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In a great win for elephants, the Toronto City Council voted to send the Toronto Zoo’s African elephants, Thika, Iringa and Toka, to the PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California. The council voted in May to close the zoo’s elephant exhibit, but decided to send the elephants to another zoo and not to a sanctuary—though a sanctuary was not out of the question if an appropriate zoo was not located.

But things turned around last week when Councilor Michelle Berardinetti presented an urgent motion to move the elephants to PAWS amid rumors that the Toronto Zoo was zeroing in on a facility that would not meet the council’s criteria for the elephants. The council had specified that they be sent to a warmer climate and to a facility that did not use bulhooks on any elephants. Councilor Berardinetti’s motion passed by a resounding 31-4.

Thanks to the compassion of the Toronto City Council and the hard work of Zoocheck Canada, Thika, Toka, and Iringa are now assured a permanent home in a facility that offers far more space than any zoo, a climate suitable for elephants, and only positive reinforcement training.

IDA is very proud of its role in helping these elephants. We sparked the effort to save them in 2009, when IDA called for closure of the Toronto Zoo’s elephant exhibit following the unprecedented deaths of four elephants in less than four years, and urged the Toronto City Council to send the elephants to a sanctuary. The story was widely covered by the Canadian media. IDA kept the pressure on when we made Toronto the first Canadian entry on IDA’s annual Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list. And it is thanks to the perseverance of Zoocheck Canada that this wonderful victory was finally achieved.

Now it’s time to turn our attention to the plight of solitary Lucy in Edmonton, and assure that she, too, can live out her life in a sanctuary in the company of other elephants. And we can’t forget all the other elephants living in inadequate conditions in Canada and elsewhere. With your help and support, we can bring about the mammoth changes they need.

What goes on behind the curtains is not so glamorous.

I am horrified that ABC is considering a series called Bazirkus, based on the Ringling Bros. Circus, that will glorify this cruel form of entertainment and possibly use and abuse animals in its production. Animals in the circus are beaten, confined and forced to perform despite illness and injury. Babies are forcibly torn from their mothers for training.

If ABC develops and airs Bazirkus, you will lose many viewers, including myself, to networks that don’t glorify animal abuse.

Thank you so much for helping elephants in captivity! To find out about other ways you can help – Please join our Elephant task Force!

IDA has long been fighting to end archaic, circus-style training in zoos because it’s inhumane for elephants and lethal for keepers. We are happy to tell you that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has announced a profound change in policy that would bring an end to cruel training practices in zoos. The AZA announced that by September 1, 2014, keepers in AZA zoos will no longer be able to share the same unrestricted space with elephants, with some exceptions. The new policy allows for exceptions, including medical procedures and testing (which is already being done by zoos using “protected contact” training that uses only positive reinforcement and no bullhooks). Zoos also will be required to document all instances of aggression by elephants and to report annually on all injuries or fatalities related to elephants (no such record-keeping now exists). This new directive is a significant step forward, but many elephants in zoos are still kept in woefully inadequate conditions that cause them to suffer and die prematurely, so there still is much work to be done.

More details to come!

To join IDA’s efforts to help elephants – Click Here to  Join our Elephant Task Force!

Seems like IDA has mostly been urging people to avoid movies this year because of the use of elephants and other wild animals who are cruelly trained and confined. But here’s an award-winning film about wild animals that we highly recommend: The Elephant In The Living Room. (Note: There are no elephants in the film but don’t let that stop you from seeing it!)

The Elephant In The Living Room is a documentary feature-length movie, produced by Michael Webber and featuring our new hero for the animals Tim Harrison, that examines the subculture of exotic animal owners and dealers in the U.S. The film takes a balanced approach to the issue, showing compassion for the animals and for a misguided human whose dysfunctional love for two lions is sure to end badly. Its main focus is Harrison’s efforts to help the lions and their owner by convincing him to let them go to a sanctuary. The story takes some unexpected twists and turns, and I’ll warn you that there is one heartbreaking scene. But this film is so important that everyone should see it.

The ownership of exotics is unfortunately alive and well in the U.S., as we know all too well at IDA. We are fighting right now to stop an elephant from being brought to a proposed pseudo-sanctuary in Maine. Despite altruistic claims, it’s just one more story about someone wanting to possess a wild animal, no matter how detrimental it is for that animal’s welfare. Like many parts of the U.S., there is no law in Maine banning the ownership of exotic animals.

The Elephant In The Room is by far is one of the most compelling and enlightening films ever made about the issue, and it’s one you should not miss. It’s not in major theaters, but you can own it on DVD (a bargain for $19.99) or Blu-Ray by visiting the film’s website and ordering a copy (it says “pre-order” because the actual release is next week). And be sure to “like” the film by visiting its Facebook page.

Disclaimer: IDA has had no involvement in the making or distribution of The Elephant In The Living Room. We just think it’s such a significant film that we’re helping to spread the word about it. Buy a copy and share it with friends or arrange a special in-home screening to educate people about this important issue.

Join IDA’s Elephant Task Force to find out what you can do to help elephants!

On July 10, Chico, the oldest bull elephant in captivity in North America died in the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas. Information is exceedingly sparse: Like so many other elephants in zoos, he was “found unresponsive” in the morning when keepers arrived for work. No one knows how long he had been down or what he went through before they arrived and euthanized him. He was only 46. Chico’s death marks the end of a tragic and disgraceful chapter in captive elephant history, but one that is in constant danger of being repeated.

In 2003, Chico was one of four elephants living at the San Diego Wild Animal Park (now called San Diego Zoo Safari Park). He, along with females Peaches, Wankie and Tatima, had been there for around three decades. Though all originally had been taken from the wild.

Between the four elephants, they had managed to produce five calves for the zoo; two died within a month of birth, and the three that survive to this day were wrenched from their mothers at the ages of one and two years, and shipped to other zoos. Moja is in the Pittsburg Zoo, and Tavi and her half-brother Tsavo remain the only two African elephants at the Canton Zoo in China.

In 2001, San Diego joined forces with the Lowry Park Zoo in Florida to import eleven young, wild-born elephants that were captured at the zoos’ request. They were part of a group of 37 cull orphans and their offspring who had been relocated to Swaziland and were living as established herds in protected parks there – the entirety of Swaziland’s small elephant population at the time. International elephant trade by zoos had been suspended for a decade when San Diego first contacted Swaziland authorities to arrange for the shipment of these elephants.

Despite the best efforts of IDA and the Coalition to Save Wild Elephants, the young Swaziland elephants were brought to the zoos in 2003, but not before San Diego had moved its four long-term resident elephants Chico, Peaches, Wankie and Tatima out to make room for them. Already ailing, Peaches, Wankie and Tatima were shipped out of sunny San Diego and into Chicago’s frigid winters at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

The three elephants did not last even two years there. Tatima died in October 2004; like Chico she was found collapsed on the floor when the keepers arrived in the morning. Cause of death was infection with a bacterium similar to tuberculosis (Mycobacterium szulgai). Peaches followed only three months later, purportedly due to “old age.” She was 55; African elephants can live to be 65.

During the ensuing uproar by elephant welfare advocates, Wankie was secretly loaded onto a truck during the last chilly night of April 2005 and shipped to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah, despite the fact she was recovering from colic (a painful condition that can cause an elephant to collapse). She was found kneeling in the truck, a potentially dangerous situation, somewhere around the midway point of the 22-hour trip, with temps in 20 to 30 degree range and no heat. After one more stop, the decision to continue driving sealed her fate, and she was euthanized upon arrival at the zoo. A final report showed that Wankie died of the same bacterial lung infection that killed Tatima, and that the infection coupled with “stress of shipping” may have caused her collapse.

All these elephants – Chico, Peaches, Tatima and Wankie – were victims of a zoo industry that values female elephants over males, babies over adults, and, always, money over the animals that they claim to care for. Their story should never be forgotten. Nor can we let our guard down when it comes to the capture of wild elephants for the purpose of restocking zoos – a practice that continues today.

Check back for IDA’s blog on the recent import of African elephants to the Pittsburgh Zoo’s breeding center, and how the public never had a clue!

Join IDA’s Elephant Task Force to find out what you can do to help elephants!

This year’s International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos (IDAEZ) on June 11^th was an outstanding success, featuring events in 27 cities and a virtual protest that used social networking technology to circulate more than 9,000 messages about the suffering and premature deaths of elephants in zoos. Thanks to everyone for your involvement!

Elephant advocates held demonstrations from the U.S. to Canada to the UK and Spain, educating thousands of people attending their local zoos. Media reports on IDAEZ events carried our message to even more of the public. Scores of colorful banners and posters, and the 30,000 informative flyers that were handed out, opened people’s eyes to the lifetime of misery elephants endure in inadequate zoo displays.

We welcome the many IDAEZ events in new cities this year, including the Houston Zoo, Fresno Zoo, Honolulu Zoo, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Birmingham Zoo, Milwaukee Zoo and Ft. Worth Zoo.

We’re also pleased to report that events could not be held at the Central Florida Zoo and the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago because those zoos no longer have elephants! And it looks like there will be even fewer zoos holding elephants in the years to come.

The virtual protest, also held on Saturday, was a great success. This special cyber-demo allowed everyone to participate in IDAEZ by Tweeting zoos and posting enlightening messages on zoos’ Facebook pages about the physical and psychological suffering that Earth’s largest land mammals endure in cramped zoo enclosures. Rather than allow their members to read the truth, at least seven zoos shut down their Facebook pages in different ways.

IDA thanks everyone who participated in IDAEZ in person and on-line. You helped educate people around the world about the terrible plight of elephants in zoos, bringing us a step closer to ending their suffering. And we also thank this year’s celebrity supporters, Lily Tomlin, Jorja Fox and Mariana Tosca, for their commitment to helping the elephants.

You can visit www.HelpElephants.com to read more about IDAEZ and our campaigns for elephants in zoos and circuses.

Don’t forget to join IDA’s Elephant Task Force to learn what you can do to help elephants year round!

Please replace your profile pictures with the Virtual Demo "Sign"

Saturday, June 11, is the International Day of Action for Elephants in Zoos, when activists around the world will be sending a message that elephants just don’t belong in cramped, unnatural displays that shorten their lives by decades.

This year, everyone can help the elephants, no matter where you live, by participating in a virtual demonstration on Facebook and Twitter. It’s easy to do and a great way to spread the word that it’s time to stop the elephants’ suffering.

Here’s how it works:

Facebook Instructions – Speak up for Elephants in 3 easy steps!

1. Make sure you have your protest “sign“. All you have to do is right click on the “Elephants Suffer” image and choose “Save” to get this “sign”. Replace your profile photo to your “sign” and keep it up all weekend!

2. Go through the zoo list and “Like” the promotional pages for these zoos. This will allow you to post comments on their pages:

United States

• Albuquerque Biological Park, Albuquerque, NM
• Audubon Zoo, Audubon, LA
• Birmingham Zoo, Birmingham, AL
• BREC’s Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA
• Bronx Zoo, Bronx, NY
• Buffalo Zoological Gardens, Buffalo, NY
• Busch Gardens, Tampa Bay, FL
• Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford, MA
• Caldwell Zoo, Tyler, TX
• Cameron Park Zoo, Waco, TX
• Chaffee Zoological Gardens, Fresno, CA
• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado Springs, CO
• Cincinnati Zoo, Cincinnati, OH
• Cleveland Metro Park Zoo, Cleveland, OH
• Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH
• Dallas Zoo, Dallas, TX
• Denver Zoo, Denver, CO
• Dickerson Park Zoo, Springfield, MO
• Disney Animal Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, FL
• El Paso Zoo, El Paso, TX
• Fort Worth Zoo, Ft. Worth, TX
• Greenville Zoo, Greenville, SC
• Hogle Zoo, Salt Lake City, UT
• Honolulu Zoo, Honolulu, HI
• Houston Zoological Gardens, Houston, TX
• Indianapolis Zoo, Indianapolis, IN
• Jacksonville Zoological Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
• Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City, MO
• Knoxville Zoo, Knoxville, TN
• Lee Richardson Zoo, Garden City, KS
• Little Rock Zoo, Little Rock, AK
• Los Angeles Zoo, Los Angeles, CA
• Louisville Zoological Gardens, Louisville, KY
• Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL
• Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, MD
• Memphis Zoo, Memphis, TN
• Miami Metro Zoo, Miami, FL
• Milwaukee Zoological Garden, Milwaukee, WI
• Montgomery Zoo, Montgomery, AL
• Nashville Zoo, Nashville, TN
• Niabi Zoo, Coal Valley, IL
• North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro, NC
• Oakland Zoo, Oakland, CA
• Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, OK
• Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR
• Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, AZ
• Pittsburgh Zoo, Pittsburgh, PA
• Point Defiance Zoo, Tacoma, WA
• Reid Park Zoo, Tuscon, AZ
• Riverbanks Zoo, Columbia, SC
• Roger Williams Park Zoo, Providence RI
• Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Syracuse, NY
• St. Louis Zoological Park, St. Louis, MO
• San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX
• San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Escondido, CA
• San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA
• Santa Barbara Zoo, Santa Barbara, CA
• Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS
• Seneca Park Zoo, Rochester, NY
• Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo, CA
• Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, DC
• Toledo Zoo, Toledo, OH
• Topeka Zoological Park, Topeka, KS
• Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum, Tulsa, OK
• Virginia Zoo, Norfolk, VA
• Wildlife Safari, Winston, OR
• Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA
• Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA

Canada

• Bowmanville Zoo (Ontario)
• Calgary Zoo (Alberta)
• Granby Zoo (Quebec)
• Toronto Zoo (Ontario)

3. Starting on Saturday June 11th, start posting your comments! Remember that your comments will be seen by followers of all ages and comments that include profanity or can be interpreted as “abusive” will probably be removed before the general public gets a chance to read them and may result in your profile being reported and/or deleted by Facebook. IDA is not responsible for any comments you may leave or action that results.

Twitter Instructions:

1. Make sure you have your protest “sign“. All you have to do is right click on the “Elephants Suffer” image and choose “Save” to get this “sign”. Replace your profile photo to your “sign” and keep it up all weekend!

2. Go through the zoo list above and “Follow” these pages. This will allow you to send them direct messages and Tweets using the @. here’s an example of how this works – you Tweet : @ZooAtl Elephants need more space than urban zoos can provide. It’s cruel to keep elephants in zoos!

And that Tweet goes directly to the Zoo Atlanta Twitter page.

3. Encourage your friends to join your Twitter Demo! Tweet to them to also change their profile image to their “sign”. Here is an example of a Tweet you can use to encourage them to Tweet the zoos you are Tweeting: FF! Follow these zoos ( Then list a bunch of Twitter pages for zoos with elephants and put a @ before their address. Example : @ZooAtl ) & Tweet about what you think of zoos!

4. Starting on Saturday June 19th, start sending direct messages and Tweeting to the zoos you are following using the Reply function. Here is are some examples of a great Twitter Demo Tweet: @ZooAtl is no fun for the Elephants who live there. OR Elephants belong in the wild not @ZooAtl

5, You can run your Twitter Demo all day – Rain or Shine! But remember messages and Tweets that include profanity or can be interpreted as “abusive” may result in your profile being reported and/or deleted by Twitter. IDA is not reasonable for any messages or Tweets sent or action that results.

Here are some quick messages you can send (but feel free to create your own):

Elephants are suffering and dying prematurely in zoos.

Elephants should not suffer for our entertainment!

Elephant captivity does not equal conservation.

Elephants need more space than urban zoos can provide.

It’s cruel to keep elephants in zoos.

The largest zoo exhibit is still not big enough to meet elephants’ complex needs.

Inadequate conditions for elephants cause them to suffer painful foot disease and arthritis, infertility, and high infant mortality and stillbirth rates, and aberrant behaviors.

Repetitive rocking, swaying and head bobbing are signs of psychological distress; elephants don’t do this in the wild!

The life of an elephant in a zoo = misery, disease and early death.

Think about it: Elephants have a natural life span of 60-70 years, yet they are dying decades before their time in zoos. You call that conservation?

Time to ban the bullhook in zoos! Stop cruel, circus-style training!

Think about it: North American zoos will spend about half a billion dollars on remodeling exhibits that still will be too small for elephants. That money could protect entire populations of elephants in Africa and Asia!

Think about it: Zoos spend more than $25million a year to display fewer than 300 elephants. That money could protect entire populations of elephants in Africa and Asia!

The world’s leading elephant experts say elephants don’t belong in urban zoos. Why aren’t zoos listening?

Think about it: Scientific research shows that elephants in zoos have far shorter life expectancies than those in the wild.

Keeping elephants in zoos will not save them in the wild.

Elephants don’t belong in cold weather zoos!

To find out how you can help elephants year round – CLICK HERE to Join IDA’s Elephant Task Force!