Rose-Tu

Rose-Tu is a 29-year-old Asian elephant who has spent her entire life confined at the Oregon Zoo. Four generations of her family have lived and died at the zoo: her maternal grandparents Rosy and Thonglaw, her parents Me-Tu and Hugo, her stillborn twin, and her daughter Lily. The Oregon Zoo has a long history of using bullhooks and importing elephants from abroad, as well as a notorious captive breeding program. The latter has involved contracts with circuses and other zoos, whereby certain elephants born at the zoo would go to the other entity. 

Rose-Tu was born at the Oregon Zoo on August 31, 1994. Her mother, Me-Tu, was also born at the zoo, while her father, Hugo, was born freely in the wild before his capture and importation into the United States. Rose-Tu’s brother, Prince, was born at the zoo in 1987 and sold to a circus in 1988. Of all of Rose-Tu’s family members, Prince is the only one to find freedom after generations of exploitation: since 2011, Prince has been living at the Performing Animals Welfare Society, an accredited elephant sanctuary. 

When Rose-Tu was five years old, she was severely beaten and sodomized by an elephant keeper. According to a police report filed about the incident, the keeper beat Rose-Tu with a bullhook for 35-40 minutes, hitting her 176 times. The keeper also lifted Rose-Tu’s tail and put the sharp, curved end of the bullhook into her anus. She wasn’t seen by a veterinarian until two days after the beating.

Rose-Tu has been forced to participate in the zoo’s captive breeding program. In 2008, she gave birth to her son Samudra, whom she tried to kill by stomping on him, necessitating Samudra’s removal from her care by zoo officials. This behavior–attempted infanticide–has only been observed in captive elephants. In 2012, Rose-Tu gave birth to her second offspring, a daughter named Lily. The circumstances surrounding Lily’s birth were very controversial when it was discovered that the Oregon Zoo had entered into a breeding contract with Have Trunk, Will Travel, a roadside facility that used elephants in entertainment. The contract stipulated that Lily was owned by HTWT, not the Oregon Zoo. After public outcry it was announced that Lily would remain at the zoo, though Lily ended up dying of EEHV the day before her sixth birthday. In November 2023, the zoo announced that Rose-Tu was pregnant again and expected to give birth in 2025. 

Rose-Tu and the other elephants she is held captive with–Chendra, Samudra, Samson, and Shine–are at the center of a longstanding campaign by advocates and animal protection organizations for the Oregon Zoo to close its elephant exhibit and send the remaining elephants to an accredited sanctuary. Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants (FOZE) is a local advocacy group leading the on-the-ground efforts to secure the elephants’ freedom. 

May Rose-Tu, her son Samudra, and her unborn calf be the last members of their family to suffer at the Oregon Zoo. They deserve and have the right to enjoy peace and freedom at a sanctuary that can meet their physical and psychological needs.