Breeding to Death

Another pregnancy. Another cycle of suffering.

The zoo announced that Rose-Tu is pregnant. In the wild, this would be cause for joy. But here in the zoo, the baby is going to spend his/her whole life in captivity, either behind the bars of this zoo or another. The last two pregnancies at the zoo resulted in infant death and miscarriage. And when Rose-Tu was a calf, she went through tremendous suffering as well, being sodomized and abused.

The news couldn’t have come at a better time for the zoo, still reeling from the drop in attendance after Covid-19, which hasn’t yet gotten to pre-pandemic levels. The Portland area taxpayers are funding over $45,000 each day to keep this failing zoo financially afloat. A new elephant baby would be good for business, never mind animal welfare.

Oregon Zoo has a terrible track record with elephants. Don’t take our word for it, here are the facts.