News  Yesterday afternoon, Metro officials unanimously approved buying a 240-acre dry lake bed for the Oregon Zoo to use as an off-site elephant reserve.But at least one member of Metro council has voiced reservations about the zoo using the land for breeding a second herd of elephants.The land purchase was rubber-stamped over the objections of animal-rights activists, who were alarmed by last week's ...   More

News In August 2008, Oregon Zoo elephant Rose-Tu gave birth to her first calf, Samudra—as if right on cue for the zoo to make a big request...   More

News Furor over revelations that the Oregon Zoo traded away ownership of a newborn elephant was soothed somewhat last night by the California traveling show that will own the calf saying it has no plans to take her away.  But a breeding contract between Have Trunk Will Travel and the Houston Zoo suggests that the Oregon Zoo will have to pay through the nose if it wants to buy the baby elephant back.The ...   More

News The Oregon Zoo is promising to keep its newest elephant after embarrassing revelations by The Seattle Times that the zoo had long ago traded away rights to Rose-Tu's newborn calf to a traveling elephant show.Officials held a press conference this morning to respond to the Times' story, which cites a 2005 contract between the zoo and Have Trunk Will Travel. In the agreement, the zoo agreed to breed ...   More

News  The Seattle Times' investigation of elephant breeding practices at zoos has uncovered a bombshell: The Oregon Zoo signed a contract that gives ownership of elephant Rose-Tu's newborn calf to a California-based traveling show that rents out elephants for weddings and movie shoots.Times reporter Michael J. Berens writes that the female calf born to Rose-Tu on Nov. 30 is the property of "a controversial ...   More

News Not so fast with the elephant birthday party. Two days after Asian elephant Rose-Tu gave birth to a 300-pound baby girl at the Oregon Zoo—the third elephant born in captivity nationwide this year—The Seattle Times unleashed a devastating two-part investigative series charging that elephants are dying out in zoos, despite a coordinated strategy of aggressive breeding and crisis-management public ...   More

News The (Roseburg) News-Review has an interesting tale to tell this week. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnMXV822nSE[/youtube] PETA, no stranger to tackling high-profile targets campaigns nor to Oregon, is ticked at the Wildlife Safari's use of elephants to wash cars. The Roseburg paper reports that PETA considers the apparently popular spring and summer attraction at the wildlife ...   More