Protesters call on Phoenix Zoo to move lone elephant to a sanctuary

PHOENIX – Animal rights activists demonstrated at the Phoenix Zoo over the weekend as part of their campaign to get the venue’s lone elephant into a new home.

In Defense of Animals (IDA) members want the largest privately owned nonprofit zoo in the United States to move 59-year-old Indu to an elephant sanctuary to live out the rest of her days.

The protesters gathered Saturday near the zoo entrance with signs and leaflets before delivering a letter with over 20,000 signatures urging for Indu to be relocated.

How long has Indu been Phoenix Zoo’s only elephant?

Indu, who has been in captivity since she was just 1 year old, arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in 1998. She has been the Papago Park attraction’s only elephant since November 2021 after two longtime companions died in a span of less than two years.

Citing Indu’s solitary conditions, IDA placed the Phoenix Zoo at No. 10 on its 2024 list of the worst zoos for elephants in North America.

Zoo officials defended their treatment of Indu but said they have no plans to bring in other elephants after her death.

“We are grateful the Phoenix Zoo plans to close its elephant exhibit,” Courtney Scott, IDA elephant consultant, said in a press release Monday. “But we strongly urge the zoo to do that now and not wait for Indu to die before she has the chance to regain her mental and physical health and experience her life as a real elephant in a sanctuary designed especially for her needs.”

Related

Phoenix Zoo takes issue with being ranked among worst zoos for elephantsReba, Phoenix Zoo and former Ringling Brothers elephant, dies at age 51Sheena, Phoenix Zoo's Asian elephant, dies at age 50Divided federal appeals court says Trump administration was wrong to terminate climate programMaryland lawmakers get closer to asking voters to clear the way for redistricting helping DemocratsSouthern California Edison equipment blamed for 2025 Eaton fire in Los Angeles