NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (August 18, 2026 ) — Advocates raised their banner over the New Bedford Pedestrian Bridge on Aug. 15 to call for the release of elephant Emily from the Buttonwood Park Zoo before she dies.

Friends of Ruth & Emily and In Defense of Animals organized the demonstration to raise pressure on the zoo, which has held Emily since she was three years old, when she was captured from the wild in Asia. Now aged 61, Emily spent her first 15 years in complete isolation, which impacted her emotional health. This likely led to aggressive behaviour when she was paired with Ruth, her only companion, who died in 2024. Now Emily is alone again, enduring a barren, empty life in a desolate landscape.

More than 24,700 supporters have written to New Bedford Mayor Jonathan Mitchell and Council President Ryan Pereira to transfer Emily to a sanctuary, like many other zoos have done.

Photo: In Defense of Animals

“New Bedford advocates showed up in person to spread this important message to drivers. Buttonwood Park Zoo must give sad, aging Lucy an opportunity to live like a real elephant, free to roam in a warm climate now before it's too late, as it was for Ruth,” said Courtney Scott, Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals.

The zoo’s treatment of Emily has drawn scrutiny for decades. In 1983, the USDA cited Buttonwood Park Zoo for violations of animal‐welfare regulations related to Emily’s care and the unsanitary, dilapidated condition of her barn. She was transferred to Baton Rouge Zoo for three years while the facility was rebuilt, then returned to Massachusetts, where she continues to face isolation and spends months confined to a tiny 800-square-foot stall during bitterly cold winters.

Buttonwood Park Zoo made In Defense of Animals’ 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list seven times from 2010 to 2016.

“Making the compassionate choice to give its elderly elephant a chance to live like a real elephant for the first time in six decades is not only the right thing to do, but will mean the zoo will never make our list of worst zoos for elephants ever again,” said Scott.

“While old for a zoo elephant, she can still be given this golden opportunity to savor whatever time she has left. Many Asian elephants live into their 70s. Emily should be released from her isolated, deprived existence in the frigid northeast, to a warm, serene and pastoral sanctuary home, designed to meet her needs for companionship and space.

“Emily deserves a chance to meet new friends of her choice in a quiet, spacious, warm-weather sanctuary before she dies.”

CONTACT: Courtney Scott, In Defense of Animals courtney@idausa.org 503-288-6142

IMAGES & VIDEO of Emily are available on request.

In Defense of Animals is an international animal rescue and protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a history of defending animals, the environment, and their guardians through education and campaigns, as well as hands-on rescue facilities in India, South Korea, rural Mississippi, and California, since 1983. www.idausa.org/elephants

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