Loading Page...

Why doesn t the Bronx Zoo have elephants?

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.



People Also Ask

The Bronx Zoo—which acquired Happy in 1977 and trained her, along with other elephants, to perform tricks, which she did in costume as recently as the 1980s—said in 2006 that it intends to close its elephant exhibit after the pachyderms there now die.

MORE DETAILS

Fortunately, the two elephants in the Bronx Zoo are still alive, but Happy and Patty have been deprived of everything that makes life worth living for members of their species. Along with my colleagues at the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), I am Happy's lawyer.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

Bronx Zoo operator apologizes for racist display of African man in 1906. Ota Benga, a Central African man, was put on display in the monkey house in 1906 before Black ministers brought the disgraceful incident to an end, the zoo operator said.

MORE DETAILS

The area around the zoo is as safe as most places in NYC. Within a couple of blocks is Fordham University, the Bronx Botanical Garden, and Arthur Ave (Our Little Italy). If you have concerns about walking, grab an Uber/Lyft to move between places in the area. Helpful?

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

The Bronx Zoo features two elephants, Happy and Patty, who live separately along an acre each.

MORE DETAILS

Say goodbye to Nashville's elephants, at least temporarily. The Nashville Zoo is relocating three elephants in order to renovate and build a new facility for its African expansion. We place the highest priority on the well-being of each animal in our care, zoo president Rick Schwartz said in a media release.

MORE DETAILS

Bronx Zoo Gets a Female Yapock, 'Rarest Animal of the Americas'; Captured by Natives in Jungle of Costa Rica -- She Likes Night Life, so Visitors May Find Her Asleep Today. New York Times subscribers* enjoy full access to TimesMachine—view over 150 years of New York Times journalism, as it originally appeared.

MORE DETAILS

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 ...

MORE DETAILS

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

MORE DETAILS

What do zoos do when a large animal dies? They perform a necropsy – which can take all day for an animal as large as an elephant. They offer grief counseling for the staff. The remains are removed from the compound and cremated.

MORE DETAILS

Ota Benga ( c. 1883 – March 20, 1916) was a Mbuti (Congo pygmy) man, known for being featured in an exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a human zoo exhibit in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo.

MORE DETAILS