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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR ELEPHANTS IN ZOOS: JOIN IDA’s VIRTUAL DEMONSTRATION ON SATURDAY!

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR ELEPHANTS IN ZOOS: JOIN IDA’s VIRTUAL DEMONSTRATION ON SATURDAY!

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

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

Saturday 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 our first-ever 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:

  • Albuquerque Biological Park, Albuquerque, NM
  • Audubon Zoo, Audubon, LA
  • Baltimore Zoo, Baltimore, MD (Maryland Zoo in Baltimore)
  • BREC’s Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA
  • Bronx Zoo, Bronx, NY (phasing out)
  • Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, IL
  • 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
  • Central Florida Zoological Park, Lake Monroe, FL (may not replace elephants after they die)
  • 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, Dickerson, 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
  • Jackson Zoo, Jackson, MS
  • 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
  • 37.  Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL
  • Marine World, Vallejo, Vallejo, CA
  • 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
  • Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, NE
  • 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
  • Saint Louis Zoological Park, St. Louis, MO
  • San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio, TX
  • San Diego Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA
  • San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA
  • Santa Barbara Zoo, Santa Barbara, CA (phasing out)
  • Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS
  • Seneca Park Zoo, Rochester, NY
  • 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
  • Calgary Zoo (Alberta)
  • Toronto Zoo (Ontario)
  • Granby Zoo (Quebec)

3. Starting on Saturday June 19th, 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.

Zoos are entertainment, not education, and elephants should not be used for our entertainment.

Elephant captivity does not equal conservation!

No one has the right, or the need, to see elephants in person, especially when keeping them in zoos causes them so much suffering.

Elephants need more space than urban zoos can provide.

It’s cruel to keep elephants in zoos.

Elephants in zoos suffer painful foot disease and arthritis that cripple and kill them, infertility, high infant mortality and stillbirth rates.

The repetitive rocking and swaying you see elephants doing are signs of psychological distress. Elephants don’t do this in the wild.

Misery, disease and early death: what an elephant gets in a zoo.

Think about it: Elephants have a natural life span of 50-60 years, yet more than half of elephants who died in zoos didn’t live to age 40. You call this conservation?

Elephants in zoos live on a few acres at best; in the wild they live in enormous home ranges of hundreds of square miles. It just isn’t right!

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

Think about it: U.S. zoos will spend close to half a billion dollars on enlarging exhibits that still are too small for elephants. This money could protect entire elephant populations of animals in Africa and Asia.

Think about it: Annually, zoos spend more than $16 million to display fewer than 300 elephants. This money could protect entire elephant populations in Africa and Asia.

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

Think about it: Scientists have found that elephants in zoos are dying far younger than those in relatively protected wild populations.

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