Baltimore’s out for 3 Philly elephants

The Philadelphia Zoo's three African elephants will not move to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, which announced today that it has delayed the expansion of its elephant habitat and would not be able to accommodate Petal, Kallie and Bette this spring as planned.

Officials at the Philadelphia Zoo, which is closing its elephant exhibit, said they are working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to find another home for the animals.

Dulary, the Philadelphia Zoo's Asian elephant, is still scheduled to move to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, most likely in April.

"It's really a question of the timing of our exhibit," said Billie Grieb, president of The Maryland Zoo. "Our timetable has slipped and our exhibit would not be ready to take the elephants this spring as we had planned. At the same time, we did not feel it was fair to ask the Philadelphia Zoo to delay their own plans.

"This decision, as difficult as it was, also will give us the opportunity to focus our attention even further on some of the recent financial challenges that we have been working to resolve."

"We are disappointed with the Maryland Zoo's decision. As originally planned, the expansion would have provided a new home to our three African elephants," said Vikram Dewan, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Zoo. "After carefully studying possible sites to house and care for these elephants - including two of breeding age - we believed Maryland was an ideal location.

"However, it was not our only excellent option. Once notified by Maryland Zoo officials that their plans were changing, we immediately began re-examining alternative sites, including those that were originally evaluated by our animal care staff."