Elephants and zoos has become a very emotional situation. Elephants may be, elephants as a species may be the single most recognizable symbol of the animal kingdom in the wild or in zoos. Elephants in the wild though are anonymous, distant, most people, unless you have a chance to go to Africa or India, the majority of zoo visitors have never done that, the majority of zoo visitors have never seen elephants in the wild. Elephants, to a lot of people, may just as well be imaginary, but in the zoo, they are real. They are living, breathing, defecating, urinating, trumpeting animals, usually with names. Usually people know them on an individual basis. Usually long lived. People grew up with them. I remember helping get the money to buy such and such, Penny or whatever the elephant’s name might be.
