Groucho

Groucho is a male Asian elephant who was born living freely in India in 1970. He was captured from the wild in 1971 and later imported to the United States, where he has been held captive in zoos for over five decades. 

In 1973, Groucho, along with three female Asian elephants (who later would be named Patty, Maxine, and Laverne), was purchased by the Bronx Zoo in New York. In 1986, he was transferred to the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas. In 2012, Groucho was once again separated from elephants who he had formed bonds with and transferred to the Denver Zoo in Colorado, where he remains held captive to this day.

For more than fifty years, Groucho has been confined to small, barren enclosures that fail to meet his most basic needs and are known to cause immense suffering for elephants. Elephants in the wild roam great distances over varying terrain, forage, have a diverse diet, and thrive in close-knit herds. In contrast, Groucho spends his days on display in an exhibit that limits his movement and offers little mental and social stimulation. Subjected to a life of monotony and deprivation, he has been confined to the same few square feet of space while denied the opportunity to form meaningful bonds with other elephants.

Like most bull elephants held captive in zoos, Groucho has been forced to participate in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ captive breeding program. He has fathered seven offspring with only two surviving. His first calf Astor, whose mother was Patty, was born at the Bronx Zoo and died at just 17 months old from elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Groucho’s surviving offspring, Bluebonnet and Belle, have spent their entire lives held captive at the Fort Worth Zoo, where they’ve also been forced into the AZA’s captive breeding program and whose male calves will endure the same tragic life as Groucho.

Groucho’s decades-long suffering is immense. He has arthritis in his back right leg, an ailment commonly seen in captive elephants due to lack of space, inactivity, and being forced to stand on hard surfaces. One of his ears was amputated due to an infection. In addition to being subjected to grotesque semen-collection procedures, he is made to perform circus-like tricks in a daily show for guests at the Denver Zoo. 

Groucho’s story underscores the urgent need to end elephant captivity and ensure a future where these magnificent beings can remain free in their natural habitat. Despite overwhelming evidence showing the harm captivity causes elephants, the Denver Zoo continues to view them as objects to be exploited for profit, with no right to live freely. Groucho, his daughters, grandsons, and all the elephants he is held captive with at the Denver Zoo deserve better: while it is likely too late for them to return to the wild, they are entitled to live in peace and with dignity at an elephant sanctuary, where they can finally enjoy a measure of true freedom.