Take Action

OVERVIEW

MFE provides information and links to efforts working on the ground in Africa and Asia, as well as locally in Massachusetts. These resources help you take effective action by contacting government officials and providing financial support to organizations aligned with saving elephants.

The 17 Day Big E Protests 2023

Today is National Elephant Appreciation Day and we are remembering the elephants who have given their lives to the animal entertainment industry, one of whom, Beulah, died here in Massachusetts while performing in 2019 at the Big E in West Springfield.

Tell the Toledo Zoo to Close Its Cruel and Deadly Elephant Exhibit!

The Toledo Zoo in Toledo, Ohio, was featured on our 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2021 for callously separating elephants and for its reckless breeding program — and now one of its elephants is unfortunately pregnant again. Urge the zoo to close its exhibit and send its two African elephants to an accredited sanctuary!

Free the Fresno Elephants: Send Nolwazi, Amahle, and Mabu to Sanctuary

At the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, which was recently named one of the 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America, African elephants Nolwazi, Amahle, and Vusmusi are confined to a 3 acre yard that they have limited access to. The exhibit is across from a nightclub, restaurants, and surrounded by major transportation arteries and railways. When the handlers are off duty or it’s too cold outside, the elephants are further confined in a largely concrete barn.
Please sign this petition to urge the Fresno Chaffee Zoo to send Nolwazi, Amahle, and Vusmusi to an elephant sanctuary. Please share this petition widely to help secure their freedom.

World Elephant Day 2023

World Elephant Day 2023 ( August 12th, 2023 ) is an international holiday that celebrates the beauty and majestic characteristics of the elephant while placing awareness on the fragile state of the elephant’s livelihood for future generations. World Elephant Day promotes the protection and preservation of the elephant’s legacy for future generations to experience and asks society to contribute to appreciating elephants and conserving their homes.
Learn about the ways that you can play your part on World Elephant Day 2023!

SIGN: Tell NYC to Ban Cruel Elephant Captivity!

Happy the elephant was ripped from her wild home and sold to a now-defunct zoo. In the years that followed, she ended up at the Bronx Zoo in New York, where she survived the death of her partner elephant and for years has been forced to live solitarily on a 1-acre parcel of land, separated by a fence from the zoo’s other elephant in captivity, according to news reports. But that could soon change for Happy and Patty, the other elephant cruelly confined to captivity in New York City, if a newly-introduced bill that would put an end to cruel elephant captivity in the Big Apple passes.

Ban Elephants in Traveling Shows

Massachusetts: Help Wild Animals Exploited by Circuses – Animal Legal Defense Fund – Here is the new petition! An Asian elephant named Beulah was exploited for decades by the Commerford Zoo, a Connecticut-based petting zoo and traveling show that also frequented Massachusetts. Just prior to Beulah’s death in 2019, she was seen collapsing multiple times at the Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts. Beulah is survived by her former companion, Minnie, an Asian elephant who continues to be exploited by Commerford.

Wild animals don’t belong in circuses or traveling shows. They are typically subjected to neglect, abusive training, prolonged confinement, and their use in circuses puts the public at risk. It’s not entertainment — it’s cruelty. An Act Relative to the Use of Elephants, Big Cats, Primates, Giraffes, and Bears in Traveling Exhibits and Shows (S.2197/S.2189/H.32452) would prohibit the use of certain animals in circuses and traveling shows in Massachusetts.

Please help protect wild animals like Beluah and urge your Massachusetts state legislators to support this legislation.

Free Billy the Elephant! 32 Years of Misery is Enough!

In 2023, the effort to release Billy the Asian elephant from the Los Angeles Zoo where he’s spent nearly his entire life to sanctuary entered its 20th year. Now, the Los Angeles City Council holds the key to his freedom in its hands. We need your help now to pressure council members to free Billy before he suffers any more physical and mental decline.

End the Obscenity of Elephant Torture

End obscenity of elephant torture for profits. Govt has promised repeatedly to support Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill on 3 Feb in Commons. Will it? No more delays, excuses, meddling or bowing to vested interests. PLEASE SUPPORT THE BILL

We Need More Biodiversity, not Extractives.

We don’t need more oil because we have enough proven reserves to supply demand as the world transitions to a more sustainable low-carbon economy. Yet, Canadian oil company ReconAfrica has its sights set on the Okavango River Basin—including Namibia’s Kavango regions and Botswana’s Okavango Delta—an ecosystem that supports the livelihood of tens of thousands of people and serves as home to endangered wildlife, from lions and giraffes to African Wild Dogs and the world’s largest remaining population of Endangered Savanna Elephants.

Shrine Circuses: Where Animal Exploitation Takes Center Ring

For over 100 years, several Shrine circuses have made a spectacle out of exploiting sensitive and intelligent animals, including elephants, tigers, and bears who were taken from their mothers as babies to be subjected to a lifetime of suffering. Yet Shriners International hasn’t ended these cruel events, which some Shrine temples continue to host.

Stop Loomis Bros Circus from Abusing Elephants

Content Warning: The following contains references to animal abuse.

A night out at the circus is meant to be a fun family event. But for animals in the Loomis Bros Circus, it is nothing short of torturous. Elephants are forced to perform on slippery grounds, threatened with electric pods, and denied bathroom use. Tigers are sprayed in the eyes with cayenne pepper to force obedience. Claryse started her petition because she knows these animals don’t deserve to live in these conditions for our entertainment. She’s calling on the circus to stop abusing animals and become animal-free.

Support the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act

With the passage of the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act (TEAPSPA, H.R.5999/S.3220), Congress aims to amend the Animal Welfare Act to restrict the use of exotic and wild animals in traveling circuses and other traveling acts. Traveling circuses are detrimental to animal welfare because of the adverse effects of captivity and transport. Due to severe confinement, lack of free exercise, and the restriction of natural behaviors, animals used in traveling circuses suffer and are prone to health, behavioral, and psychological problems.

SIGN: JUSTICE FOR ELEPHANTS BEATEN & STARVED AT THAI TOURIST ATTRACTION

Intelligent elephants are being starved, chained, and hit with metal spikes and vicious hooks so they will give rides and perform tricks for tourists at the Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Thailand, according to news reports. Shockingly, local authorities reportedly have decided not to pursue penalties or cruelty charges — instead telling the zoo to feed the elephants more grass and loosen the animals’ chains to reduce stress and injury, according to news reports.

SIGN: Stop Trophy Hunters From Killing 500 Elephants In Zimbabwe TAKE ACTION

ELEPHANTS NEED YOUR HELP -It’s World Elephant Day—Take Action to Help Them Today! Today is World Elephant Day, and we’re calling on everyone to protect elephants today, and all days. Elephants are amazing animals—they love their families, can walk up to 30 miles a day in the wild, and they use their trunks to greet one another. Elephants all over the world need our help. Sign Now.

UPDATE (2/13/2023): We sent our petition, signed by more than 50,000 people, to the Ambassador of Zimbabwe to the United States. Unfortunately, the Zimbabwe government announced plans in August 2022 to still allow trophy hunters to kill 500 elephants this year, selling at $10,000 each, according to Bloomberg.

SIGN: Justice for Lions Trapped in Pens and Shot by Trophy Hunters

Sign our petition urging the UK’s Prime Minister and Ministers George Eustice MP and Lord Zac Goldsmith to strongly support and advocate for a ban on importing animal “trophies” and trophy hunted animal parts into the United Kingdom, and so help end gruesome suffering while saving countless lives.

SIGN: Justice for Elephants Shot to Death for Their Ivory Tusks in India

Sign our petition urging Odisha’s wildlife wardens to thoroughly investigate these horrific circumstances, identify the person(s) responsible, and forward appropriate charges on for prosecution.

Shut Down ABQ BioPark for Letting Baby Elephants Die | Focusing on Wildlife

Since 2012, every single baby elephant born at ABQ BioPark has died tragically of endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). The poor elephants left will remain tragically enclosed in the same lifeless yard, completely removed from their wild, natural habitat. Support ‘Fighting for Wildlife’ in their efforts.

Help Prohibit The Use of Elephants & Other Animals in Traveling Shows

Ask your legislators to Support S.2197, S.2189/ H.3245, known as the “circus bill”, to prohibit the use of elephants, big cats, primates, bears, and giraffes in traveling acts! This legislation ensures that Massachusetts will no longer allow subjecting captive elephants, big cats, primates, bears, & giraffes to inhumane traveling show conditions. This also demonstrates that the Commonwealth is serious about protecting public health from zoonotic diseases.

End Happy The Elephant’s 10 Years of Solitary Confinement

The Bronx Zoo has been given the shameful title of the 5th worst zoo for elephants in the country. The New York Times calls Happy the Bronx Zoo’s loneliest elephant. That’s because this highly intelligent and social being is one of the only zoo elephants in the entire United States who is being held alone. And it looks like her living conditions won’t change anytime soon unless we do something about it.

Natural Bridge Zoo: Asha Deserves a “Beautiful” Life

Beautiful, formerly known as Asha, the elephant at the Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia, has known suffering her entire life. Orphaned and sold, she has been denied a life in her natural environment with her family. It has been forever since she has known freedom or genuine love. Please take action to send Beautiful to an accredited elephant sanctuary so she can finally experience near freedom in a rich habitat with other elephants.

Protect Wild Animals Used In Traveling Shows

S.2197, S.2189/ H.3245 prohibits the use of elephants, big cats, primates, bears, and giraffes in traveling acts in Massachusetts. These acts subject highly intelligent, social animals to coercive and abusive treatment and near-constant travel where they are deprived of exercise and the ability to express their most basic, natural behaviors. These acts also present public safety dangers, putting attendees at risk of being physically attacked and of contracting zoonotic diseases.

Attention Elephant Lovers: Urgent Action Needed

Thank you for your steadfast advocacy of elephants worldwide and here in Massachusetts. We would
like to update you on the current status of the two pieces of elephant protection legislation currently
under consideration on Beacon Hill.

Help Ban Trophy Hunting

Hey, I just signed the petition “Government: Ban Trophy Hunting” and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name. Our goal is to reach 200 signatures and we need more support. Thanks!

–Glenna

What You Can Do Now:

• Never buy or sell ivory, no matter its age. All ivory is “blood Ivory.” Every piece—no matter how old or small—represents unspeakable brutality, terror, and grief.
• Never attend circuses or shows that use elephants. Elephants who perform have been force-trained as babies using fear and pain.
• Never patronize zoos where elephants do not have adequate space to roam and the company of other elephants in a temperate climate.
• Never ride an elephant. Their spines are spiky and fragile and the training to break them is brutal.
• Educate your relatives, friends, co-workers, and local businesses about elephants in peril.
• Encourage them to take a stand against circuses, traveling shows, fairs, and exotic animal shows.
• Support legislation that bans the use of exotic animals (or any animal) in traveling shows, etc.
• Support legislation to ban the use of the bull hook and chains on elephants.
• Support local bans—start one if there is not one already in place!
• Adopt/foster an elephant from refuges/sanctuaries.