Born Free, a wildlife conservation charity, has released a new report titled ‘Elephants in Zoos: A Legacy of Shame’ that calls for a ban on keeping elephants in captivity.
The report is backed by conservation and animal welfare experts such as Damian Aspinall, chairman of the Aspinall Foundation, Angela Sheldrick, CEO of Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham.
“We have tinkered around the edges for long enough, and more baby steps are not the answer,” said Will Travers, co-founder and executive president of Born Free.
“Elephants do not belong in zoos.”
“The report concludes that elephants do not belong in captivity and clearly recommends that the keeping of elephants in zoos should be phased out,” Born Free said in a press release.
In Europe, 580 elephants are kept in zoos, including 49 in the UK. The report uses individual case studies to outline “the history and continuing plight” of captive elephants.
It reveals the impact of captivity on their physical and psychological health. According to Born Free, 40 percent of infant elephants in zoos die before they reach the age of five.
“No zoo in the world can provide elephants with the complex social structures and vast spaces they need to thrive,” Sheldrick said.
Born Free is calling for “the capture of wild elephants for captive display to stop, and the attempted breeding of elephants in zoos to be brought to an immediate end”.
However, the charity said elephants that remain in captivity must be provided with the best possible conditions for the rest of their lives.
“It’s time all zoos did the right thing,” Aspinall said.
“The attempted captive breeding and capture of wild elephants to be imprisoned in zoos is plain wrong and here is all the evidence to prove it,” Packham said. “A tragic catalogue of inhumanity wrought upon a creature we claim to love. It must end today.”
In response to the report, Chester Zoo CEO Jamie Christon said: “The Born Free report draws on outdated data and information and refers to practices which simply do not take place in modern UK zoos. Born Free paint a picture of how some zoos were 50 or more years ago – conservation-focussed zoos like ours are now a million miles away from that.”
Chester Zoo responds to Born Free report
“The report highlights a number of things to improve welfare standards for elephants,” he added. “We’ve actually been implementing these for many years. It’s all already part of zoo best practice. If anything, the bar Born Free has set is quite low. We pursue world-class standards of animal care and have been exceeding what’s in the report for a long, long time.”
“In a world where millions of animal and plant species are suffering a terrible decline, zoos today are crucial to finding positive solutions for wildlife – whether that’s precious tiny snails, beautiful orchids or majestic Asian elephants. Conservation organisations should be working together for the benefit of wildlife, not against each other. As a fellow wildlife charity, we very much invite Born Free to come to our zoo to find out about the incredible, species-saving work we do,” Christon said.
“Elephants are living treasures, nature’s great teachers, gardeners of the forests,” said Virginia McKenna, Born Free’s co-founder and trustee.
“They no more belong in a zoo or a circus than in the sea or the sky itself,” she added.
“It is fundamentally wrong to confine these beautiful animals for our entertainment. This must end now.“
Paignton Zoo in Devon recently confirmed that it will no longer keep elephants because it can’t provide the “necessary environment” for the “highly intelligent” animals.
Belfast Zoo has also decided to phase out the animals, with Asian elephants Dhunja and Yhetto set to be “transferred together” to another zoo.
Images: Born Free
