Emily, a 61-year-old Asian elephant, has spent nearly her entire life at Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, Massachusetts, after being taken from the wild in Asia at just three years old. She spent her first 15 years completely alone, and advocates say that isolation left lasting emotional scars. When she was finally given a companion, Ruth, the pairing was reportedly difficult, and after Ruth died in 2024, Emily has been living alone again.

Elephants are highly social animals that suffer when kept in isolation. Every winter, Emily reportedly spends months inside an enclosure of roughly 800 square feet to escape the cold, a fraction of the space she would have in the wild or at an accredited sanctuary built for her needs. Buttonwood Park Zoo has faced scrutiny over her care for decades: in 1983, the USDA cited the zoo for animal-welfare violations tied to her living conditions, and the zoo has appeared on In Defense of Animals' 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list seven times between 2010 and 2016.

More than 24,700 people have already written to New Bedford Mayor Jonathan Mitchell and City Council President Ryan Pereira asking them to move Emily to a sanctuary, joining a growing number of zoos nationwide that have relocated aging or isolated elephants to spaces designed around their physical and social needs. Many Asian elephants live into their 70s, meaning Emily could still have years left to spend somewhere with room to roam, a warm climate, and a real chance at companionship, something she has rarely known.

Mayor Mitchell and Council President Pereira have the power to act now. Sign this petition to demand Buttonwood Park Zoo send Emily to a sanctuary before it is too late.