All Mali wants for Christmas is freedom—animal rights group

Following an expert's report that Manila Zoo's lone elephant Mali may die due to a worsening foot ailment, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia released a Christmas advertisement, the latest move in its campaign for the elephant's transfer to a sanctuary. 

The ad shows Mali with a Santa hat next to the caption "All I Want for Christmas Is My Freedom." PETA explained the ad in a press release, which said "Mali is suffering from painful foot ailments—the leading cause of death in captive elephants—and that if she isn't transferred to a sanctuary soon, it's a very real possibility that she will die young."

 

Manila Zoo has remained firm against the elephant's transfer, despite petitions from various groups and individuals, including animal experts like Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Henry Richardson, who last week said Mali may die from the lack of care she is receiving if left at the zoo. 

 

Richardson recently issued a report on Mali after viewing videotape footage of her supplied by PETA, the release said. He concluded that Mali's condition has deteriorated since the time he observed her in person last May.

 

"Christmas is a time of giving, but the only thing stopping Mali from a potentially lifesaving transfer to a sanctuary is the greed of zoo and city officials," PETA Asia's Rochelle Regodon said in the press release. They noted that a sanctuary in Thailand has already agreed to accept Mali and that PETA has agreed to pay all transport expenses. 

 

Personalities like British pop star Morrissey, 2003 Nobel laureate in literature J.M. Coetzee, and 1960s French film star Brigitte Bardot have joined PETA's campaign. Last month, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago also filed a resolution to study the transfer of Mali to the sanctuary. 

 

According to veterinarian Donald Manalastas, division chief of the zoological division of Manila Zoo, Mali's chances of surviving the transfer to Thailand are low, and the elephant is better off staying at the zoo.

 

"The only thing that the Manila Zoo and the city can ensure about Mali by keeping her there is an early and painful death," Regodon said in the release.

 

PETA said Mali is not able to get socialization, stimulation, and room to explore, which are natural for elephants. "She endures intensive confinement, loneliness, boredom, and isolation in an area a tiny fraction of the size of her natural habitat," they said in the release.

 

"Conditions such as those that Mali has endured in Manila Zoo for 35 years, deprived of contact with [her] own kind, are guaranteed to ensure a wretched and unhappy life, and will lead to an early death," PETA quoted David Hancocks, a former zoo director who has been involved in managing and planning zoos for more than four decades.

 

PETA said the sanctuary offers Mali sufficient room, the crucial company of other elephants, and constant access to the best veterinary care available.

 

On the other hand, Manalastas said in a previous report that it is unfair to say Mali is lonely. "'Yung mga foreign group na 'yan, hindi pa nakikita si Mali. Unfair for us na sinasabing lonely siya. She is not lonely. Iba 'yung alone sa lonely. You can be alone but not lonely. Hindi porket nag-iisa ka, lonely ka na," Manalastas said. —Carmela G. Lapeña/KG, GMA News