The Last Elephant: A Victory for Future Elephants, but the Fight Is Far From Over

Last year saw a tragic conclusion to one of Species Unite's ongoing campaigns for animal justice when Tembo, the lone elephant at the Cameron Park Zoo, passed away before she had the opportunity to experience sanctuary.

Tembo never had the chance to enjoy the freedom, companionship, and dignity she deserved after decades in captivity. For the last five years of her life, Tembo lived alone at the Cameron Park Zoo despite the well-documented negative psychological effects of keeping elephants in isolation and the growing calls for her transfer to sanctuary, which included the voices of over 17,000 members of the Species Unite community.

Now, six months later, there is a glimmer of hope for a better future for elephants, as the Cameron Park Zoo has announced that it is ending its elephant program after nearly 50 years. While the zoo has not acknowledged the suffering elephants like Tembo endured while in their care, officials have admitted that changing animal welfare science and the growing recognition of elephants' complex social needs make it increasingly difficult to continue exhibiting elephants as zoos once did.

This change shows that the work that experts and animal advocates have been doing for years to educate the public on why elephants are uniquely incompatible with this form of captivity is finally having an effect on the animal entertainment industry and the businesses that have for so long profited from their suffering.

Although this decision came too late for Tembo, we are grateful that no future elephants will be forced to suffer alone at the Cameron Park Zoo as she did.

Even as Tembo's story has come to an end and the Cameron Park Zoo will now be one less venue for the long-term exploitation of elephants, the fight for freedom for captive elephants in the United States is far from over. Species Unite will continue to bring the stories of these elephants to the world through our advocacy and our first feature-length documentary, A Case for Freedom, which explores elephant captivity in the United States and the growing legal, scientific, and ethical movement to end it.

You can honor Tembo's memory by supporting our film or by taking action for other elephants still living in captivity through our open campaigns below.