SEATTLE -- Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo said goodbye Wednesday to its last two elephants, Bamboo and Chai, which were loaded into crates for a drive to their new home at the Oklahoma City Zoo.
Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants were emotional as they watched Bamboo and Chai leave the zoo. Some had tears in their eyes.
“It’s been an emotional long time for me,” said Marla Katz.
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Seattle elephants leave for Oklahoma City zoo
Seattle elephants leave for Oklahoma City zoo
Katz and many other animal lovers have criticized the conditions of the elephant habitat at the Woodland Park Zoo for years. But they were hoping the animals would be moved to a sanctuary, not another zoo.
“These elephants are going from one tragic situation to another,” said Alyne Fortgang.
“They’ve been captive elephants their whole lives, they belong in a sanctuary where they can live out their lives in better health, better conditions,” said Marty Spiegel. “This is wrong.”
But zoo officials say the habitat in Oklahoma City will be better for the animals.
“It’s a bigger facility than we have, it's a brand new exhibit that was opened in 2011,” said Dr. Deborah Jensen.
She also said that Bamboo and Chai will be able to join a herd there, something that wasn’t possible at the proposed sanctuaries.
“This is actually fantastic news for these two animals and we're very excited about it.”
The move came just hours after a federal court denied an emergency injunction to keep the animals put. Activists say until they saw the truck pull away, they still had hope city leaders would stop the move.
“We all are particularly disappointed in the mayor and City Council for not stepping up and doing what they could with their authority,” Fortgang said.
“He has let us down, really let us down,” added Katz.
Q13 Fox News reached out to the mayor’s office and received this response: "The mayor has consistently believed that the elephants should have been moved to a sanctuary. He is very disappointed by how the entire issue has been handled by the zoo and how unnecessarily divisive it has been in the community."
For more on the elephant’s relocation, go to http://www.zoo.org/elephantnews#.VS88YiFViko