Elephants were the tipping point, without a doubt. Elephants were the tipping point for us leaving AZA, sadly. But what really was the main philosophical difference that we disagreed on, was that I did not feel that a membership organization, which is what AZA is supposed to be, a membership organization, should be telling me how to manage a tree frog, much less an elephant, or a polar bear, or sea otter, or anything else in our collection. The people who take care of the animals and the staff that are there at the zoo know those animals intimately, work with them every single day.
