THE FUTURE OF ELEPHANTS IN ZOOS
Some look to breeding; others, to larger animal sanctuaries
FRESNO, Calif. – Mabu saunters across a grassy field and raises his long, gray trunk to wrangle food from a hole carved inside a large boulder, captivating the attention of a girl propped up on her father’s shoulders.
At this zoo in a central California farming community, the 32-year-old African elephant is key not only to drawing visitors but also to ensuring there are elephants for zoogoers to see in the years to come – a future some animal lovers want to avoid.
Over the past year, the Fresno Chaffee Zoo has been pulled into a growing global debate over the future of elephants in zoos. In recent years, some zoos have phased out elephant exhibits due to the complexity of the animals and their needs. Still, others, like Fresno’s zoo, say they are committed to keeping elephants and are turning to breeding, arguing that a sustainable population of zoo elephants will help spur a commitment to wildlife conservation among future generations of visitors.
The zoo in Fresno, while beloved by local residents, has been targeted by animal activists in a report criticizing living conditions for the elephants and in legal actions trying to free them. Broadly, some elephant experts say urban zoos simply don’t have the space that African elephants, who roam extensive distances in the wild to forage for hundreds of pounds of vegetation each day, need for a normal life.
The zoo opened a revamped and expanded multispecies African Adventure exhibit in 2015 to better accommodate elephants, lions and gazelles by giving them more space to roam. It’s also been working with other zoos around the country on breeding more of the animals, which are endangered in the wild, in the United States.
Mabu came to the zoo from one in Arizona last year after Vus’musi, another male elephant, showed little interest in breeding. Mabu has sired offspring at other zoos and there’s hope he can do so again to grow the Fresno zoo’s population.
“Lions, tigers and bears. People are coming to see charismatic megafauna – that’s the term we use,” said Jon Forrest Dohlin, chief executive officer of the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, comparing an elephant to a largerthan-life figure like pop star Justin Bieber. He said visitors who see animals in real life are more likely to support conservation efforts.
“We’re telling large stories, so it is something that is important for conservation writ large,” he said.
In recent years, some larger zoos such as the Toronto Zoo and San Francisco Zoo have phased out their elephant programs, sending their aging animals to sanctuaries in the United States that have far more space. The Los Angeles Zoo is also discussing sending its Asian elephant, Billy, to a sanctuary.
In some cases, animal rights activists have started legal efforts aimed at removing elephants from zoos.
In New York, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed legal papers to try to free the Asian elephant Happy from the Bronx Zoo but lost in court. The group then filed similar papers to try to free Fresno’s three African elephants – a mother-daughter pair and Vus’musi – but a judge ruled against the group.
Last month, the group filed a case in an appeals court and swapped in Mabu. Jake Davis, an attorney for the Nonhuman Rights Project, said the case isn’t over – especially since the zoo sent Vus’musi to a zoo in San Diego so it could bring in Mabu in a bid to boost breeding.
“He really is their golden ticket,” Davis said. “Hopefully we can get him out.”
Some elephant experts argue the more humans learn about elephants’ intelligence and social networks the more compelling the argument to release them – or at the very least to stop breeding them in zoos. They also note that poaching of elephants and habitat destruction in Africa continue despite conservation efforts by zoos and question the difference they’re making in hosting visitors who are largely seeking recreation.
“It’s wrong to be bringing more elephants into living 60 years, or whatever they live to, in a captive situation,” said Joyce Poole, co-founder of the advocacy group Elephant Voices, adding that in the wild elephants make decisions about where to find food and water and meet with relatives, something they simply can’t do in zoos. “It’s like seeing a person in prison.”
Elephants were brought to U.S. zoos for decades, but transfers of African elephants have become rare in recent years amid rising international concern over the numerous threats they face in the wild – which also prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature to change the species from vulnerable to endangered in 2021.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also drafting new rules for elephant imports aimed at protecting African elephants, which have dwindled from 26 million in the 18th century to 415,000.
At a meeting last year, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora put the trade of African elephants on hold to hash out conditions for transfers to take place.
As a result, the future of elephants – which have relatively few offspring and a 22-month gestation period – in zoos hinges largely on breeding. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which has a program aimed at sustaining the zoo population, said about 160 African elephants currently live in U.S. zoos.
Breeding plans are underway at various zoos through the association’s species survival plan to ensure elephants have a sustainable future, said David Hagan, the plan’s coordinator and chief zoological officer at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.
“From a population model standpoint, I think there is hope,” he said.
In Fresno, the 12,000-pound Mabu delights visitors as he pulls food from puzzle-like devices wedged inside the boulder to keep him intellectually stimulated. Joe Foster, a 42-year-old nurse, leans on the fence outside the exhibit, entranced by his movements, while on a date.
“My heart grew three sizes just sitting and watching him eat today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the zoo’s female elephants – Nolwazi, 28, and her daughter Amahle, 13 – greet each other by crossing trunks and tapping each other’s mouths before getting training and health checks inside a cavernous building. A zookeeper, standing behind a barrier, gives directions to Amahle, and she follows, turning to each side and allowing her ears and feet to be checked in exchange for chunks of apple and zucchini.
Some zoos have sent aging elephants to wildlife sanctuaries, including a sprawling habitat about 130 miles north of Fresno in San Andreas, California. Started by advocates disheartened by the treatment of elephants in the entertainment industry, the Performing Animal Welfare Society has 80 acres of grassy hillsides where elephants can roam – more than 20 times the roaming space of the Fresno exhibit.
2203103 2205285 2206972 2209061 2210599 2211108 2211258 2212904 2213021 2301466 2302027 2306968 2307046 2307066 2307090 2307174 2307176 2307229 2307232 2307240 2307291 2307304 2307336 2307339 2307345 2307349 2307359 2307401 2307446 2307455 2307485 2307518 2307579 2307591 2307592 2307600 2307640 2307759 2307761 2307813 2307816 2307856 2307858 2307864 2307921 2307922 2307931 2307934 2307961 2307994 2307998 2308200 2308249 2308253 2308264 2308328 2308404 2308409 2308548 2308555 2308592 2308597 2308598 2308600 2308639 2308645 2308665 2308682 2308684 2308687 2308750 2308760 2308785 2308803 2308811 2308831 2308845 2308875 2308876 2308889 2308890 2308891 2308899 2308908 2308915 2308945 2308970 2308996 2309008 2309014 2309059 2309063 2309066 2309074 2309102 2309111 2309129 2309135 2309139 2309140 2309143 2309147 2309152 2309178 2309183 2309188 2309197 2309222 2309274 2309299 2309312 2309313 2309332 2309333 2309334