This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

Tembo is a very lonely female African elephant currently held captive at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas, where she is living a completely solitary existence, which is one of the most harmful things we can do to these incredibly social animals. Tembo must be moved to an accredited elephant sanctuary where she will know the companionship of other elephants.

Tembo was captured in the wild in 1979 and has endured the last 43 years with only intermittent social bonds. She's been forced into solitude since her companion Tanya died in 2020 and is being kept alone without a companion in violation of standards set by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that require social groups of at least three female elephants.

Following Tanya's death, the Cameron Park Zoo indicated it may explore other options for placing Tembo, but still states its self-serving rhetoric that, “It is in Tembo's best interest to stay in her home among familiar surroundings and her herd of people that love and care for her.”

So, with this blithe statement, it would seem that the zoo wants people to believe that the comforting understanding of her own species has been successfully replaced by a “herd” of humans.

Don't buy it. It's a poor consolation prize for a sad and lonely elephant.

Thus, Tembo's dreary life continues at the zoo, interrupted only by training sessions from keepers who teach her to paint, not for her own peace of mind, but as entertainment for the zoo's paying public. This is no life for an elephant, especially a female elephant, who is programmed by nature to live in a matriarchal society with lots of aunts, grandmas, and cousins to interact with.

It's time for Tembo's life to finally change for the better.

Letter to Decision Maker(s) for reference:

Subject: Retire Tembo the Elephant to an Accredited Sanctuary!

As one of In Defense of Animals' 250,000 supporters who care about the well-being of captive elephants, I urge you to find it in your heart to send your African elephant Tembo to an accredited elephant sanctuary.

Continuing to keep Tembo all alone without a companion of her own species is incredibly inhumane and in violation of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ standards on elephant welfare, which recommend keeping a minimum of three elephants together.

Tembo has lived far too long in unnatural solitude. It is within your power to show her that you genuinely care by giving her the life that has been withheld from her and the opportunity to engage in natural behaviors among others of her kind at a facility that will put her needs first. I hope that you will do right by Tembo before it is too late.

Thank you for your attention to this important and timely matter.

Sincerely,

Signed

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.