SYRACUSE - Three of upstate New York's largest zoos want to let their patrons pet the elephants and are asking state officials to rethink a newly enforced no-contact rule.

Last month, the state Department of Environmental Conservation notified officials at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester and the Buffalo Zoo that as holders of endangered and threatened species exhibitor licenses, they could not allow people to come in contact with any licensed animals.

The DEC decision to begin enforcing the prohibition effectively ended all interactive and hands-on programs, such as the Rosamond Gifford's popular pachyderm petting sessions, said Zoo Director Chuck Doyle. And it's not only the children who are disappointed, said Doyle.

“Siri's been doing this for 30 years,” Doyle said of Rosamond Gifford's Asian elephant matriarch. “She loves the interaction with the public. She doesn't know why we aren't doing it anymore. At the end of the performance now when we have to take her back in the barn. She looks heartbroken.”

The no-contact prohibition is among the provisions put in place three years ago as part of a licensing process to exhibit threatened and endangered species in New York, said DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren.

The prohibition was written to protect the animals and the public alike. No specific episode triggered the rule, but the recent mauling by a tiger at a California zoo demonstrated why it's needed, she said.

“They are still wild animals,” she said.

Contact became an issue last year after some DEC officials found that elephant rides were being offered at some county fairs, including the Erie County Fair, which is among the nation's largest, Wren said.

In a follow-up, DEC officials decided to advise the state's zoos that they, too, needed to comply, Wren said. The Bronx Zoo also was notified, although it already followed a no-contact policy, she said.

“We certainly recognize the value of getting the public involved in conservation, but it's also our responsibility to ensure the public safety, as well as the welfare of the animal,” Wren said, adding that groups like the Wildlife Conservation Society and the U.S. Humane Society support a no-contact rule.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney sent a letter May 9 to DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis urging that the rule be changed, Doyle said. Officials at the Rochester and Buffalo zoos said they also were asking the DEC to reconsider, or provide an exception for zoos.

“It's a blanket solution to a narrow problem,” said Larry Sorel, director at Seneca Park, which keeps two African elephants and allowed them to be touched by visitors on special educational tours.

“We always have the elephant under control. We don't put people in a hazardous situation. It seems counterproductive for DEC to put this kind of restriction on an activity that is tremendously educational and tremendously inspirational,” Sorel said.

At Rosamond Gifford, visitors have been petting the elephants at the end of their daily shows for at least the 30 years that Doyle has been there, he said, many as the zoo's top elephant trainer. There has never been a single problem, he said.

“This is what gets people interested in animals, this kind of interaction. `Animal Planet' is a great venue but it doesn't draw you in like the up-close interactions you can get at a zoo,” Doyle said.

The county-owned zoo boasts one of the world's most successful Asian elephant breeding programs. Only about 52,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild.

The three upstate zoos are among 218 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which supports controlled contact, said a spokesman.

“We do permit appropriate contact with animals. It has to be safe for the animals and safe for the people. That is certainly the case at these three zoos,” said AZA spokesman Steve Feldman.