Victory: Ruby Leaves L.A. Zoo for PAWS

The 46-year-old African elephant Ruby made an historic journey last week from her tiny, off-exhibit enclosure at L.A. Zoo to her new home at the PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California, where she will live on more than 70 acres of rolling, grassy hills. With Dulary having arrived at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee from the Philadelphia Zoo just weeks ago, Ruby is the second elephant this month to be transferred from a zoo to a sanctuary.

"Ruby's new home will be over 500 times larger than her zoo pen," said IDA President Elliot M. Katz, DVM. "Her transfer is a clear acknowledgement that elephants require significantly more space and better conditions than current zoo enclosures provide." IDA, activists from the Los Angeles Alliance for Elephants, and private citizens—including TV game show host Bob Barker—have long pressed for the move. Barker made an important contribution to Ruby's cause by pledging $300,000 in matching funds to support her transfer to and care at the sanctuary.

Ruby became a national symbol for the plight of elephants in zoos when, in 2003, the L.A. Zoo separated her from Gita, her companion of 16 years, and sent her to a Knoxville, Tenn. zoo. She was returned a year later after failing to integrate with other elephants in Knoxville. She was kept off-exhibit since that time, and had been alone since Gita died in June, 2006. An investigation prompted by IDA revealed that zoo personnel failed to act after Gita was observed in distress. She may have suffered for 12 to 17 hours before receiving veterinary care.

More than a dozen U.S. zoos have either closed or decided to phase out their elephant displays, an acknowledgement of the difficulty of meeting the vast physical and social needs of elephants in a zoo setting. Ruby's transfer is part of a larger national trend toward re-examining the ethics of keeping earth's largest land mammal under intense confinement in cramped urban zoos.

In the wild, elephants can walk ten miles or more each day. Zoo elephants live a sedentary life in tiny artificial exhibits, standing on concrete and hard-packed dirt. Zoo conditions lead to painful foot and joint disorders, obesity, reproductive problems, and abnormal behaviors such as aggression and intensely repetitive swaying and rocking. An IDA survey of 35 zoos found that 62 percent of elephants in zoos suffer from foot disorders and 42 percent suffer joint problems.

Yet some zoos, including Los Angeles, have responded to the growing controversy over elephants' welfare in zoos by spending millions of dollars on token expansions of their elephant exhibits. Unfortunately, these expansions are not sufficient to meet the needs of these intelligent and wide-ranging animals.

IDA is proud to have played a role in freeing Ruby from her inhumane solitary confinement at Los Angeles Zoo. Thank you to everyone who called, wrote, signed petitions, and demonstrated on Ruby's behalf. We will continue working to help elephants who are confined in inadequate zoo exhibits that cause painful, crippling diseases and premature death. All elephants deserve the space and natural conditions that only the two U.S. sanctuaries provide and that Ruby now enjoys.

Learn more about the plight of elephants in zoos and how you can help them by joining our Elephant Task Force.