When we watch elephants in zoos, we aren’t watching them be elephants. We are watching them suffer.

The Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) in Seattle has decided to close it's elephant exhibit. This decision was made after years of public pressure. Instead of sending the two elephants to a sanctuary the zoo has decided to send them to the Oklahoma City Zoo which has less acreage per elephant than WPZ and a less hospitable climate. The Seattle community is not happy about this decision and the region's children are taking action.

Sign this petition and help Seattle’s children save Chai and Bamboo!

The following petition statement is a compilation of children’s quotes collected by Children Helping Elephants. Contributors range in age from 4-16 and come from all across the Seattle region. Here is what they had to say:

“What happens to elephants matters to us. Elephants are living creatures with minds of their own. They have feelings, just like you and me. They need a lot of space to move their bodies and be healthy. When they never get to explore or see new things, they get bored. Sometimes they get mad. Wouldn’t you be mad if you weren’t allowed to decide what to do with your own body? How would you feel if you were behind a fence with nothing to do and lots of strangers staring at you every day for your entire life?

When we watch elephants in zoos, we aren’t watching them be elephants. We are watching them be sad. We don’t need elephants in zoos so that we can learn about them. There are so many other ways to learn about elephants that are more interesting and that don’t make elephants sad and unhealthy. Watching the elephants on sanctuary cameras, we can see them being their elephant selves. We see them feeling relaxed, being friends, playing. It’s not the same as watching what they do in the wild, but they are so much happier than zoo elephants. The only thing we learn about elephants from zoos is that zoos aren’t right for elephants.

What the zoo is doing to Chai and Bamboo is wrong. It makes us worry that they are doing wrong things for other animals too and that makes us not want to go to the zoo anymore.

We ask all the adults who agree with us to sign this petition. It will also help if you write a letter to the zoo so they will know that you care about Chai and Bamboo too. We ask kids who care to make art for the elephants and share it with us so we can see other kids’ ideas.

“Please help us save the elephants.”

--The Kids of the Children Helping Elephants movement, Seattle, WA

Learn more about Children Helping Elephants here.