Minnie is an Asian elephant who was born in the wild in Thailand and imported to the United States in 1972 when she was just two months old. She was later sold to the Commerford Zoo, where she spent her life working alongside two other elephants, Karen and Beulah.

Karen and Beulah spent decades in captivity, where they were used in the Commerford Zoo’s traveling exhibits and performances. Since their deaths, Minnie has been left as the only elephant on the property.

While Minnie is now retired from performing, she is still living alone in a barn-style enclosure with concrete flooring and has not been publicly seen outside since 2019.

Elephants are highly intelligent and deeply social animals. Environments like this cannot meet their physical or psychological needs, especially in isolation.

Minnie has spent her entire life in captivity. She deserves the chance to experience a more natural environment and to live among other elephants.

Accredited sanctuaries have already offered to take her in, at no cost to Commerford & Sons. This is not a hypothetical situation. A better life is already possible.

Relocating Minnie to a sanctuary would give her access to space, appropriate care, and the opportunity to live among other elephants.

Please urge the Commerford Zoo to voluntarily retire Minnie now by signing this petition and sending a short, polite email to them at commerfordzoo@yahoo.com

The Commerford Zoo

Founded in Goshen, CT in 1977, The Commerford Zoo owns elephants, camels, sheep, goats, llamas, donkeys, pygmy horses, ringtail lemurs, macaws, a kangaroo, a zebra, and an African Grey parrot, among other nonhuman animals.

The USDA has cited the Commerford Zoo over 50 times for failing to adhere to the minimum standards required by the Animal Welfare Act. Violations that pertain to the elephants alone include: failure to have an employee or attendant present during periods of public contact with the elephants; failure to give adequate veterinary care to treat an excessive accumulation of necrotic skin on the elephants’ heads; failure to maintain the elephant transport trailer; inadequate drainage in the elephant enclosure; failure to dispose of a large accumulation of soiled hay, bedding, and feces behind the elephant barn; and failure to keep an elephant under the control of a handler while she was giving rides. On at least three occasions, Minnie has attacked and critically injured her handlers, including while children were riding on her.

For the past decade, numerous area residents have tried to raise awareness of the poor conditions at the Commerford Zoo and sought to prevent it from coming to their communities, sharing their experiences online, proposing ordinances, setting up online petitions, writing letters to the editor, and participating in on-site protests. Yelp reviews describe the elephants as “sedated,” “sick,” and “sad,” the facilities as “filthy” and a “stockyard of despair,” and the experience itself “an abomination.” In some cases, local advocates have succeeded in persuading a venue to cancel a scheduled appearance by the Commerford Zoo, but neither public outcry nor the accumulation of USDA violations has resulted in any fundamental change in the animals’ situation.