Rosie

Rosie (Deceased)

54 Years old | female | Asian | wild
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Tampa, FL)

Rosie was an Asian elephant held captive at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, FL until her death on November 5, 2024. She was born in the wild, captured, and languished at the zoo with other elephants, who all suffered from lack of sufficient space and from being unable to engage in their natural behaviors.

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Imagine a world where elephants everywhere roam freely with other elephants in vast, rich habitats that allow them to explore and make choices–to bond deeply with each other, teach each other, play with each other, communicate with each other, and so much more. In other words, they can simply be elephants.

This vision is what led us to create Free to Be Elephants–a nationwide campaign to educate the public on the injustice of elephant captivity in US zoos, tell the stories of every elephant held captive in US zoos, and end their suffering by securing the elephants’ release to sanctuaries and the closure of these exhibits.

We know we can make this world a reality, but we can’t accomplish it alone—we rely entirely on support from people like you to sustain our work.

Free to Be Elephants is an educational campaign of the Nonhuman Rights Project, the only civil rights organization in the United States dedicated solely to securing rights for nonhuman animals.