El of a Story
I am a Frankford High School graduate, and I get my hair cut directly across the street from the fish store, which had those two harsh murders you referred to in [Cover, "Under the El," Duane Swierczynski, Aug. 25, 2005]. The story gave me the history of the Avenue that my mother once enjoyed and has told me about on numerous occasions. I am the wrestling coach and soon-to-be history teacher at Frankford High, and your story about the "Ave" is a perfection description of how the "Home of Champions" is today. Frankford High once had great organizations, clubs and everything else a great school has. It seems to me that Frankford started to turn for the worse exactly at the same time you talked about the "Ave" going south. I understood that the neighborhood school is a reflection of the neighborhood. My problem was that I was fighting with the problem of how this happened. I simply attributed it to the crack epidemic, but you broke it down better for me.
Chris Vicente
Via e-mail

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Trunk Show of Support
Thank you for bringing awareness to the plight of Petal, Dulary, Kallie and Bette, the four inhabitants of the cramped and barren Philadelphia Zoo elephant exhibit [Cityspace, "Roaming Charge," Doron Taussig, Aug. 25, 2005].
I would like to clarify the statement attributed to me regarding the longevity of elephants in captivity versus the wild. The average age at death of a zoo elephant is 34 years. The natural lifespan of an elephant is 70 years. [Zoo CEO Pete] Hoskins' claim that elephants do better in zoos "from a longevity standpoint" is pure fantasy, unless the equation factors in the millions of elephants poached during the last century. Even so, at least 40 elephants (of the approximately 300 in U.S. captivity), excluding those 2 years old and younger, died between January 2000 and August 2005 at zoos across the country. More than half of those 40 elephants never reached the age of 40.

And, to respond to Hoskins' assertion that the "activists have an emotional argument with no real facts": Apparently the seven U.S. zoos that closed their elephant exhibits are governed by similar "emotions" that led them to determine they were unable to adequately provide for the elephants' needs. Unfortunately, Hoskins and the Philadelphia Zoo are completely devoid of any such "emotion." They are intent on keeping elephants in Philadelphia no matter what the cost.
Rowan Morrison
Lansdowne

In the last year, two zoos — San Francisco and Detroit — moved their elephants out and closed the exhibits. Ron Kagan, director of the Detroit Zoo, made the decision voluntarily, recognizing that his zoo, like most urban zoos, simply does not have the space to meet the physical and psychological needs of elephants. After sending its elephants to a sanctuary, the city of San Francisco established a minimum space requirement of 15 acres for any new elephant enclosure.

The planned expansion to a 2.5-acre elephant exhibit is still grossly inadequate. The Philadelphia Zoo would better serve the animals in its care by sending the elephants to a sanctuary where they would have access to hundreds of acres of soft, natural surfaces where they can forage for food, take mud baths and form lasting bonds with other elephants, conditions vital to their good health.
Kristie Phelps
Program Coordinator, In Defense of Animals