The Big Sad Elephant in the Room



Inside an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee

  Summary

“Let the Zoo’s Elephants Go” is an article by Les Schobert, about the conditions in which elephants live in captivity in our National zoo’s and the harmful effects on the lives of those majestic animals. This is a persuasive piece in which the author’s purpose is to convince the reader to stand up for these elephants who cannot speak for themselves.  He begins by grabbing at your heartstrings when he tells a story of Nancy and Toni, both female elephant’s, one African and the latter Asian, who share a similar fate by being euthanized because of arthritis and excruciating pain in their feet. The author then explains that these ailments are cause by inadequate room and conditions in which the elephants live. Schobert continues by conveying his knowledge that has been acquired over 35 years of curating at zoo’s across the nation by explaining that wild elephant’s walk about 30 miles a day and need varied terrain to be healthy but zoos are only required to give them 5% of an acre. He goes on to say that some zoos are reevaluating their ability to house these large animals and are sending sick ones to sanctuaries to recover, while other zoos are refusing to admit problems in their facilities. The author concludes by explaining that the problems will continue unless things change and he states “The zoo should do right by its elephants, and the public should demand nothing less.”

Response

In my opinion this is a well written article for a few reasons. First, the author is a point of authority on the subject, so right from the start I know I can trust him. Second, he uses a sad story to not only make his point and hook the audience in but also to evoke powerful emotions within the reader. It’s as if I felt a protective mother-bear instinct or Mother-elephant in this case, I wanted to save them and I wanted to act but all I could do is read on to find out what was going to happen. Third, Schobert presents evidence as to why the elephants are all having the same ailments in zoos all over the nation. As he explains how much elephants need to walk and how their natural range to wander is 1,000 square miles, it reminds me of the trip I took recently with my family to the zoo.

 Although they were beautiful and amazing, when we came across the elephants it seemed so sad because they were just standing there and the lot they had was so small, a lot smaller than I remembered as a child. It may seem silly or extreme but I wanted to set them free, all of the animals actually. I think this is the authors purpose, to hit us in our memories and our humanity and bring us to want change. Last, Schobert gives the reader hope by revealing the success of elephants that have been moved to sanctuaries and by explaining that some zoos are reevaluating and making changes to their facilities. Although Toni faces an inevitable death and not all zoos are on board for change, there is still hope that we can do something and I’m all about happily ever after, even if there is only a sliver of hope to hold on to.