Elephant Sanctuaries
Elephant sanctuaries provide space for elephants to roam and explore; natural substrates; vegetation, including pasture; complex, flexible environments that provide opportunities to engage in normal activities; an ability to obtain privacy; and association with other elephants. Two established sanctuaries in North America rescue and care for unwanted, abused and debilitated elephants from zoos, circuses and private ownership. A third sanctuary is now under construction.
Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), California
PAWS ARK 2000 is a 2300 acre sanctuary where abused, abandoned or retired captive animals can live in large natural habitats, instead of small, fenced enclosures. It houses Asian and African elephants, tigers and bears.At PAWS elephants are able relearn and act out natural elephant behaviours - movements that are highly restricted within the small confines of a zoo enclosure.
The elephants at PAWS' ARK 2000 sanctuary are able to walk for kilometres every day, as they would normally do in the wild. The elephants can forage naturally among the forests, bathe in lakes, roam unrestricted through the sanctuary's varied natural landscapes, or rest within state-of-the-art elephant barns that are equipped with heated elephant stalls and therapeutic jacuzzis.
Lucy has lived her lifetime of confinement in the Valley Zoo's 0.5 acre elephant enclosure. Lucy deserves to retire to a sanctuary, like PAWS, which offers 2300 acres of space where she can explore, forage, go for long walks without her keepers, and socialize and develop lifelong connections with the other elephants.
The Elephant Sanctuary is a protected 2700 acre environment that is home to 17 Asian and African elephants.
The Elephant Sanctuary provides a natural habitat that is very similar to that of wild elephants. The sanctuary has 2700 acres with grasslands and pastures, a 25 acre stream-fed lake, forested areas, streams and ponds, and state-of-the-art heated elephant barns.
At The Elephant Sanctuary, elephants are encouraged to behave and socialize as they would in the wild. The elephants walk 5-24 kilometres each day.
The weather in Tennessee is similar to weather in elephants' natural habitats. This provides suitable conditions for the elephants to live comfortably.
The Elephant Sanctuary has already agreed to allow Lucy to join their group of Asian elephants. The sanctuary has offered to pay for her transport. There would be no cost to the Valley Zoo or to taxpayers.
Lucy needs to be released from her small enclosure and sent to live, forage and play as an elephant on the sanctuary's 2700 acre refuge.