Why the U.S. Is Allowing Zoos to Import Wild Elephants From Africa
The head of permitting at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explains how the process works.
Under intense criticism from animal welfare groups and others—and now facing a lawsuit—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently approved a permit allowing three U.S. zoos to import 18 wild elephants from Swaziland.
The elephants—3 males and 15 females ranging from 6 to 25 years old—will go to the Dallas Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, in Wichita, Kansas, and Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. They’ll be put on exhibit and used for breeding purposes.
On February 9 the Connecticut-based animal advocacy group Friends of Animals went further, filing a lawsuit against FWS in federal court. The suit reads: “[N]ot only was FWS’s decision a devastating blow for these 18 elephants—who now face the possibility of being
