Zuri

Zuri is a female African elephant who was born on July 25, 2008, at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Conceived through the zoo’s breeding program, she entered the world not as a wild elephant but as one engineered for her genetics and exhibitory value. From her first moments, her life has been directed by humans rather than shaped by nature.

Zuri’s mother, Moja, was born in captivity at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, while her father, Jackson, was captured from the wild and imported to the United States. Both remain confined at AZA-accredited facilities: Moja is held captive at the Winston Wildlife Safari in Oregon, while Jackson is at the International Conservation Center in Pennsylvania. Both Moja and Jackson have been forced to participate in captive breeding, and Zuri has eight living siblings who are held captive at zoos in Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri, and Kansas. 

Although Zuri remains confined with her sister Victoria, her familial and social structure has been devastated by captivity and zoo management decisions. In 2014, when Zuri was only six years old, her mother was abruptly relocated to another zoo, severing one of the most important and enduring bonds in elephant society—the bond between a mother and daughter. Zuri, still a young elephant, was forced to navigate life without maternal guidance or natural herd support.

On October 15, 2025, the zoo announced that Zuri and her sister Victoria would soon be moved to the International Conservation Center, which is where the Pittsburgh Zoo operates its elephant breeding program. Once again, Zuri faces separation from elephants with whom she has lived her entire life and formed strong bonds, including her half sister Angeline. These transfers often come at hidden costs: new surroundings, new stresses, and new disruptions, especially for elephants already traumatized by separation. While the zoo frames the plan as care, for elephants like Zuri it can mean more upheaval and loss in a lifetime already marked by confinement and human control.

Zuri’s life reflects the tyranny of zoo captivity: each inch of space, each bond lost, and each move determined by institutional goals. Her worth has been measured by genetics and display rather than by her intrinsic value as an autonomous being who is owed nothing less than her freedom. She deserves to be relocated to a sanctuary where life is defined by freedom of choice and where she can heal from the traumas of zoo captivity.