Thando

Thando is a male African elephant who was born at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo on August 16, 2024 to two wild-born elephants who were captured and imported to the United States to be used in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) captive elephant breeding program. 

Thando’s mother Nolwazi was born around 1993 in Hlane National Park in Eswatini. In 2016 Nolwazi, along with her daughter Amahle and 15 other elephants, were taken from their natural habitat and imported to the United States. Thando’s father Mabu was born in Kruger National Park in South Africa and at some point between his birth and 2003 he was transported to the Mkhaya Game Reserve in Eswatini. In 2003, Mabu and ten other elephants were imported to the United States. Thando has one half-sibling through his mother and 14 half-siblings through his father–all are held captive at AZA zoos. 

Thando is housed in an environment wholly unsuited for elephants: a tiny exhibit in a zoo that is located across from a nightclub and restaurants and next to a railway and busy streets. Thando is held captive with his mother, sister, father, and another newborn elephant who is both his half-brother (through Mabu) and nephew (through his sister Amahle). Nothing about Thando’s unnatural zoo existence bears any resemblance to what an elephant life should look like. Had Thando been born in the wild like his parents, he would be spending his time roaming freely with a large familial herd–being cared for by his mother, aunts, grandmother, and female relatives–and playing with other young elephants. 

Thando, like all elephants, deserves to live freely in an environment that respects his inherent dignity. Thando and the elephants he is held captive with at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo should be relocated to an elephant sanctuary that can provide them with the space and freedom to meet their complex physical and psychological needs.