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Have you ever heard zoos call the elephants they’re holding in captivity “ambassadors” for their species? They say this as if the elephants decided to live abroad, applied to join the Foreign Service, and worked their way up to these coveted positions–as if they have a choice. In reality, elephants in captivity have no choice, and it adds insult to injury for zoos to pretend they do.
Our theme for World Elephant Week this year is “the power of the one to help the many.” Zoos sacrifice the one and pretend to help the many. In other words, they ignore all the evidence of the harms of elephant captivity and slowly but surely destroy individual elephants in both body and mind. All the while, they mislead the public into believing elephant captivity in zoos is necessary and justifiable to save the species as a whole.
What zoos say about elephants and what they do to them is wrong, plain and simple. With your support, we consistently reach millions of people a year with this message through earned media, i.e. press coverage that comes about organically through interest from journalists or from the NhRP communications team spending copious hours researching and reaching out to journalists with story angles we think will most resonate with them and their audiences.
Since 2018, the story of Happy the elephant–held for years in solitary confinement in the Bronx Zoo in New York–has been an integral part of this press coverage, with the terrible irony of her name and the milestones reached in her court case jumping out to many, regardless of whether they’re elephant experts or legal experts. Now we have developed and are working to help pass the first elephant captivity ban in the US in New York. This bill would require the Bronx Zoo to send Happy and Patty to an elephant sanctuary and prevent anyone from keeping any elephant in captivity within city limits ever again. Today, I’m asking you to please donate to help us see it through and reach our $25,000 World Elephant Week fundraising goal: [[link removed]]
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Finally, I’m pleased to share a special update, which is that the Animal Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association–a 150-year-old organization composed of over 23,000 legal professionals and law students–has just announced its support for the elephant captivity ban. The Bar Association is very particular about the bills it endorses, so this is great to see. You can expect further communications about this bill (and Happy and Patty) soon, including additional ways to help.
Thank you so much for your support, John!
Lauren Choplin
Communications Director, the NhRP
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The NhRP is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation (Tax ID #: 04-3289466). It is solely through your donations that we can continue to work for the recognition and protection of fundamental rights for nonhuman animals.
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