Animal-rights group sues to free elephants from Pittsburgh Zoo

A Washington, D.C.-based animal-rights nonprofit on Tuesday sued the operator and head of the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, demanding the release of its elephants from captivity.

Filed by the Nonhuman Rights Project in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, the lawsuit names as defendants the Zoological Society of Pittsburgh and zoo President and CEO Jeremy Goodman.

It alleges the elephants’ space is “grossly inadequate” and urged the court either to release the elephants to a sanctuary or consider them as candidates for rewilding.

The lawsuit, which the plaintiffs called the first of its kind in Pennsylvania, claims elephants have “the fundamental right to bodily liberty.”

The zoo declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The Nonhuman Rights Project portrays itself as an organization dedicated to securing legal rights for animals.

The zoo currently has five elephants. Angeline, Victoria and Zuri were all born into captivity at the zoo, while Savanna and Tasha were wild African Savannah elephants who were removed from their herds, according to the lawsuit.

“It is simply not possible to meet an elephant’s physical, social, and emotional needs with a few acres; without adequate space, no zoo can suitably manage and care for elephants,” the lawsuit said, citing eight experts on elephant cognition and behavior.

One of the experts cited, Joyce Hatheway Poole, who is identified as a biologist, ethologist and conservationist, found the elephants were exhibiting behaviors indicative of chronic stress and trauma, such as rocking, swaying, and head-bobbing, according to court documents.

“The scientific evidence submitted in support of this lawsuit makes clear that these elephants are suffering physically and psychologically because they’re deprived of their freedom,” Elizabeth Stein, litigation director of Nonhuman Rights Project, said in a press release. “The courts have the power and duty to remedy this.”

Its filing comes less than a week after the Pittsburgh Zoo announced that, in collaboration with the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, two of the zoo’s elephants would be transferred to the zoo’s Conservation Center, located in Fairhope, Somerset County, for breeding.

“The goals of the plan are to ensure appropriate companionship for elephants at both facilities and also allow for growth of the herd,” the zoo said in a news release.

The group also plans to petition the court to stop the transfer of Victoria and Zuri, who are sister, to the Conservation Center during litigation, according to the news release.

In 2020, TribLive reported the zoo had been in violation of its lease for years.

One of the terms of the lease required the zoo to be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The accreditation, however, ended in 2015 because the zoo declined to abide by the association’s safety protocols for elephant handling.

Then last year, the zoo announced it had earned its accreditation back from the association, according to a new release.

The Nonhuman Rights Project was founded in 1995. Its board included the late primatologist Jane Goodall, according to the organization’s website.

The organization previously sued for the release of an elephant in the Bronx Zoo in 2022, but the judge ruled against the group on the grounds that animals don’t have the same rights as people, according to NPR.

The Nonhuman Rights Project’s lawyers could not be reached on Tuesday.