Toronto City Council overrules Zoo and Zoo Board, Orders elephants to Sanctuary
Taking strong leadership, Toronto’s (Canada) City Council voted 31– 4 to allow their elephants at Toronto’s Zoo to live out their lives at PAWS Sanctuary in California.
The Toronto City Council overruled the Zoo’s interests and used science and compassion in making their decision to choose a life that is healthiest for their elephants.
Like Toronto’s elephants, Seattle’s three elephants: Bamboo, Chai and Watoto spend over half the year locked in a barren barn stall barely large enough to turn around. Our elephants’ lock up lasts 16–17 hours a day with either Bamboo or Watoto in solitary confinement.
Like Toronto’s elephants, our elephants have less than one acre of outdoor space.
Like Toronto’s elephants, our elephants exhibit repetitive neurotic behaviors called stereotypies due to the trauma of captivity and crushing boredom.
Like Toronto’s elephants our elephants are very costly to house: about $400,000.00 each year.
When the Toronto Zoo looked into expanding the elephant exhibit, they discovered the costs were prohibitive. The LA Zoo, for example, spent $42.5 million in 2009 on a 3.6 acre display—inadequate the day it opened.