St. Lucie elephant sanctuary still on track to unpack trunks in 2009

By Derek Simmonsen - TCPlam.com

Monday, June 16, 2008

ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FL — There soon might come a time when western St. Lucie County looks an awful lot like Kenya.

Representatives from the National Elephant Center, a coalition of zoos from around the country, had preliminary talks last month with the county about its planned facility in western St. Lucie County. The organization's board of directors will meet this week to discuss the center's progress.

The center was announced in February, and it will be on 300 acres owned by Waste Management, which will lease the site to the group for a nominal amount, near the Okeechobee County line.

"Everything's been going as anticipated," said Jack Wlezien, spokesman for the center. "We're still looking to get elephants at the center sometime in 2009."

The center will be home to elephants from around the country. It also will provide space for zoo employees to train and conduct research as they try to advance elephant conservation and education efforts, according to organizers.

How long the review process will take, who will have to sign off, and how intense the review will be depends largely on the extent of the plans, Growth Management Director Mark Satterlee said. He said it will likely have to go before county commissioners, but might require other review steps.

There are wetlands and sandhill cranes in the area, and Wlezien said the center plans to address any environmental concerns raised by the county. No special permission is needed for the elephants themselves — the land is zoned agricultural, and elephants are considered a compatible use. It formerly was used for cattle grazing.

Okeechobee County officials also are being consulted about the center because it can be reached only through roads in that county.

During a board meeting June 16 in Denver, the center's board of directors will discuss how fundraising has gone, as the amount of money raised will have some bearing on what kind of construction materials are used and other aspects of the design, Wlezien said. Initial plans have called for used materials and possibly using solar energy at the site.

Zoos from around the country have either donated money to the center or tried to raise money, Wlezien said. Some of the zoos are planning to renovate their elephant habitats and would like to send elephants to the center while the work is being done.

Once open, the center will do educational outreach to schools, either by having center workers go to schools to speak or having field trips bringing students to the center. It will not be open to the general public, Wlezien said.

The center has already drawn concerns from the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, and other national animal rights groups will watch the development of the center, said Nick Atwood, campaigns coordinator for the foundation.

"In general, we think elephants should not be in North American zoos," Atwood said. "Elephants are one of a few animals that are just too large and require space that zoos can't provide."

The center has responded by saying elephants in zoos act as ambassadors for those in the wild, and people have higher awareness of conservation issues when they see elephants in person rather than in videos or photos.

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida also has concerns about potential environmental impacts on the area and plans to analyze the plans once they are submitted. If they have objections, they will speak to county commissioners, but they will remain "open-minded" about the project until they see final plans, Atwood said.

A LITTLE BIT OF KENYA IN ST. LUCIE COUNTY

•Plans call for two initial elephant "meander" areas, one 10-acre site and a main one of up to 50 acres, where elephants would roam and have access to wading areas, watering holes and mud wallows. The paths are modeled in part on actual habitats along the Mara River in Kenya, and the terrain, climate and weather are similar to what Asian and African elephants experience in their native habitats.

•Zoo keepers could use the center to test new techniques, such as creating a new system of feeding elephants where they would constantly be foraging and finding food spread out along a path, rather than having it concentrated in one area.

•There likely will be one large barn or two separate barns the elephants can go into at night or for medical purposes, as well as a staff building and some limited housing for workers. The facility will be fenced around the perimeter so the elephants do not get loose.

•African and Asian elephants will be separated and not have contact with one another, as they do not do well when put together.

•It likely will have from 15 and 40 elephants at any given time.

•The elephants won't be the first unusual animals to call St. Lucie home. The county already is home to Save the Chimps, an organization that rescues chimpanzees used for research purposes, and formerly was home to Tigers for Tomorrow, a sanctuary for big cats and other wild animals, until it left the state in 2005 for Alabama.