Sir Paul McCartney is the latest international celebrity to add his voice to the clamour to transfer 36-year-old Asian pachyderm “Mali” from the Manila Zoo to an elephant sanctuary in Thailand.
The eminent artist sent a letter to President Benigno Aquino III on Friday asking that Mali be moved to the sanctuary and for the Philippine leader to make good of his earlier promise to do something about the pachyderm’s plight.
“I am writing to add my voice to the many others who are supporting the transfer of Mali… as soon as possible. Every single day that she remains in the zoo, Mali suffers,” he said.
“I have great regard for governments that intervene on behalf of animals, just as yours did with the May 2012 directive ordering that Mali be evaluated and considered for transfer. That said, time is passing and it has been more than a year since that directive was issued — yet Mali’s seems no closer to enjoying her well deserved retirement at an approved sanctuary,” he said.
McCartney’s appeal came at the heels of a turnaround made by newly elected Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on a promise he made during his campaign last May for the city chief executive post.
Estrada, who is also former president of the Philippines, at time sent a letter to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia, wherein he pointed out the conditions Mali had been forced to live for the past 33 years.
“It is not right for people, especially children, to see lonely, ailing and depressed animals living in deplorable conditions,” Estrada said in his letter to PETA.
This assertion however contrasts with his latest statement about the transfer of Mali.
“Mali is just one elephant and sending her to Thailand would be embarrassing. It means we are not capable of taking care of one animal,” Estrada was quoted by the Agence Francaise Presse as saying.
Mali had once shared his pen with another elephant, but that was long ago. Experts said the animals’ long time solitary confinement without ever seeing creatures of their kind, causes them to suffer from “Zoochosis.”
Estrada’s turn around on Mali was apparently boosted by the fact that the pachyderm is the 54-year-old paying zoo’s star attraction.
Estrada, in another report, said that to remedy Mali’s loneliness, the government of Sri Lanka would be taking two other Asian elephants to share the same enclosure at the Manila Zoo.
“Mali would not be lonely anymore, she’ll have companions,” he said.
PETA had long been lobbying for the transfer of Mali to an elephant sanctuary in Thailand where he can freely roam large reservations with other pachyderms.
Earlier, other celebrities had pitched in the campaign for the transfer of Mali, among them former Baywatch television series star Pamela Anderson who offered to be taken by President Aquino on a date to discuss the elephant’s future.
Elephants are not endemic to tropical Philippines.
