Call for Nominations
Top Ten Worst Zoos For Elephants In 2009
- Do the elephants in your community's zoo constantly sway from side to side?
- Do the keepers use bullhooks to force them to comply with commands?
- Is the elephant exhibit at your zoo pitifully small?
- Are any of the elephants held alone or with only one other elephant?
- Does freezing weather force the elephants indoors for the majority of the winter?
 If you answered "yes" to one or more of these questions, then you should nominate your zoo for IDA’s annual list of the Top Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants!
Now in its 6th year, this roll call of the worst offenders spotlights the devastating effects of captivity on elephants, including lethal arthritis and painful foot disease, birth complications, abnormal behaviors and premature death.
Thanks to your nominations, IDA’s past lists have received broad media coverage, focusing attention on the elephants’ suffering and informing the public about the unnatural and inhumane conditions in which zoos hold the Earth’s largest land mammals. Over the years, IDA's list has helped produce real changes for elephants, including the rescues of pachyderms like Maggie from the Alaska Zoo and Ruby from the Los Angeles Zoo - both of whom were sent to sanctuaries. And just this year Philadelphia Zoo completely shut down its antiquated elephant exhibit.
Has your zoo already been featured on our Top Ten list? Don’t let that stop you from nominating it again. Last year, IDA created a special Worst Zoos for Elephants Hall of Shame for repeat offenders that have yet to make the mammoth changes the elephants so desperately need. You can view last year’s Top Ten list and Hall of Shame here.
Elephants are highly intelligent and family-centered individuals who have evolved for long-distance living, ranging tens of miles a day in the wild. Yet zoos generally exhibit unnaturally small groupings of unrelated elephants in tiny displays of a few acres or less, where they suffer and die prematurely. At least half of zoos still use cruel, circus-style training.
We are fighting for all elephants in captivity to have the vast space and natural conditions they need to thrive. You can join us in the fight by nominating a "worthy" zoo for our Top Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list today. Help end the suffering of elephants in zoos.
Deadline for nominations is Monday, November 23. Click here now to make your nomination.
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