SAN DIEGO -- Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals blocked the main entrance to the San Diego Zoo Friday with a dump truck and load of horse manure that had been emptied on the roadway.

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Protesters Block Zoo Entrance

PETA was at the zoo to protest the delivery of seven African elephants to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

The load was dumped around noon at the intersection of Zoo Drive and Park Avenue.

Police arrested the driver, who was wearing an elephant costume and refused to exit the vehicle.

The Wild Animal Park got the animals from a game reserve/national park in Swaziland. Zoo officials said that the animals had been taken from the African nation because of overcrowding in the game reserve and that if the elephants were not relocated, they would have been killed.

"Swaziland indicated that they could not find another viable place in the country for the elephants to live," said Yadira Galindo.

A PETA spokeswoman said her organization had offered to find another home for the elephants in Africa but Swaziland officials had sold the animals to the San Diego and Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla.

"Zoos should be protecting animals in their homelands, not snatching them away from their homes and loved ones," said Debbie Leahy. "Taking elephants who are thriving with their families in the wild and placing them on display in concrete enclosures halfway around the world is a cruel and inexcusable crime against nature."

Previous Stories:

• August 14, 2003: Cops Arrest PETA Activist At San Diego Zoo
• July 10, 2003: Activists Say Zoo's Elephant-Importing Argument Is Bull, File Suit
• September 18, 2002: Wild Animal Park To Import Wild African Elephants
• August 13, 2002: Wild Animal Park Hopes To Save Elephants