Elephant Indu sways back and forth in her small, barren exhibit at the Phoenix Zoo. Indu's solitary existence and decades of incarceration in a zoo are why we placed Phoenix Zoo on our list of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants. Join our rally for Indu at the Phoenix Zoo on April 12, 2025, to encourage the zoo to do the right thing for this sad elephant and retire her to sanctuary now before she dies.

Ripped from her home and family in Asia when she was just 1 year old, Indu has spent 58 of her 59 years confined in zoos, the last 26 at the Phoenix Zoo, where her only zoo mates, Sheena and Reba, died in 2020 and 2021. Though Indu is old for a zoo elephant, she still has time to experience some joy and freedom in a true elephant sanctuary home. Many elephants, even older than Indu, are living the good life in sanctuaries here in the US and worldwide. An elephant at Elephant Nature Park in Thailand just celebrated her 62nd birthday, and many other rescued elephants are in their 70s and 80s. So it's not too late for Indu, and she deserves to spend her remaining years in a serene, spacious and welcoming sanctuary where she can be free to explore, forage on grasses and trees, and make friends that she chooses.

The Phoenix Zoo has made the wise decision to close its elephant exhibit, as 38 zoos have done. However, it plans to wait til Indu dies. We strongly encourage the zoo to take that monumental step now. Why wait for one more day, month, or year for Indu to sway and bob all alone in the blistering heat of a Phoenix summer, with little shade or any deep pool to soak her aging joints? Sanctuaries are replete with trees that provide plenty of shade and ponds that allow elephants to completely immerse themselves to heal their tired bodies and depleted spirits.

Join us in telling Phoenix Zoo to release Indu now to a true sanctuary. Your support can bring much-needed awareness to Indu's sad plight, and help to influence the zoo to do the right thing for this aging elephant. Indu deserves her chance for a happy ever after, where she can live as the wild, free spirit she was born to be.

If the zoo refuses to retire Indu at this time, we urge them, at the very least, to immediately provide her with deep shade and misters to cool her during the broiling Phoenix summers. Indu has limited access to the shallow pool, as she alternates her tiny space with a rhinoceros.

Sign our alert if you have not already:

Send Phoenix Zoo’s Solitary Elephant Indu To Sanctuary Before It’s Too Late

WHAT: Rally to Free Indu to Sanctuary
WHERE: Phoenix Zoo Public sidewalk at Papago Park Rd. and N. Galvin Pkwy. We will then proceed to the zoo to present the alert signed by thousands of supporters to retire Indu to sanctuary.
WHEN: Saturday, April 12, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.                       

Check out the event on Facebook.