Why did Toronto zoo get rid of elephants?

The zoo lost its status in 2012 after Toronto City Hall decided to move three African elephants to a Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary in California against the recommendation of the zoo staff and management who wanted the animals to go to an accredited facility.



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In October 2011, after a spate of elephant deaths and harsh criticism from a U.S.-based animal-rights group, city council voted 31 to 4 to send the Toronto Zoo's three remaining African elephants — Thika, Toka and Iringa — to the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in San Andreas, Calif.

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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 held at the Monterey Zoo have died under questionable circumstances, including one who was euthanized after being unable to stand due to a painful joint condition and another whose death was hidden from the public but whose necropsy revealed that she had ingested a large amount of sand that blocked and ...

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It wasn't natural for Winky and Wanda to endure the frigid Michigan winters at the zoo. Despite the zoo's best efforts, both elephants suffered from arthritis. They needed freedom. In 2005, after over a decade of living at the zoo, The Detroit Zoo let Winky and Wanda go.

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However, due to a lack of funding and pressures from animal rights activists, it was decided that the elephants needed to be moved to new locations after all. The zoo retracted its decision to improve the enclosures in 2006, and it was apparent that the elephant exhibit would be closed for good.

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There are currently 51 elephants in captivity across 11 UK zoos. Campaigners are calling for keeping elephants in captivity to be banned in the UK.

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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.

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Five years later, not only did Er Shun give birth to two cubs on Canadian soil, the four white and black-coloured bears also delighted millions of attendees at the Toronto Zoo. All four pandas will be moved to the Calgary Zoo for the next five years to end their 10-year loan.

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In 2006, the Bronx Zoo announced no further elephants would be acquired, a measure taken by other zoos after calls from the public and animal experts stated that elephants do not belong in captivity thus affecting their natural behaviors as social creatures.

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Police say six exotic animals were taken from the zoo on Talbot Trail in Morpeth, Ont., on three separate occasions between October and November 2021. The missing animals are a squirrel monkey, lemur, red eclectus parrot, a lime green eclectus parrot and two umbrella cockatoos.

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After 25 years at Lion Country Safari, the peaceful pachyderms are moving to other elephant-friendly places in the United States.

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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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Some information may no longer be current. Tina, the Asian elephant with the ailing feet, has died in Tennessee. The 34-year-old pachyderm was transferred last August to the Elephant Sanctuary at Hohenwald, about 100 kilometres southwest of Nashville.

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The Calgary Zoo announced in April 2012 that it would relocate its elephants based on their long-term welfare needs. The National Zoo was chosen as the new home for the elephants in August 2013.

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