{"id":763176,"date":"2021-03-09T08:13:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T13:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=763176"},"modified":"2021-03-09T08:14:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T13:14:50","slug":"in-defense-of-animals-10-worst-zoos-for-elephants-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=763176","title":{"rendered":"IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS: 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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All elephants in zoos face several diseases largely unique to captivity, some lethal. Untimely death and unnecessary suffering loom close-by, even for captive elephants in the 'best' zoos.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS:<\/strong> The year 2020 was one for the history books, with lives everywhere upended or tragically cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. As normal life ceased to exist, we learned a little of what captivity feels like. Lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders gave us a bitter, yet temporary taste of the imprisonment elephants and other animals experience in zoos their entire lives. Many elephants are separated without choice from those they once knew as a standard zoo practice. Others face complete social isolation from their own kind.<\/p>\n

All elephants in zoos face several diseases largely unique to captivity, some lethal. Untimely death and unnecessary suffering loom close-by, even for captive elephants in the \u201cbest\u201d zoos. Of the elephants who perished in North America\u2019s accredited zoos in 2020, two siblings died from a virus endemic to Asian elephants. Dead at one and five years, their only view of the world was through bars…<\/p>\n

Many of the zoos on the 10 Worst Zoos list demonstrate how zoos engage in \u201ctransfer abuse,\u201d trafficking elephants from place to place, often multiple times. This unique cruelty is rife in zoos, even though it can cause significant trauma \u2014 both for elephants moved and those left behind. Elephants who suffer separation through transfer abuse are significantly more likely to perform abnormal \u201cstereotypic\u201d behaviors, a known indicator of compromised welfare. These strange repetitive movements are not seen in the wild and are a symptom of zoochosis \u2014 psychosis caused by confinement. It\u2019s a response to the physical and psychological frustration of confined animals\u2019 innate needs. Most zoo visitors do not realize that these odd behaviors can be stress-related…<\/p>\n

Despite the world\u2019s sharp focus on suffering caused by confinement and disease, In Defense of Animals\u2019 list of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America for 2020 reveals that zoos continued business as usual in profiting off elephants\u2019 lives throughout the pandemic \u2014 and concealed the price wild and captive elephants pay for zoo captivity…<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t take a significant tragedy like COVID-19 to show us just how bad captive elephants have it. The science is sound: elephants can often barely survive in zoos, let alone thrive. It\u2019s time to stop pretending we can improve this broken system and instead make one final transfer: turn over all captive elephants in zoos to accredited sanctuaries and end all attempts to import them from the wild as zoos fail elephants in captivity now as they always have. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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