What Else Is in the "Teaches of Peaches"? Compassion for Elephants!

Click here to read Peaches’ full letter to the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Electro-rocker Peaches, whose raunchy lyrics and even raunchier onstage antics have made her an underground superstar, reveals to PETA2 that in spite of her tough-girl image, she’s got a soft spot for elephants. The Toronto native was shocked to learn that Peaches the elephant—along with her two pachyderm pals, Tatima and Wankie—is ailing in a tiny enclosure at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. So on PETA’s behalf, the singer has just fired off a letter to the director of the zoo, calling for the three elephants to be retired to a sanctuary.

Writes Peaches, “[T]hese elephants enjoyed warm temperatures year round. Now, they are confined in a small indoor area for many months out of the year when the temperature drops below comfort level. … Please make the humane decision to retire these gals to The Elephant Sanctuary’s warmer climate in Hohenwald, Tennessee, where they will have tons of space to roam around and be elephants.”

Through recent collaborations with P!nk, Iggy Pop, and Chicks on Speed, Peaches has had the chance to share her outstanding talent with a wider audience, but she’s been selling out concerts on her own since the release of her first full-length album, The Teaches of Peaches, in 2000.

All three of the elephants Peaches pleads for in her letter—who were discarded by the San Diego Wild Animal Park to make space for new, young elephants, captured in Africa—have been visibly suffering since arriving at Lincoln Park Zoo one year ago. In addition to the fact that they have spent many cold months warehoused in a concrete back room, one elephant has sustained a crippling leg injury, another is losing weight, and the third continually sways from side to side—a neurotic condition indicating severe stress. The injured elephant is apparently being kept from public display, a situation that has led to speculation that her condition has worsened. Lincoln Park Zoo has refused to disclose the elephants’ medical records, keeper logs, and daily activity reports.

Describing bitter, cold weather as unsuitable for elephants, the Detroit Zoo recently announced that it would voluntarily close its elephant exhibit. As Chicago’s harsh winter climate is similar to Detroit’s, Peaches, Wankie, and Tatima are living in conditions that the caring staff of the Detroit Zoo has determined to be cruel.