Born Free

In their homeland, the elephants had the freedom to walk many miles a day, swim in watering holes, play in mud pits, and interact with their loved ones. The social structure of free-roaming elephant herds is extremely complex and can’t possibly be duplicated in captivity. In nature, females remain with their mothers for life and males until they are 10 to 15 years old. Mothers teach their babies to cake themselves with mud to ward off sunburn and grasp marble-sized pieces of fruit with their trunks. Males approaching maturity require the guidance and wisdom of older bulls in order to become well-adjusted adults themselves.

Sold Out

In exchange for the zoos’ monetary “donation” to the Swazi park, the elephants were torn from beautiful savannas and fields of umbrella-shaped trees, shoved into transport containers, and carted halfway around the world, where they will spend the rest of their lives in tiny, barren zoo cages that could never simulate their natural habitat. Elephants in zoos frequently suffer from zoochosis, a form of mental anguish caused by the impoverished environment.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) permits its members to provide elephants, who can weigh in excess of 13,000 pounds and walk 30 miles a day, with enclosures that measure only 40 feet by 45 feet—about the size of a three-car garage. What’s more, some accredited zoos continue to try to discipline and control these frustrated animals by chaining them for long hours and using cruel, outdated, circus-style training that includes beatings. The AZA refuses to require that zoos convert to protected contact, a safer and more humane method of elephant management that does not utilize physical punishment.