Change in Management at the Elephant Sanctuary

First, let me set the stage:

Elephant Sanctuary looks past suit, moves ahead

Written by

Chris Echegaray

1:41 AM, Mar. 7, 2011

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110307/NEWS04/103070340/1970/news04/Elephant-Sanctuary-looks-past-suit-moves-ahead

Unlike an elephant, some want to forget.

The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., embroiled in a lawsuit with its dismissed co-founder, is looking at its future, not its past, as it pushes to be a global leader in caring for the mammoth animals.

The sanctuary 80 miles southwest of Nashville hired a leader in animal welfare to replace co-founder and former CEO Carol Buckley, who was fired on March 17.

It has forged ahead with plans to build an educational gallery in downtown Hohenwald and to study prevalent illnesses in elephants, principally tuberculosis.

"We are very excited about it," said Dr. William Schaffner, president of the sanctuary. "Our principal goals are to care for sick elephants no one else wants and provide education. The lawsuit is far from our minds. … We filed our response."

The sanctuary still has to face the lawsuit and allegations from the popular Buckley.

Supporters of the sanctuary are watching as accusations have been hurled by both sides. Buckley, who filed a lawsuit in October, claims unethical transactions led to her dismissal. She blames the administration for a 2009 tuberculosis outbreak among sanctuary workers.

The sanctuary has fired back with a counterclaim that Buckley created a hostile working environment, with mistreatment of workers. It also alleges that she failed to implement infection control measures, which the sanctuary and regulators agreed to, that preceded several elephant caregivers' testing positive for tuberculosis.

Buckley, who has started Elephant Aid International, and her supporters want a swift resolution but not without recognition that the sanctuary was bred from her dreams and compassion.

"Carol founded this with her elephant, Tarra," said Buckley's sister, Pegy Buckley-Rizzuto, of California. "This vision, her dream, was going to be big in terms of the mission of saving 100 elephants. It was about the big creature to have enough space, not about big egos."

With Buckley gone, the sanctuary named Rob Atkinson, head of wildlife for the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as its chief executive officer in September.

Buckley and fellow elephant trainer Scott Blais started the sanctuary in 1995. It started with 100 acres and Tarra. Since then the sanctuary has grown to 2,700 acres, and 14 of 24 elephants remain.

Tuberculosis research


Schaffner, a nationally known expert on infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, said another goal is to have a state-of-the-art lab that will research tuberculosis in elephants.

"We want to provide information to the captive community throughout the whole world," said Schaffner, who has been on the sanctuary's board of directors since its inception.

"Even at the beginning we had an audacious vision," he said. "And some who were present at the time had the confidence of what it has become and what it will be."

But some wonder if the imbroglio will affect donations and the future.

Cathy Larson, a Buckley supporter, noted that the lawsuit could lead to a low charity rating, harming the sanctuary. Tax forms show that donations were steadily increasing since 2005, hitting $5.3 million in 2008. But in 2009 when Buckley was battling with the administration, contributions dipped to $4.2 million.

"I don't know where the sanctuary is going to go until the lawsuit is over," Larson said. "I also think the sanctuary is getting left in the dust while Carol is making great inroads for better treatment of elephants worldwide."

Rosemary Lab Walters of Nashville was another donor worried about the lawsuit's aftermath, but the sanctuary's visionaries have changed her mind.

"It's a difficult situation on both sides," she said. "I believe in the mission and will be a supporter. They have the right idea with who they've hired and the education component. I always appreciated the fact that it wasn't open to the public."

Suzan Ezzell, of Nashville, is fascinated by elephants and hopes the lawsuit doesn't affect them.

"I have a fondness for elephants," Ezzell said. "I am still kind of questioning … the lawsuits, but I will continue to contribute."

Buckley has said that she was forced out and that her name and art were used without permission. She sought visitation rights for her elephant, Tarra, at the renowned habitat for sick and endangered elephants, her lawsuit says.

Buckley's trouble started, the lawsuit states, when she objected to a $60,000 payment made by a board member to the board member's husband for a planned education building at the sanctuary. Buckley closed the bank account on which the check was written, the suit says. She also complained about a $20,000 payment made in 2008 to a contractor.

But the counterclaim states that the building project selection, with Buckley supporting the move, was made under established policies and that it was disclosed in an audit report.

Buckley had multiple offers from the sanctuary permitting visitation with Tarra, a 36-year-old elephant, but she rejected them, the counterclaim states.

The sanctuary will remain closed to the public, but one can see the pachyderms online as 14 webcams are trained on them."I hope this comes to a position of right action," Buckley-Rizzuto said. "She's a 5-foot-2 woman amongst these giants and helping them live better life," she said of Buckley. "She does not live a typical lifestyle that most humans live. If they understood that, they would understand.

Now for the lawsuit paperwork:

 

Okay, why is this significant to the WAO case?  I think the WAO and the Elephant Sanctuary cases show that board of directors can and will remove sanctuary founders and CEOs from  sanctuaries they started.  Now whether or not the removal was justified, I don't know.  Unless there is someone on the inside, blogging like me, with evidence to back up the story, than I'd like to think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

This case also illustrated the point that often time sanctuaries start up with private exotic wild animal "pets" (Tara visitation rights ring a bell?) and end up morphing into something much larger than expected. 

Interesting to note, while Carol (yep, another Carol) Buckley asked for visitation rights to see Tara, Carol Asvestas made no such demands.  Goes to show there was not even one single animal Carol Asvestas bonded with over the years; hence her decision not to pursue any visitation rights with any of the WAO animals.

This should be a wake-up call for all those former pet owners out there, starting or operating a non-profit sanctuary around their personal animals—you too can lose the right to visit your "pet(s)" sometime in the future if and/or when YOU are removed from your position.

Now, it makes sense why there are so many wild animal sanctuary "in-name-only" boards out there!