If you kids don’t behave, I’ll send you to Seattle!In Defense of Animals, a California-based animal rights group, released its “Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants” list for 2008, and Woodland Park Zoo is tied with Washington DC’s National Zoo for 7th. At blame, says IDA: the zoo’s efforts to breed 30-year-old Chai and 33-year-old Shanthi, in defiance of herpes and age-related pregnancy complication risks. Chai, who miscarried last June, also recently lost her 6-year-old daughter, Hansa, to Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus, a virus that can cause massive and fatal hemorrhaging. Zoo public relations manager Gigi Allianic, says the list “is part of a national campaign to remove elephants from zoos. We provide [our elephants] with excellent nutrition, exercise, veterinary care and enrichment. Woodland Park Zoo is dedicated to keeping elephants from becoming extinct. Conservation and education are the reasons we care for elephants in zoos.”As for the pregnancies, she says, “Elephants have a higher chance of a successful birth before age 25. In the wild, elephants can breed successfully into their 40s and 50s and we believe that is the case for our Asian elephant, Chai, age 30. There is no data available on higher risk of birth complications for older elephants.” As for the herpes risks, she says that the experts the zoo works with say that virtually every elephant carries the virus, and it’s unclear why some show symptoms and others don’t.Update: Suzanne Roy of IDA sent this statement (word doc), submitted jointly by IDA and PETA to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, opposing an extension of the zoo’s permit to import semen to inseminate Chai. It explains in greater detail why the group views inseminating Chai as particularly risky. For example, young Asian elephants that are housed with African elements seem to be at greater risk for contracting the virus, and the zoo houses Watoto, an African elephant, along with its Asian elephants.