It’s a done deal. Seventeen elephants from Swaziland are today en route to three U.S. zoos despite an attempt by an animal welfare group to stop the controversial move.

The elephants are bound for the Dallas Zoo, the Sedgwick County Zoo, in Wichita, Kansas, and the Henry Doorly Zoo, in Omaha, Nebraska. And the nonprofit Friends of Animals isn’t happy about it.

Here’s how the dramatic events went down: In February, the Connecticut-based group filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision in January to approve a permit for the animals to be transferred to the zoos. A hearing on whether to grant the group a preliminary injunction was scheduled for next week.

In spite of the