Elephants should be free.
In zoos across the US, elephants are being imprisoned and exploited for human gain. Help us expose the reality of elephant captivity in the US zoo system and bring it to an end.
Using the map below and the elephant index on this site, learn about the over 250 elephants who are currently held captive in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and how they are suffering.
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- International Conservation Center
- Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium
The International Conservation Center is the Pittsburgh Zoo’s offsite breeding facility. The ICC currently holds 6 African elephants in captivity. The key issues at this facility include an ongoing active captive breeding program and participation in the international elephant trade.
Featured Elephant: Jackson
Jackson is a male African elephant born wild in Zimbabwe in 1976. Like so many of his generation, he began his life in freedom—in a family herd, surrounded by relatives, roaming a vast, complex landscape that shaped every part of who he was. That life was stolen from him when, in 1978, humans captured and exported him to the United States. He was two years old. Now nearly 50 years old, separated from his original family, Jackson is confined at the International Conservation Center, where he is deprived of meaningful choice and used in a breeding program that perpetuates suffering for future generations of elephants.
Take Action Today
Free to Be Elephants is dedicated to raising awareness of the realities of elephant captivity, but our work doesn’t end there. Elephants are depending on us to correct the grave injustice of their imprisonment. Please take action today to help us secure freedom for elephants in the US.
