Zoo spends $400k to void contract, take ownership of elephants
»Play Video
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Oregon Zoo now officially owns Lily the elephant, taking over ownership from a controversial company called “Have Trunk Will Travel.”
In a news release, the zoo said the agreement to take over ownership was official as of Friday morning.
News that the zoo didn’t actually own Lily made headlines shortly after her birth in December. At the time of her birth, Lily was technically owned by Have Trunk Will Travel.
“Lily’s living arrangements were never in question,” said zoo director Kim Smith. “But this makes it official: Lily will live her life with her family herd, the way elephants should.”
The zoo paid Have Trunk Will Travel $400,000 to void the loan agreement and retain ownership of Lily and her father Tusko. A zoo spokesman said the money came entirely from the Oregon Zoo Foundation, a private non-profit that raises money for the zoo.
The zoo said any future offspring of Tusko will also belong to them.
Smith said the zoo settled on the $400,000 price tag by calling around the elephant community to establish the value.
The uncertainty about Lily’s fate and public perception of Have Trunk Will Travel led to criticism of the zoo in December. Have Trunk has been accused by several animal rights groups of abusing other elephants.
Smith said she understands the public wanted reassurance about Lily’s fate, but she also took a shot at what the zoo called “misleading media reports.”
“Given the sensationalized story people were first presented with, that’s exactly how they should have reacted,” Smith said. “If I thought for one minute that this baby was going to be taken from her mother — taken from her home — I would be outraged too. But Lily was never going away, and I think everyone understands that now."
KATU has reached out to Have Trunk Will Travel but did not hear back on Friday.
The zoo has plans to continue breeding with Tusko, but likely not for a few years.
I got a dog from the humane society for fifty bucks.
 @UselessOpinion That is what we named our dog from the Humane Soc.
I believe that Have Truck Will Travel is owed thanks for being willing to settle this in a manner that would appease the public, when according to the contracts, they certainly didn't have to.
This is good news!! Something other than the endless gloom and doom...HEY...the sun just peeked out! That's good to see also!
$400K - that's around 34,582 Adult zoo tickets.
I guess this means they'll raise parking and admission prices again.
 @JLO The money came from the Foundation, which is different than the zoo tickets and their prices. People donate into the Foundation for a variety of things, including purchases like this. I'm sure that when the story broke, they had a number of people willing to donate in order for them to buy out the contracts. They would have also had donors who were not willing to make further donations unless they did something about the contracts. I know we had held off on renewing our patron membership because of it. In all it was a smart move to do this.
Its OK to go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room. Da Tum Tum.
I hear elephant dung is over $.012 per ton now. it wont take long for the Zoo to recoupe the investment.
 @rnm ZooDoo
The good news is, the elephant does not have to go live with the abusive Johnsons at Have Trunk Will Travel. The bad news is, the abusive Johnsons are profiting once again on elephants which they should not own! Sad!
 @Jessica Exactly.  And it was no secret to the Oregon Zoo from the start that they were knowingly participating in a money making breeding program.  Both sides won, and now we have yet another victim of their exploitation born into a prison.
 @eyeonchina  @Jessica So sad that you both are not educated on the plight of Asian elephants! All you need to do is some research. Asian elephants are being killed so that more palm oil plantations can be planted. Just do your homework. Huffington Post has some excellent articles about this very thing. Plus, for some animals, the only way they will survive in numbers on this planet, thanks to humans, is zoos and sanctuaries. Â
Good news. Side note - does anybody else have the urge to make annoyingly cute little baby noises when looking at the picture of Lily above? No? Just me?
Tusco better get busy  porking to make up he $400,000'
How many other animals are owned by private corporations and not the zoo itself? I have a feeling there is more!
 @portlandborn83 They mentioned previously that there are other animals in the zoo that are not owned by them. It is much more common for the owner to be another zoo, though, from what I've read.
 @Jenni S.  @portlandborn83 Owners are other zoos, both private and public. You'd be surprised! And by private, I mean others that are not run by a gov't type organization, like metro. It's an open book, and all you need to do is ask.
 @pdxkath  @Jenni S.  @portlandborn83 Yea, I remember them listing some back when the whole elephant story broke, I just don't remember the details.Â
There are many others, and the same is true in almost every zoo. And museums as well.Â
 @yahdayahda What are animals doing in museums? They should be in the zoo! :-P
Since the money came from donations not tax funded, I'm thrilled to know our elephants have trunks and won't travel.
zoos=animal prison    free all of gods creatures immeditaly
 @Bill Preston There are a number of animals that wouldn't be around if it weren't for zoos and their work to sustain species that poachers and such have devastated. People are also a lot more likely to want to try to protect a species if they have the opportunity to see them in real life.
 @Jenni S.  @Bill Preston Qualify that with humane sanctuaries instead of inhumane zoos, please.
@Bill Preston First things first. We'll release a tiger in your yard.
@JLO Ooooo!!!! what time, and how much are the tickets?
Awesome news! :) Glad that there is no longer any question whether Lily (and now Tusko too) will stay :)
More wasted Tax Dollars
 @gbudavid Obviously you didn't read the entire story......
 @gbudavid Sorta like the money we wasted on your reading education, apparently.
 @gbudavid Did you read the article? It came from a private foundation.
Well it's an expensive item, but that elephant will make WAY more than $500,000 for the zoo longer term, even witht he costs of upkeep.
Â
Â
 @Repoman Especially when you figure there were plenty of people like our family that were not willing to give funds to the zoo until this situation was taken care of. There were many of us who chose not to renew our memberships.Â
400K? Wow that is alot of mula...
Â
That ain't peanuts :)
Good move..! Â This way, there is no question as to Lily's owners and/or where she will spend her life. Â Â
It's entirely possible that the previous owners might have intended for her to stay at the Oregon Zoo, but there's ALSO no way to tell if those intentions might not have changed later on (eg: with different people in charge at the traveling zoo or whatever that other company is)...Â
I hope Lily and her elephant pals will enjoy long and happy lives..! Â :-)
Well, they're in in the business of animal showmanship so 400K is probably a small price to pay for the ownership of a major asset with a fairly long depreciation life. Â
 That's really taking ownership of a problem that could have had disastrous results. Well done!
 I am in wrong business.
 @faith Maybe not.
That $400K is most probably not all profit for HTWT. There are undoubtedly many behind-the-scenes expenses.
Â
Plus, if you owned the elephant, you would have to provide food (they don't live on or for peanuts), water (and the way the city keeps raising water fees...whoa!) living space, veterinary care, waste removal (and the way the city keeps raising garbage fees...whoa!), parking fees (and the way the city keep raising parking fees...whoa!) etc., for the life of the animal. :-P
Â
Stick with all those cats, Faith. ;-)
Ah, half truths and behind the scene adjustments to make things look good.
Â
I would think the zoo should have had better legal advice and avoided this mess. The 400k came out of someones pocket.
@FreerideNOT I don't know about keeping that kind of money in a pocket, I think they probably kept it in a trunk. BaaaaHaaaaHaaaaa. Sorry, I need more tea.
 @FreerideNOT Specifically: "A zoo spokesman said the money came entirely from the Oregon Zoo Foundation, a private non-profit that raises money for the zoo"
Neg
Â
I would assume that the Oregon Zoo Foundation is a LOCAL non profit that supports the Zoo. Don't you think that 400k could have been spent on something else.  This would not have happened if the legal beagles had thought of the eventuality this might become an issue after all there was a written contract.
Good.