Fukuoka Zoo in Japan, stop the import of Myanmar elephants !

We recently learned that Fukuoka Zoo is planning to import four Asian elephants from Myanmar. We would like to express our strong opposition to this importation.

What message does the importation of animals from a country with an ongoing civil war convey to the Japanese children and adults who see them? It would seem to suggest that the animals are just commodities to be traded from place to place.

Elephants are highly social, extremely intelligent, wide-ranging animals, so this makes the housing and management of elephants in captivity exceptionally difficult. In fact, many zoos have given up elephant keeping because of the challenges these animals pose and the enormous expense involved in keeping them.

Moving Myanmar elephants to Fukuoka city is not in the best interests of the elephants.