A Tale of Two Prisoners

Dear Mayor Sohi,

I read the story in the Edmonton Journal dated February 14, 2015 titled “City councillor Amarjeet Sohi recalls his imprisonment in India in the 1980s”. While reading it, I couldn’t help but be struck by the parallels between your experience and that of Lucy the Asian elephant at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. https://edmontonjournal.com/.../city-councillor-amarjeet...

I’m attaching a comparison of the many ways in which your unlawful detainment was so similar to Lucy’s. As someone who has a reputation as a thoughtful and respectful city official known for your firm advocacy, I respectfully urge you to consider Lucy’s situation from this new perspective and revisit the city’s outdated desire to let her die in the Edmonton Valley Zoo when offers of sanctuary are available, at no cost to you.

May 19, 2022 was the 45th anniversary of Lucy’s captivity at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. While researching her history, I learned that when Lucy was donated to the zoo by a local developer, they presented the mayor with a bull hook as a memento of the occasion. Nowadays, EVZ is one of the few zoos in North America that uses a bull hook, and the only one that has a lone female elephant. Bull hooks are weapons of fear and intimidation. They’ve been phased out in US zoos and they‘re never used in sanctuaries.

Will you be the Edmonton Mayor who throws away the bull hook? The Mayor who finally shows Lucy compassion and ends her imprisonment and the daily reminder of her torture? Will you accept Zoocheck and Free the Wild’s offers and bring in a panel of independent elephant experts to assess Lucy’s true health condition and let her go to sanctuary if they clear her for travel?

You might not have gotten out of jail if it weren’t for the care and compassion of one or two individuals who recognized injustice and stood up to fight it on your behalf. Lucy’s life matters too. Only you can end her suffering and release her to spend her remaining years healing her broken spirit in a sanctuary.

Sincerely,