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Urge USDA to Confiscate Elephant Lucky

Urge USDA to Confiscate Elephant Lucky


The AZA Grants the San Antonio Zoo’s Request to Keep Lucky in Isolation

In a shocking move, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) reportedly approved a request by the San Antonio Zoo to keep a 53-year-old female Asian elephant named Lucky in isolation. Lucky is now the only solitary female elephant in an AZA-accredited zoo in the U.S. The zoo’s director told the media that Lucky will remain at the zoo until she dies. The zoo’s other elephant, Queenie, died in March.

No elephant should ever be held in solitary confinement. Female elephants are profoundly social. In the wild, elephants live in matriarchal, multi-generational herds that include sisters, aunts, nieces, and nephews.

The AZA’s own guidelines require that elephants are housed in groups of three. This is the third variance the AZA has given to the zoo in a decade to house Lucky alone, despite pleas from IDA and our members to deny the unreasonable (and inhumane) requests and instead send Lucky to a facility that can meet her physical and social needs.

Click here to read more. Then use the form at that link to tell Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to intervene and confiscate Lucky. After you submit your letter, please follow up with a phone call to Sec. Vilsack: 202-720-3631.

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