How many captive elephants are in the US?

Around 393 elephants are currently imprisoned in North American zoos, circuses, and private properties, including those kidnapped from the wild or born in captivity. Some elephants have been held in solitary confinement, without any other elephants to keep them company, for decades.



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You can have a unique experience with an elephant at 72 AZA-accredited zoos. Visit any of these AZA-accredited zoos today to learn more about elephants, how the zoo is contributing to conservation and what you can do to help.

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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.

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Elephants in circuses and roadside zoos are denied everything that gives their life meaning. Many become neurotic, unhealthy, depressed, and aggressive as a result of the inhumane conditions in which they're kept.

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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.

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Elephants suffer in captivity. Elephants in the wild have one of the largest home ranges, often walking up to 40 miles each day. In captivity, whether it's a circus, zoo, or other commercial venue, captivity can not nearly replicate their natural environment.

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The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, founded in 1995, is the nation's largest natural-habitat refuge developed specifically for African and Asian elephants.

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After 75 years of housing elephants of all kinds — African elephants, Asian elephants — in 2010 the zoo staff moved its last female African elephant resident, Joyce, from the zoo's Pachyderm House to a California facility where she has lots of room to roam and spend time with companions, which are essential to a ...

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In April 2005 the Detroit Zoo moved elephants Winky and Wanda to the Performing Animal Welfare Society's (PAWS) ARK 2000 Sanctuary in California.

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The Philadelphia Zoo's two female African elephants have traded their cramped West Philadelphia home for new digs at a sprawling southwestern Pennsylvania sanctuary run by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

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North Carolina Zoo staff describes Artie as “the most talkative of the elephants at the zoo – he chortles often, especially for breakfast!” Artie has lived at the zoo since 2007, he weighs 13,900 pounds and is 11 feet tall, and is a favorite among his keepers and zoo visitors.

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Anything remaining will be cremated, including even the tiniest of animals. “Everything from guppies to elephants is incinerated,” says Neiffer. While burials were once commonplace at zoos, very few bury their animals anymore.

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1 The Omaha Zoo Is Considered To Be An Ethical Zoo As a not-for-profit organization and a holder of AZA accreditation (the Association of Zoos and Aquariums), Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo is widely considered to be one of the most ethical zoos in the United States and in the world.

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Due to their physical size, complex social needs, high level of intelligence, large home ranges, diverse diet and large behavioural repertoire, the full welfare needs of elephants cannot be met in captivity. A life in captivity for elephants is inherently cruel and leads to suffering throughout their long lives.

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