Dear John,
Zuri was born at the Pittsburgh Zoo in 2008. In her 17 years of life, she’s never taken a single step in the wild.
Growing up, Zuri didn’t get to roam vast landscapes and learn natural elephant behaviors under the protection of her mother and herd. Instead, her first breath was taken inside the concrete walls of a zoo—her life engineered for human entertainment but marketed to the public as “conservation.”
Her father, Jackson, was captured from the wild decades ago. Her mother, Moja, was also born into captivity. And when Zuri was just six years old, Moja was taken away—shipped to a zoo across the country. In an instant, the bond between mother and daughter—one of the deepest and most enduring relationships in an elephant's social structure—was severed.
In the wild, female elephants remain with their mothers for their entire lives. At only six years old, Zuri was still a calf when her mother was taken from her. Now, years later, she faces another cruel separation.
This October, the Pittsburgh Zoo announced its plans to move Zuri and her sister Victoria to a breeding facility in Fairhope, PA. Once again, her life is being dictated by what benefits the zoo over what's best for her.
Each transfer, each separation, each disruption to her environment and social structure, each time she is forced to perform or participate in an invasive breeding procedure, the zoo only deepens the wounds already inflicted from a lifetime of captivity.
Zuri’s life began behind concrete walls and metal bars, but it doesn’t have to end that way. Zuri’s story could change—if enough of us demand it.
Please sign the Change petition calling for Zuri and the elephants at the Pittsburgh Zoo to be freed to a sanctuary.
