An Entertainment Abuses Article from All-Creatures.org

The Tormented, Tragic Life of Incarcerated Bull Elephants

From IDA In Defense of Animals
January 2024

In their natural homes they roam for miles per day, exploring new paths and water sources, foraging on 350 pounds of plants and grasses, fruits, tree bark and branches, digging up roots with their mighty tusks, vying for females with other adult males, teaching young bulls the ins and outs of elephant life, and socializing over the water hole with their fellow male companions. NONE of this is available for them in ANY zoo. 

For this year's 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants, we are turning our attention to an often overlooked population of elephants, the lonely and frustrated bulls. Bull elephants are a force of nature. They weigh in at up to 7 tons, grow to 11 feet in height, and in their wild homes, thunder through the forests or savannas of Asia and Africa at top speeds of 15 to 25 mph. They roam for miles per day, exploring new paths and water sources, foraging on 350 pounds of plants and grasses, fruits, tree bark and branches, digging up roots with their mighty tusks, vying for females with other adult males, teaching young bulls the ins and outs of elephant life, and socializing over the water hole with their fellow male companions. We now know males are not loners, they need friendships just as females do.

None of that is possible for male elephants in captivity. They are often housed alone, separated from females or other males, if there are any. Many zoos have just one male elephant. To control their behavior, they are deprived of food during musth, when their hormones are raging. They are anally raped to obtain sperm for breeding. And they are given little to no choice about who to breed with if natural breeding is attempted. Worst of all, they have nowhere to go to release all their massive pent-up energy. Over time, their spirits and minds shrink to fit their artificial and pitifully tiny space, evidenced by their brain-damaged zoochotic behavior.

Life in captivity for males is unavoidably one long process of thwarting highly motivated behaviors.
~ Dr. Rob Atkinson & Dr. Keith Lindsay

Expansive, Diverse Habitats Are Vital for the Welfare of Elephants in Captivity

Breeding elephants in zoos has no conservation benefit for wild elephants. Behind misleading zoo conservation claims is the truth: captive breeding just produces more captive elephants. Artificial insemination, which is often utilized in zoos produces many more males and the rate of stillbirths is three times as high as natural mating.

Mass production of males poses a big challenge to zoos. Bulls are harder to manage than females, especially during musth, a time during which male elephants exhibit increased levels of sexual activity and aggressiveness.

Billy, trapped in Los Angeles Zoo, is a poster pachyderm for all the bulls suffering in zoos. Backed by a huge swell of public support, celebrities including Cher and Lily Tomlin have led the charge to release Billy. At a sanctuary, he would never again have to endure invasive anal sperm extraction and endless days of head bobbing inside a one acre enclosure. Instead, Billy can luxuriate in acres of grass, trees and ponds in a quiet, serene setting. We have the same hope for Thai at the Houston Zoo, Sdudla at Zoo Tampa and all the males who are trapped in a sterile and often lonely existence.

We call on zoos to halt their failed breeding programs, to stop importing any more, and to send the ones they have to reputable sanctuaries.

The future we envision is for all zoos to shut down their elephant exhibits as 34 zoos have already done, and an end to condemning powerful, majestic bull elephants to the soul-crushing deprivations of life in a zoo. 

---

Return to Entertainment Abuses Articles