:

Council votes to keep elephants in Tucson Tucson's elephants to get new quarters

General
A1 Communications
Cable Techs Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

Pachyderms are evidently good for democracy. Tucson will see if democracy is good for pachyderms.

The Tucson City Council will likely vote Tuesday on a city staff recommendation to keep the elephants in Tucson and expand their enclosure at Reid Park Zoo, giving them several acres of sand pits, pools, grass and a mud wallow instead of their current half-acre space.

We urge the council to make the investment in a Conservation Learning Center and in the proposed 7-acre Africa Zone — but to devote the entire new Africa Zone to the elephants, instead of the 3 acres now on the drawing board.

The fate of elephants Connie and Shaba has mobilized Tucsonans like few other causes in recent memory. People on both sides of the debate — keeping the elephants in Tucson versus sending them to a sanctuary in Tennessee — have signed petitions, carried signs, called their elected officials and written letters to the editor.

We understand the appeal of sending Connie and Shaba to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. Experts are divided on the ethics of keeping elephants in captivity in zoos. Four zoos, including Detroit and San Francisco, have decided to give up their elephants and send them to facilities that can provide better conditions.

According to a story Thursday by the Star's Rob O'Dell, council members have already said they're likely to vote to keep the elephants in Tucson. So the question becomes what is best for the elephants at the Reid Park Zoo.

Give Connie and Shaba all the space in new exhibit

Zoo Administrator Susan Basford says that it is better for the elephants to remain in Tucson in a much improved habitat than to go to a sanctuary. "It has much more to do with the complexity of the exhibit than it has to do with the actual acreage," she said in an interview. "Having 20 acres of flat space is probably not as effective as 3 acres of really interesting space."

Basford said the zoo would like to include hippos, warthogs and cheetahs in a new Africa Zone exhibit. We don't believe that's the wisest use of taxpayer resources, nor best for the elephants.

It makes sense for the zoo to devote all the space it can to the elephants; and it offers a compromise solution to shipping them off to another facility.

New animals are moneymakers for the zoo because curiosity drives up attendance, but thousands of Tucsonans have already made it clear they're passionate about elephants.

That passion is one reason the city is willing to ask voters to help pay for the new zoo learning center and Africa enclosure. The city staff's funding recommendation rightly makes clear that keeping the elephants would not take money from Tucson's recurring general fund. But it does involve taking on debt.

The city staff's funding recommendation, in a nutshell:

● The zoo builds the 7-acre Africa Zone expansion and the Conservation Learning Center at the same time. The center was already in the fund-raising stage, and both projects are included in the zoo's 2001 master plan.

● The city sells certificates of participation, a way municipalities can essentially get a large loan and then pay it back over time, to get the projects started. The debt is repaid over 16 years with $6.25 million in private fund-raising by the Tucson Zoological Society, plus an increase in zoo ticket prices, the sale of merchandise and the revenue from the new trackless train at Reid Park.

● The remaining $5.7 million would come from general obligation bonds, which voters must approve and would be repaid through secondary property taxes.

Hold county bond election

If the bond election remains a city-only election, it would probably happen in two to four years, according to Assistant City Manager Liz R. Miller. If the voters ultimately said no, the project would have to be scaled back, she said.

While the zoo is in city limits, its 400,000 annual visitors come from Pima County and beyond. For that reason, the bonds should be part of a county bond election because it's not fair to ask Tucson residents to solely support and subsidize a regional project.

If the City Council commits to keeping Connie and Shaba at the Reid Park Zoo, we have an obligation to make their life here as good as we can, and that means providing the pachyderms with as much space as possible.

Tell leaders what you think

If you have an opinion on the future of Connie and Shaba, you can leave a voice mail at the mayor and council citizen comment line, 791-4700.

You can also contact the mayor and City Council through the city's Web site, www.ci.tucson.az.us

The phone number and e-mail of each member, as well as a ward map, are available at that site.