Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.

Sunny Is Suffering at This Japanese Zoo

An elephant named Sunny has been living alone in the same small, barren concrete cell at the Ishikawa Zoo in Japan for the past 29 years. 

She spends her days pacing in her enclosure, touching its walls with her trunk, because she's profoundly despondent. Decades of these repetitive movements have left permanent marks on the walls.

Wild elephants engage in a variety of activities for up to 18 hours every day. They move about and socialize with other elephants, forage for fresh vegetation, play, bathe in rivers, and travel as many as 50 kilometers a day. For her physical well-being, Sunny needs grass to cushion her aching joints and room to move, not a cramped pen. For her emotional health, she needs the company of other elephants. She hasn't seen another member of her species in nearly three decades.

Two years ago, Hanako—who, at age 69, was the oldest elephant in Japan—died after having spent most of her life in solitary confinement. She lived the majority of her years in a barren enclosure at Tokyo's Inokashira Park Zoo. According to a visitor to the zoo, the elephant was "[t]otally alone in a small, barren, cement enclosure with absolutely NO comfort or stimulation provided, [and] she just stood there almost lifeless — like a figurine."

Sunny still has the chance to experience a life that she can currently only dream of. She needs to be moved to a sanctuary before it's too late.

Please urge the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquarium's executive director to release her into a sanctuary immediately.

Mr.
Etsuo
Narushima
Japanese Association of Zoos & Aquariums

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