Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
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The last three vets to examine Lucy were Dr Oosterhuis, Dr. Wiedner and Dr. Leguillette.
Drs Oosterhuis and Wiedner both work in the zoo/circus industry and have made errors in judgement on a number of cases involving sick elephant. Dr. Wiedner worked with Ringling Brothers.
Dr. Oosterhuis was the only vet out of 11 who said Alaska’s elephant Maggie couldn’t be moved 14 years ago, because she wouldn’t survive the trip. She did survive and is still alive and thriving at Sanctuary.
The 3rd vet, Dr. Leguillette is a horse vet from the University of Calgary. He has no experience with elephants. Aside from elephants and horses being large animals, they have very little in common with each other from a respiratory anatomy standpoint.
Throughout the years, a large number of people, including veterinarians, elephant scientists, sanctuary experts, celebrities and others, have urged the Valley Zoo and the City of Edmonton to allow an "independent" team of specialist elephant veterinarians access to Lucy so they can properly assess her health status, diagnose the "phantom" respiratory condition that the zoo's own veterinarians and their contract veterinarian have been unable to diagnose or alleviate, and to determine whether or not she is a good candidate for being moved to more appropriate accommodation elsewhere. Several benefactors have even come forward to offer the Valley Zoo and the City of Edmonton $100,000 in funding if they allowed an independent veterinary team, the members of which would be agreed upon by both external advocates and the Valley Zoo, access to Lucy. In every case, the Valley Zoo and the City of Edmonton said they were not interested. Since that time Lucy has gotten older, her health conditions have worsened and she is still alone.
For many years, the Valley Zoo and City of Edmonton officials have claimed that Lucy has a respiratory condition that makes it difficult for her to breathe when stressed and that she therefore shouldn't be moved. However, other experts question whether the condition, if it exists at all (it remains undiagnosed to this day), is really a problem, while others suggest that Lucy should be moved to enhanced conditions elsewhere, conditions that would facilitate a drastic improvement to her physical fitness and mental health (as other elephants, such as Maggie from the Alaska Zoo, have experienced when moved from rudimentary zoo conditions to enhanced natural environments).
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