Dear John,

Our elephant clients Mari and Vaigai have spent decades trapped in a barren, small exhibit at the Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii. They spent the first 20 years in a space that was less than .2 acres. In 2011, the exhibit was expanded slightly to 1.5 acres but it remains nowhere close to meeting elephants’ needs. For context, in the wild, Asian elephants roam habitats as large as 200,000 acres.

As elephant cognition and behavior expert Dr. Joyce Poole has written in support of the NhRP’s habeas corpus petition seeking Mari and Vaigai’s right to liberty, “Elephants have evolved to move.” This exhibit prevents Mari and Vaigai from exercising their autonomy, which means they’re suffering similarly to how we would be if our freedom of movement and freedom of choice were taken away. After almost a lifetime in captivity, Mari and Vaigai deserve to be freed from their imprisonment at the Honolulu Zoo and released to an elephant sanctuary where they can regain their autonomy and live with dignity.

Our legal team is working on an opening brief we’ll file soon in their elephant rights case. But the Honolulu Zoo doesn’t need a court order to do the right thing for these elephants. You can help Mari and Vaigai right now by using this action alert to send a message to the Director of the Honolulu Zoo, urging the Honolulu Zoo to release Mari and Vaigai to a sanctuary.