Zoo Tampa and Zoo Miami made the list for worst zoos for elephants in North America.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An animal rights group is raising concerns about the living conditions of Ali, a 32-year-old male elephant first brought to Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in 1997.
The zoo has made In Defense Of Animal‘s “Hall of Shame.” Zoo Tampa and Zoo Miami made the list for worst zoos for elephants in North America, topped by the Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens.
Ali was born in South Africa at the 7,500-mile Kruger National Park. Ali was sent to Jacksonville when he was six years old and sired his first calf at 13-years old, though the group said peak breeding years for African elephant bulls are 40-55 years.
“At zoos, males are deprived of this crucial relationship because they are kept alone to avoid fighting, or they’re swapped around between zoos for contrived and unnatural breeding, the group said in a statement.
The zoo took away Ali’s ability to have “vital male relationships” where older males mentors young bulls and his tusks as a result of confinement where males lose one or both tusks from rubbing them on hard surfaces, the organization said.
“Ali, now 32, has spent almost his entire life in captivity, denied everything that makes a wild bull elephant the fantastic force of nature he was born to be,”, Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals Courtney Scott said. “This is the second time Jacksonville Zoo has made the list of 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants. We strongly urge the zoo to send Ali to a sanctuary now so he can recapture his wild, free spirit before he dies an early death like most zoo elephants.”
