HOUSTON (Feb. 10, 2026) — In Defense of Animals has named the Houston Zoo the No. 1 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America for 2025. The ranking exposes a devastating history of rampant breeding that has resulted in a “graveyard” of young elephants, contradicting the zoo’s public narrative of conservation success.

While the zoo markets a “baby boom” to sell tickets, a review of the studbook data reveals a mortality crisis. Of the 25 elephants born at the Houston Zoo, 17 are dead.

At the center of this controversy is Thai, the zoo’s 60-year-old bull. Since 1980, the Houston Zoo has built its entire breeding program on Thai, who sired 21 calves. Fifteen of them have died. 

Despite this catastrophic 71% mortality rate, the zoo continues to use Thai to breed. Faced with repeated losses, the zoo has turned to extremely invasive artificial insemination (AI), carried out using restraints, to force more calves into a high-risk environment.

Indu’s 19 years at Houston Zoo ended after 6 tragic deaths. Photo: Phoenix Zoo Facebook

The devastating consequences of the Houston Zoo’s reckless breeding are most clearly seen in the history of Indu, a female who spent 19 years at the Houston Zoo.

During her time in Houston, Indu gave birth to six babies. All six died. Despite repeated deaths of her calves, the zoo continued to pair her with Thai to breed more. 

Indu was eventually sent to the Phoenix Zoo, where she died in 2025.

“Indu’s tragic story illustrates why Houston Zoo should end its failed and dangerous breeding program immediately,” said Courtney Scott, Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals. “Indu never had a chance to live as a wild elephant with the freedom to make her own reproductive choices. In her honor, Houston Zoo must send the elephants to a true sanctuary, starting with 60-year-old Thai, who deserves retirement from his burden as the zoo’s failed prime breeder.”

In Defense of Animals’ report reveals the zoo’s use of Tupelo, a female born at Houston Zoo. In a move driven by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the zoo forced Tupelo into motherhood through AI at just 10 years old — the extreme limit of earliest natural conception for a juvenile elephant.

• Video captured by In Defense of Animals shows Thai exhibiting zoochosis: swaying and swinging his trunk — clinical signs of brain damage caused by chronic stress.
• Houston Zoo holds the unenviable record for the most overcrowded exhibit. Thirteen elephants are squeezed into a tiny 3-acre enclosure. Many display zoochotic behavior.
• The Houston Zoo has lost six young elephants to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). It openly admitted it will continue breeding to study the virus, creating new victims for a disease that is not a primary threat to wild elephants.

“It is the definition of insanity: the zoo continues to breed the same elephants in the same environment and expects a different result,” said Marilyn Kroplick, M.D., President of In Defense of Animals. “True conservation happens in the wild, not in a viral hotspot thousands of times smaller than a natural home range. The only ethical path forward for Houston Zoo is to end the breeding and retire these elephants to a sanctuary.” 

Over 16,000 people have written to Houston Zoo President and CEO Lee Ehmke, urging him to stop cramming elephants into Houston Zoo’s distressingly small enclosure, and to send these suffering elephants to sanctuary.

The Houston Zoo has appeared six times on the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list.

2025 List of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants:

1. Houston Zoo, Houston, Texas
2. Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, Kan.
3. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, Omaha, Neb.
4. African Lion Safari, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
5. Denver Zoo, Denver, Colo.
6. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Powell, Ohio
7. ABQ BioPark, Albuquerque, N.M.
8. Oklahoma City Zoo, Oklahoma City, Okla.
9. Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Fresno, Calif.
10. Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa, Okla.
     

Hall of Shame: Oregon Zoo, Portland, Ore.

Path to Progress Award: Louisville Zoo, Louisville, Ky.

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Contacts: 

Courtney Scott, courtney@idausa.org, 503-288-6142

Fleur Dawes, media@idausa.org, 415-212-8653

Photos and video (free to use with credit per filename): https://bit.ly/HoustonWorst25

See the full 10 Worst Zoos list: www.idausa.org/2025worstzoolist

Watch the 10 Worst Zoos video: https://youtu.be/KuLEeoWs3Vg

In Defense of Animals’ list of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America has been featured in The New York Times, Esquire and the Daily Mail, and supported by celebrities including Bill Maher and Ricky Gervais. It draws global attention to how zoos condemn elephants to lifetimes of deprivation, disease, and premature death. Rankings are determined based on in-person visits and data analysis of elephant mortality, health records, transfer history and enclosure conditions. This year’s list heavily weighted the intensity of breeding programs and infant mortality rates. Explore two decades of rankings at idausa.org/10worstzoos

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a history of defending animals, people and the environment since 1983. idausa.org

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