There is a strong message at the beginning of Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants. It’s a quote from Mahatma Gandhi – “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants
Before I give my review on Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants, and follow with an interview of Fern Levitt, the filmmaker and animal activist, I want people to be aware that the African Lion Safari has threatened legal action when this documentary is released in select theatres on March 21.
I grew up in Philadelphia and would often visit the Philadelphia Zoo as a child and as an adult with children and grandchildren of my own. Elephants were always my favourite, followed by gorillas and tigers. I’d innocently assumed that the animals were happy in their concrete houses. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized how wrong I was. In this documentary, we learn about Lucy, the elephant who has been living at the Edmonton Valley Zoo after she was captured in Sri Lanka at one year old. The baby elephant, who was later shipped to the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Canada, is now almost fifty years old. Lucy has been socially isolated from the companionship of other elephants, and her enclosure is not beneficial to her well-being. Plus, it’s freaking cold in Canada, and thus, not the climate for an elephant.
In 2006, different animal rights groups engaged in several legal actions on behalf of Lucy. The animal activists wanted Lucy transferred to a sanctuary where she would be with other elephants and finally be allowed to roam with the other elephant groups as nature intended. The zoos argue that keeping elephants is an act of conservation, but is this the truth? The zoos claim that elephants are the ambassadors for the animal kingdom, but is this true? Instead, are these beautiful and intelligent animals used as sacrificial lambs for the tourist trade and entertainment industry? Even the courts are reluctant to give the title of sentient being. There are groups fighting for Lucy and all elephants: Free the Wild, Friends of Lucy, and Leap for Lucy. There are safe sanctuaries for these elephants, like Brazil’s Global Sanctuary Project.
Now, it is my honour to interview the filmmaker responsible for this documentary.
Marie Gilbert: Fern, I was amazed at the detailed research done for this documentary on Lucy and elephants in general. What specific incident in your life led to you becoming an animal activist? I ask this because there is always that one moment in time when we see what is hidden. What was your moment?
Fern Levitt: Excellent question. There was that one moment. I directed a documentary on the holocaust that took me to the concentration camps in Poland. When I came home, I told my husband, Arnie, that I had to get those images out of my head and wanted to go dog sledding. I thought being out in the woods with dogs was exactly what I needed. Little did I know that I went from one concentration camp right into another.
There were hundreds of dogs, all living on chains with only plastic barrels as their shelter. We ended up taking one of the dogs home, and if we hadn’t, he would have been shot. It is legal in Canada to shoot one’s dog as they are still considered our property. As long as you shoot them between the eyes so that they die instantly. That, to me, is barbaric and happens too many times in the sled dog industry when the bottom line matters more than the welfare of our 4-legged best friends. Our dog Slater was thin and didn’t do any of the normal behaviours of dogs. That’s when I took a good look at myself and realized that I was a hypocrite. If I loved animals as much as I said I did, then why did I not put their welfare first before my entertainment of swimming with dolphins, riding elephants, etc?
That was the day that I changed. It was because of our ignorance or wanting to put our needs first that my dog suffered greatly. I swore on that day that I would never use animals again and would question everything.
Marie Gilbert: Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants definitely brings home the horrific conditions of elephants in captivity. I was floored by the fact that zoos are also one of the biggest culprits when it comes to unhealthy animal captivity. What was your biggest challenge in completing this documentary, especially in getting first-hand accounts of the treatment of Lucy and the other elephants?
Fern Levitt: Honestly, my greatest challenge is getting media to report on this story, I made the film but unless the public becomes aware of it and goes to see my film, then nothing will change. Trump and the upcoming (Canadian) election is sucking all the air out of journalists when this too is a very important story. We are not a humane nation if we abuse animals and the zoos have done an excellent job in selling their propaganda to the public, so I need the media to help me inform and that is why I’m grateful for your interest in this story.
The greatest challenge is finding the storytellers who are willing to risk being sued by sharing their stories with me of their eyewitness accounts of elephant abuse. The two people that came forward in my film to tell me and the public what they experienced is very brave and I’m very grateful because without them I would not have a film. There must be thousands of others over the years that also witnessed animal abuse at the zoos but are too afraid to come forward. So I’m lucky that I was able to find both Lester and Scott and the stories of others who have been fighting to free the elephants and educate the public about zoos and why wild animals don’t belong there. The zoos do an excellent job of selling their own propaganda and pulling the wool over our eyes, so we need films like this one to open our eyes to the truth. That’s the hope as the youth today are questioning the moral ethics of keeping wild animals in captivity and that is a huge change from when I was growing up. There lies the hope.
Marie Gilbert: Now that all eyes are on the Edmonton Valley Zoo, and the American zoos mentioned in the documentary, do you feel that these zoos will change their policies on the other animals in their care? Is the Canadian Government changing its view of the status of animals as sentient entities?
Fern Levitt: No, I don’t. I hope I’m wrong. Zoos are a money-making industry, and that is the bottom line, not the care of the animals but making money. The science that is out there has proven that wild animals should not be in zoos, for their sake, the sake of the planet, and our sake as well as each of these animals play an essential role in keeping our planet in balance, and the zoos know this. The know in the case of elephants that zoos can never provide them what they need to thrive for numerous reasons. Some zoos have sent their elephants to sanctuaries and I applaud them for that. But what about the other animals? Zoos are afraid of losing business if the truth gets out. That’s why the African Lion Safari has threated to sue us and the CBC if we release the film as they are afraid they will end up like Marineland so they are trying to shut up down. We are presenting the film and so is the CBC, we are not intimidated.
Beuno Aires is a perfect example of what zoos could transition to if they want to stay relevant and not have animal abuse hanging over their head. Beuno Aires has closed down all their zoos and turned them into Eco parks where children can learn all about wild animals through the use of robotics and 3d animation and it’s just brilliant . We filmed there and the children and their parents were having a great and fun time. The eco park gives out this critical message that wild animals belong in the wild, for their sake and the sake of the planet. That is the polar opposite of the message that zoos tell the public that they are all about conservation and education. That is simply not true. If we care about conservation, then we should be sending our money to organizations such as Group Elephant, who buy land for elephants and rhinos so they have a safe place to live.
And what is the education, children seeing wild animals behind bars, normalizing what is not normal? Children are obsessed with dinosaurs but have never seen a dinosaur in order to learn all about them. We can do the same thing if parents and teachers want children to learn about animals, there are excellent books and documentaries that will teach them about the wild, not zoos. All they are learning is that it is normal to see wild animals behind bars, there is nothing normal or educational about that.
But there is good news on the horizon depending on if the Liberal Party gets in again in the next federal election. The Liberal Senate has passed Bill S-15, which will mean the end of elephants and Great Apes in zoos. Canada will be the first country in the world to end elephant and Great Ape captivity, and that is something to be proud of. At the same time, the Conservative Party fought against the passage of this Bill and the Free Willy Act, so I’m praying the Liberals get in again.
Marie Gilbert: Out of all your documentaries, which was your favourite? What are you working on now?
Fern Levitt: There is no way that I can choose a favorite when I have been lucky enough to tell stories of my personal heroes through film. So my favourites are the Little Rock Nine, the 9 African American children who were the first to integrate an all-white school in 1957 and the hell they went through just to go to school. My documentary on President Mikhail Gorbachev as he had the courage and the fortitude to bring in massive reforms to the Soviet Union, which culminated in the incredible moment in history, which was the fall of the Berlin Wall. Then both Sled Dogs and Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants. The abuse of animals must end.
Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants will be premiering in select theatres starting March 21.
