Valentinze Bake Sale for Prince

Join us on Feb 7th to show your love to Prince the elephant! Buy baked vegan treats for your loved ones, mingle with fellow animal lovers, win numerous raffle prizes from local businesses, and help a good cause!

The Tale of a Prince

On May 24, 1987, the birth of Chang Dee at the Oregon Zoo was a cause for great public celebration. He was the first elephant born at the Zoo in four years, and he would be the last to survive infancy until Rose-Tu was born seven years later. Unfortunately, the excitement and fanfare over the new baby elephant would not last long in Portland. Chang Dee would be stripped away from his mother just 16 months later and sold to a circus! Chang Dee’s mother was Me-Tu, who was also born at the Oregon Zoo, and his father was Hugo, an elephant who had been donated to the zoo by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus a few years earlier. When Hugo went to the Zoo it was agreed that, in return, the circus would receive his first born calf, who turned out to be Chang Dee. At 16 months old Chang Dee was still a baby, not even fully weaned from Me-Tu’s milk. The normal age for a fully weaned elephant calf is two to three years. In the wild, male calves will stay with their families until around the age of twelve, learning how to survive, after which they split off from the herd to live as solitary bulls.Some of the zoo trainers reported that, when Chang Dee was dragged away from her, Me-Tu screamed and beat her head against the wall for hours. Chang Dee, born into captivity, was now sold into slavery. When he reached the circus everything changed for him, even his name. Chang Dee would now be known as Prince, and he would go from being with his mother and herd to being tortured and beaten until he learned how to perform circus tricks properly. This would be his life for the next 22 years as he was carted from city to city.

Luckily for Prince that is not how his life would end, as it does for so many other elephants. On July 21, 2011, after more than two decades of abuse, Prince was donated by Feld Entertainment to PAWS (Performing Animal Welfare Society) in San Andreas, California.

PAWS is a true sanctuary. Located on 2,300 acres of rolling grassland, it is home to formerly abused and exploited animals from the entertainment industry. PAWS never participates in breeding or public exploitation of the residents at the sanctuary.

When Prince arrived at PAWS he was finally free! When he first arrived he spent most of his time dusting himself and eating. The next day he discovered and explored his new pool! In fact, Prince loves the water so much that the wonderful people at PAWS built him a second pool. These days Prince can be found playing in his pool or sleeping under the stars at night at PAWS.
As Oregon residents, we are responsible for animals that are born at the zoo or reside there. FOZE (Free The Oregon Zoo Elephants) is a committed organization that echoes these sentiments by standing up for the Zoo elephants past and present, through public outreach and by voicing their concerns to Metro Council and Zoo officials.
Please help us raise money for these two wonderful organizations by participating in our Valentinze Bake Sale and Social! All proceeds go directly to the care and maintenance of Prince at PAWS and to supporting the FOZE cause! If you are interested in working on the bake sale or making a donation please contact Timothy Surprenant @ independent13@mac.com or call him at 503-501-0314.