This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

The Hogle Zoo in Utah has had the dishonorable distinction of being featured on our annual list of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America, but it recently announced it will be relocating its two African elephants, mother-daughter duo Christie and Zuri, to another zoo. Urge the zoo to send them to an accredited sanctuary instead!

With the help of nearly 10,000 In Defense of Animals supporters who signed our previous alert, these two elephants will no longer be confined in this small enclosure with no other elephants for company. And while the Hogle Zoo has said it is “pausing” its elephant program, it also admitted it is unlikely that it will be getting more elephants. That means the elephant exhibit is now likely closed forever.

Keeping only two female elephants together, instead of a minimum of three, violates the minimum standards set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) which recommends large social groupings for improved welfare, which is one of the reasons it was featured on the 10 Worst Zoos list.

The Hogle Zoo had been allowing the public — notably very young children and even infants — to come into close or direct contact with elephants' trunks. The spaces in the cage through which the trunks emerge are large enough to drag a child through, which puts both the public and elephants at risk.

While In Defense of Animals enthusiastically endorses the zoo's decision to pause, or better, end its elephant program, we strongly recommend that the zoo make the most compassionate choice and send Christie and Zuri to a reputable elephant sanctuary. That way, they can begin to heal from their years spent in a small, deprived zoo environment which can never satisfy the needs of far-roaming elephants.

Letter send to decision maker(s):

Subject: Send elephants Christie and Zuri to a sanctuary instead of another zoo

On behalf of In Defense of Animals, an animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters, I strongly urge you to send your elephants, Christie and Zuri, to a reputable elephant sanctuary instead of another zoo. I appreciate your decision to relocate your two elephants so they can enjoy the company of other elephants in a hopefully more suitable climate, but the best option for this mother and daughter is retirement to a spacious elephant sanctuary where they can experience their lives as the far-roaming elephants they were born to be.

No zoo can provide for the complex needs of elephants. It has been proven in an exhaustive study of elephant habitats by Dr. Rob Atkinson and Dr. Keith Lindsay, which concluded that elephants need miles to roam. A few scant acres are far from enough space to give them the kind of lives they deserve and require to be mentally and physically healthy. An elephant sanctuary can provide sufficient space to roam, grass and trees for foraging, ponds for swimming, hills to climb, and the friendship of other elephants. 

Hogle Zoo has taken an important step in deciding to move its elephants and pause its elephant program. I urge you to make that pause permanent, close the exhibit for all time, and send Christie and Zuri to a sanctuary, a real haven on Earth for elephants.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.