The Toronto gave up its elephants:
http://www.earthintransition.org/2011/10/toronto-zoo-elephant-victory/

That's what Portland should do. Instead, Portland's blowing bazillions on creating its own new "sanctuary," so that it can keep producing more cruel zoo exhibits.

I wish Bob Barker or his people would come up to Portland and get the ball rolling on doing something about the exploitation of the elephants here. Bust Tom Hughes's chops about it, but good.

What's happening, Jack. I thought I was the only one who couldn't sleep this morning.

What? I always get up early for 6:00 Mass.

Only kidding! My sleep clock's been screwed up all week.

It's a peaceful time of day. All those Portland politicians out there sleeping, dreaming of giant sequoias to cut down.

Let me return this closer to the thread:
Yes, we should treat exotic animals better, but our real crimes are against animals in factory farms. Oh, and even with organic you can't necessarily believe the implications of the "free range" or "access to pasture" label.
But the way we treat chickens - especially egg-producing chickens - not to mention corn-fed beef cattle in the industrialized factory farms, is an animal rights violation. We have placed our species in the position where - no matter what calamity befalls us - we deserve it and more.

The elephants in the zoo? Yes, I've come around on that. There's a cruelty aspect for sure. If you believe in the educational part, then show the kids a high-def TV show of elephants walking around in the wild.
I hate reading how their feet hurt from standing around in these zoos.
They're so damn intelligent - after my earlier comment about sleeping politicians and their dreams, I envisioned these magnificent hulks up in the Oregon Zoo in the darkness, and wondered about their dreams.
I wonder what they think? I doubt if they're too thrilled with being in a zoo. I imagine Packy saying, "Pack this."

I was raised on a small hobby farm. I fed cows, pigs and chickens from the time I could walk. We butchered and consumed the animals we hand raised. When available we still buy beef that is farm raised.
I buy eggs from a lady I know who has chickens who walk around on the ground!
I never ever buy packaged ground beef. We rarely eat any pork. It doesn't taste like anything but cardboard these days.
The American people have been deluded into believing that we must consume many times more of animal protein than we need, and cheap product produced from factory farms makes this possible.
This is also why we are all fat.
Wild animals should remain wild. Zoos are an anachronism from the 19th century.

What, though, about the wild habitats of the Asian elephants? Especially in Thailand they are disappearing rapidly. If we leave elephants to live solely in the wild, they may not last our generation.

Save elephants, of course save elephants.
But keep them in warm, savannah like areas.

Clackamas County as elephant habitat? Crazy.
Let's pretend we're Hannibal and take them over the Coast Range.