Vigil4Elephants

participate year after year and to those who will be joining us for the first time! 🥰🐘

then who will? Certainly not the zoos, circuses, tourist attractions, temples etc.

Please send your photos to us at vigil4elephants@gmail.com Instructions for the photos are in a pinned comment on our FB Page. Remember those captive elephants lost in 2025. Thank you to those that ALWAYS

We are already getting your submissions for the #Vigil4Elephants At Home Vigil Photos and we very much appreciate everyone that takes a few minutes of their day to do this. If we as a community don't take the time to remember these elephants who never asked for their lives to be spent in captivity,

from you: to be in your wild home with the space and freedom to become the majestic bull elephant you were born to be. RIP Otto, may you now run free. #RIPOtto #Vigil4Elephants #V4E

RPD, Kelly, A & Lindsay, WK (2025) The unnatural lives of elephants in captivity: the case of Dublin Zoo, Freedom for Animals.)

Dear Otto, your life was tragically cut short due to captivity. We grieve for you and for your family left behind in the zoo. And we grieve for the life that was stolen

stated that this horrific disease causes over 60% of the deaths of young Asian elephants held in zoos. While the disease is present in wild populations, the study found “there is no evidence that it causes the damage it does in captivity.” The stress of captivity is likely a factor. (Atkinson,

zoo.

EEHV causes hemorrhagic disease (ruptured blood vessels, catastrophic blood loss, organ failure and/or hemorrhagic shock) and is a main cause of death for captive Elephants under the age of 8, often painfully killing them within days. In a recent study on captive held elephants, the authors

Otto, a young bull Asian Elephant, died on June 16, 2025, at the age of 4.5 years, in the Hellabrunn Zoo, Germany. The young elephant succumbed to the deadly Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV).

Otto was captive born on November 11, 2020, and lived his entire short life confined in the

breeding does nothing but subject more elephants to the damaging trauma, grief and physical and emotional impacts of captivity. It’s a cycle of suffering that must end. Rest in peace dear Heri. #RIPHeri #Vigil4Elephants #V4E

social individual who deserved so much better. In more than 70 years, only four elephants were born alive at the Basel Zoo. None has reached old age.

Heri’s story raises awareness of the true negative impact of captivity and captive breeding. Elephants do not belong in captivity, and captive

necropsy examination after her death revealed that Heri’s deteriorating health was in fact due to a septic uterine infection caused by deceased elephant calf remaining in her uterus. This infection significantly weakened her in the weeks leading up to her death. Heri was a sensitive, intelligent,

later.

On June 11, 2025, Basel Zoo euthanized Heri at 49 years old. In the Zoo’s announcement of her death, they claimed she was euthanized after a gradual deterioration of her health due to Heri’s “advanced age”. While Heri did suffer the usual captivity related osteoarthritis impacts, a

died in utero.

Basel Zoo was aware this was a serious health crisis for Heri, listing her as being in critical condition at that time. She was forced to live with the remains of her deceased baby in her body, day after day, month after month, until infection overwhelmed her body a year and a half

to TB and risk of pregnancy at her age because of the number of years since her last pregnancy. Basel Zoo euthanized Tusker a short time later in August of 2023, due to his deteriorating health caused by his tuberculosis. Three months later, on December 4, 2023, the zoo reported Heri’s baby had

bred in zoos. Basel Zoo wanted to use Heri for captive breeding. Heri’s first baby was stillborn on October 4, 2004. Eighteen (18) years later, Basel Zoo’s bull Tusker was given access to Heri even though he had tested positive for Tuberculosis. This put Heri’s welfare at risk both from exposure

We honor the life of Heri, an African elephant wild born in 1976 in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

In 1979, Hanover Zoo brought her to Europe, and then she was moved to Basel Zoo in Switzerland in 1988. Heri’s story is a tragedy of some of the unimaginable horrors endured by elephants being

receive them. Thank you to everyone that participates for the #Vigil4Elephants year end, at home photo video. #V4E

🐘❤️It is time to start sending in those photos from everyone around the world that takes a minute to remember those captive elephants that lost their lives this past year. Instructions are in the graphics below on how and where to send them. Please read and follow the instructions to ensure we

and may we learn to respect and peacefully co-exist with all beings who share our planet. Only then will true conservation be possible. RIP dear Suzy, may you be forever wild and free. #RIPSuzy #Vigil4Elephants #V4E

forced to serve humans until the end of her life.

Dear Suzy, you deserved to be a matriarch in your natural home, leading a herd of your family members. We will remember who you were meant to be and all that was stolen from you. May the practice of using other animals for human entertainment cease,

claim to protect.

In a true sanctuary, the elephants would be free from public display and interactions. They would enjoy peace and privacy in wide open natural space with choices, autonomy and the freedom to engage in natural behaviors. Instead of the opportunity to heal in sanctuary, Suzy was

endangered Asian Elephant. However, this facility provides hands-on encounters with the elephants, appears to have an active breeding program and nearby cabins offer breakfast delivered by an elephant. These activities are not conservation. They are exploitation for profit of the elephants they

Ark Foundation around 20 years ago (exact date not available). Her cause of death was not disclosed. According to the Endangered Ark Foundation, Suzy was the oldest known elephant in North America.

The Endangered Ark Foundation claims to be a conservation center with the goal of preserving the

Suzy, a female Asian Elephant, died on June 10, 2025, at the age of 74 while held at the Endangered Ark Foundation in Oklahoma. She was born wild somewhere in Asia. Taken from her home and family, she was forced to travel and perform with several circuses until she was transferred to the Endangered

#Vigil4Elephants #V4E

could not get up anymore. Beyond that, we don't know what her health issues were or what her life was like.

Please, may no more elephants like Mei Tai live and die in obscurity. May they all experience the freedom to live wild and free, as they were born to do. Rest in peace, dear one. #RIPMeiTai

life in captivity in an Asian zoo. At age 43, Mei Tai was still in her prime and could have had a family of her own if she had been able to remain with her herd in Africa.

Zoo life takes a heavy toll on the minds and bodies of elephants. Clearly, her health had deteriorated to the point where she

remains unknown. There is no mention of who her friends were or what her temperament or personality was. All we know is she lived in a confined, constricted space for almost her entire life.

RIP Mei Tai. You were hauled from your country of origin as a toddler and shipped off to live a desolate

For 39 years, Mei Tai lived in a foreign land, far from her ancestral home in Africa. She resided with two other African elephants and two Asians. As with so many deceased elephants, there is nothing reported about her life and little of her death. It is an injustice to Mei Tai that her story

of your fate, and in your memory, we vow to work to end the cruel captivity of elephants in zoos. #RIPIndu #Vigil4Elephants #V4E