Original subtitles

WOMAN: Okay. I'm going to go and talk to her.

I want to do one more interview.

How many elephants do you have here?

- So, we have 17 in total. - Wow.

WORKER: They just alternate who's in the display area.

(Spectators applauding)

MAN: If people saw even 10% of what these elephants endure,

most people in our world would say,

"My heart can't take it."

WOMAN: Her name was Skanik.

She was captured in Sri Lanka in 1975.

At two years old, she was sold to the Edmonton Valley Zoo

and has lived alone almost exclusively

for the whole time.

We are calling on the Edmonton Valley Zoo--

Elephants need room to roam!

Lucy needs a bigger home!

PROTEST LEADER: People have believed the lies!

PROTESTERS: Open up your blinded eyes!

This is how we're going to play it,

'cause we're going undercover.

LEADER: 24 years is long enough!

Let Lucy go.

LEADER: Elephants should not be alone!

PROTESTERS: It's time to find her a warmer home!

WOMAN: As long as you're breathing

and I'm still breathing,

I'll never give up fighting for you.

(People chattering)

♪

MAN: I've been coming here to study elephants

for over 20 years,

more so after leaving the Calgary Zoo.

Lucy was born in Sri Lanka.

I really had this romantic feeling that I wanted to work

in close proximity with animals.

Zoos often talk about the conservation work that they do

and the research...

...and I bought into that.

I got hired on shortly after I was volunteering there,

and there was an internal apprenticeship

that you entered to become a fully qualified zookeeper.

You know, it was exciting at first, and it was difficult.

Physical punishment was an acceptable training method.

You demand that they comply, and if they don't comply,

then you force them to comply.

I was very naive,

and I put my trust into the people

who I thought were the experts...

...but it always made me sick.

I really wanted to make change.

I just didn't really know how to do it.

♪

Just heading to the rear gate, to the elephant orphanage.

(Engines revving)

And I see we have quite the entourage waiting for us.

When I was here the last time, I was actually quite naive.

I hoped to learn what elephant conservation

might mean in the countries of origin,

but that's not what I learned.

I learned about animal exploitation

in the countries of origin.

Pinnawala is a zoological facility

in south central Sri Lanka, and they've been around

since the early, mid-'70s,

where they were taking in orphaned elephants.

What I was doing was eerily similar

to what I was doing in a zoo at the time.

And we're seeing several elephants here

that are chained up.

Anytime an elephant is fettered,

nothing good comes of it.

All these elephants are exhibiting signs of stress.

Now, we have an elephant directly in front of us

that's swaying.

Just trauma.

WOMAN: Brochures.

Yeah. We want to bring this one.

Those...

Everybody got their buttons?

Everybody got their bracelets?

(Group chattering)

Looks like everyone's good for signs.

I actually got involved with Lucy way back in 2011.

Over the years, there's been numerous other activist groups.

PETA, In Defense of Animals, Voice for Animals,

and then us: Lucy's Edmonton Advocates Project.

REPORTER: So, can you tell us what's going on here today?

We want to bring attention to Lucy's plight.

Uh, we are calling on the Edmonton Valley Zoo

to allow a sanctuary vet in to examine Lucy.

The only person that can make the real call

as to whether Lucy can be safely transported to a sanctuary

are those that safely transport

older ailing elephants routinely.

Elephants should not be alone!

It's time to find her a warmer home!

MARY-ANN: We've never said, "Put Lucy's life at risk."

Our main goal has always been

to bring in an independent team of experts to examine Lucy.

Back in 2019, when I met face to face

with the zoo director at the time,

he promised to bring in fresh eyes to examine Lucy...

Every year,

the Edmonton Valley Zoo has brought in their vets.

Vets that are part of the circus and zoo industry,

and certainly not considered independent.

And says, "Due to Lucy's poor health,

there is no choice but to leave Lucy alone."

GARY DEWAR: She does have a severe breathing issue.

It's something that has caused

previous experts that have examined her

to warn against moving her from our zoo.

The stress associated with that travel

could be life-threatening.

MARY-ANN: So, the main vet

that they brought in for many years

was Dr. James Oosterhuis.

He reports the same findings every year.

that state that Lucy is too sick to be safely moved to sanctuary.

He has claimed this about other elephants

and been wrong.

Veterinarians are beholden to animals

and the animal use industries,

and only one of those pays their bills.

- LEADER: What do we want? - PROTESTERS: Retire Lucy!

- When do we want it? - Now!

LES: One of the things I used to do here,

I do around the world,

is that I work on elephant feet.

So, is there the possibility I could see some later?

MAN: Yeah.

These animals were exposed to a lot of physical punishment

as a method of training elephants.

LES: To start from the beginning,

there's the idea and the concept of free contact as a method,

where you work without any protective barriers.

The only thing that you have as protection is a hook.

You hook behind their leg. It draws them forward.

That is the part that you can't escape from,

is the damage that a hook can do to an elephant.

Those elephants don't have a choice

whether to follow those commands or not.

And if they don't, you use that hook.

(Trumpeting)

You know what? We're not going to do it.

(Trumpeting)

The training that I started with was the exact same,

and that was the industry standard

for zoos pretty much across the world.

I smacked those elephants.

I beat those elephants.

I didn't recognize the failure for what it was,

which was within me.

I blamed the elephants for it.

If she's not good for it, we're not going to do it. No.

No. That's okay. Thank you. That's okay.

INTERVIEWER: Here you are, fighting to bring the truth

about what goes on behind the scenes,

and you can't forgive yourself

for what you did all those years. Why?

Just guilt.

I was part of a problem. I know I was part of a problem.

I was just, clearly, wilfully blind to it.

BOB JACOBS: When tourists go to zoos,

you'll hear parents tell their children,

"Oh, the elephant is dancing," or "The elephant is happy."

What the elephant is doing

is a reflection of brain damage.

There's a disruption in parts of the brain

that control movement

that has been caused by an impoverished environment.

And what's happened is the environment

has messed with these finely tuned systems

in such a way that you start to see excessive movements

come through the system that are normally suppressed:

repetitive, unnecessary movements

that serve no apparent function.

What is clear, though, that it represents brain damage

at some level.

DEBI ZIMMERMAN: Her elephant barn,

it is a squat concrete building.

Her outdoor space is also desperately small.

There's nothing there

that is of key importance to elephants.

What's meaningful to elephants is other elephants...

(Trumpeting)

...space to roam, and a very diverse environment.

They need warm climates,

and they need the ability to make their own choices.

None of that is provided for her.

The first time I recall I had a visit with her,

she had a lot of sores on her face.

One of my pictures has her laying on the ground.

The whites of her eyes are showing.

The sign of a terrified animal.

♪

MARY-ANN: I have a really rare autoimmune disease,

and I've managed until COVID came.

And ever since then, I've been on oxygen.

(Machine beeping)

As far as Lucy goes, I faced quite a bit of pressure

from my family to let this go.

There isn't anybody that willing

to sit up till 4: 00 in the morning

writing e-mails to city councillors.

It's actually good,

because it gives me something to focus on

aside from not being able to breathe.

(Cheering and applause)

We feel that they didn't want to let Lucy go

because she was the big attraction at the Valley Zoo.

What's the-- Stop. Let it go. Release.

WOMAN: Make it pretty.

MAN: Pretty.

WOMAN: Oh, good girl!

MARY-ANN: And ego, I believe, is a big part of it.

Admitting that maybe zoos aren't the best place

for these exotic animals.

WOMAN: So, her trunk is an extension of her nose.

JOYCE POOLE: We know better now.

Science has shown that they have feelings.

They think about things.

In a zoo, they're plunked down, living completely alone

so that we get pleasure to behold them.

There was an elephant in Alaska named Maggie.

Maggie was getting sicker and sicker,

and we parallel Maggie's story with Lucy's.

She, too, was a lone elephant

that was kept in a completely wrong climate.

Well, Maggie was here when I started working at the zoo.

She came in the early-'80s.

A female elephant should not be by herself.

MARY-ANN: So, they brought in a panel.

PATRICK: And most of them said she should go.

MARY-ANN: The only one that said Maggie

wouldn't survive transport was James Oosterhuis.

PATRICK: The committee voted to keep Maggie,

and I was upset.

I almost quit over it.

MARY-ANN: Interestingly, from that day forward,

James Oosterhuis was the Valley Zoo's

go-to consultant every year.

One of the issues that has come up each time

is whether or not that Lucy should be moved.

And that, to me, with her respiratory problem,

I think would be very, very problematic.

ROB LAIDLAW: When advocates want to move animals,

all the time,

zoos put forward the idea

that the animals are going to die en route.

It's too stressful.

This is sort of a go-to,

this idea that no, you can't move animals

because it's too dangerous,

we've seen it many, many times.

When the board decided that they were going to keep the elephant,

there was kind of a checklist of a number of different items

that would be done.

MARY-ANN: And James Oosterhuis suggested

that Maggie needed more exercise.

They could build a treadmill for Maggie.

JOYCE: They spent $200,000, I believe it was,

to get her a treadmill, because she could barely walk

and she's stuck in Alaska in the wintertime.

But she didn't like the treadmill.

(Laughing) Why would an elephant like a treadmill?

Nope. Didn't work out.

I questioned it to begin with,

because elephants are so sensitive

about what's under their feet,

and it cost a lot of money.

MARY-ANN: Then Maggie started to go downhill.

PATRICK: She went down with colic twice.

Extremely scary times when an elephant goes down,

'cause if they don't get up, you know,

they're going to pass away.

I went back to the board.

The people were finally able to agree that

finding another home for her was the best thing for her.

JOYCE: Finally,

they were convinced to send her to PAWS.

And my goodness! The transformation.

MAN: The ailments or diseases

or problems that an animal experiences

are often because of the conditions they're in.

You move that animal to different conditions

that are more enhanced, their health is going to improve.

I don't think anyone thought she would live for 14 years,

but she did.

PATRICK: She just always looked great there,

roaming the grassy hills

and browsing.

I do regret not being able to get it sooner.

(Trumpeting)

MARY-ANN: This was the last time I filmed Lucy.

MARY-ANN (On recording): Oh, that looks bad.

She had just finished playing the drums

and playing a recorder and doing silly tricks,

and they were cleaning up all of that.

And so, I just looked at her and I told her,

"As long as you're breathing and I'm still breathing,

I'll never give up fighting for you."

(Sombre piano music playing)

(Trumpeting)

SCOTT BLAIS: For us, sanctuary is about giving back.

It's about giving them control of their life in their space,

in their time.

And you can't do that in a zoo.

You don't have the space.

By nature, I mean, these are migratory animals.

They're always on the move.

(Elephants trumpeting)

The more space that they were given,

the more they morphed into

who they always should have been

if they would've been left in their natural habitat.

(Trumpeting)

We didn't realize the depth of damage

until we saw the profound recovery.

When you see the transformation,

there's no way to turn back.

(Trumpeting)

(Engine puttering)

♪

(Trumpeting)

(Shirlei speaking Portuguese)

SHIRLEI DE SOUZA CIORUCI: They have their own

elephant things to do.

Most of the people say to me,

"Oh, I would like to see elephants all day.

Do you hug them? Do you pat them?"

(Chuckling, speaking Portuguese)

I say, "No. This is not important."

I feel so happy when they are together,

having little parties, doing their elephant things.

It's not about me. It's not about Scott.

It's not about sanctuary.

To love, it's an important thing,

but there's no meaning without respect.

(Foliage rustling)

(Trumpeting)

SCOTT: It's the first time in their life

from the time they were captured as infants

where they could be within a space that is their space.

(Trumpeting)

(Trumpeting)

(Trumpeting)

These elephants go through horrific experiences in life,

and then they come to the sanctuary.

They seem to turn a new leaf.

That doesn't mean their trajectory to recovery

is upward.

It's a journey. There's highs and there's lows.

MAN: Hey, Marba. It's Maia.

I'll take Bambi.

MAN: So, many of them come sick, and with stuff

that we know that we're not going to fix.

But they don't give up. They keep trying.

I think that's what really shocked me at first,

because they've been through much more

than many people have been through in life.

Lady is one of the great examples that I see.

She has so many stuff going on on her feet

that we look in and see, how is she walking?

But it's, like, "I'm going to go across the creek.

I'm going to walk. I'm going to graze."

We put so much boundaries in our lives,

and we can see that

we just got to have the will to overcome them.

SCOTT: You know, nobody loses with this project.

This is a project that gives back to the elephants.

It allows them a chance

for a rediscovery of life.

But it's also one that people can be proud of.

(Trumpeting)

(Trumpeting continues)

(Birds chirping)

♪

LES: This is the road that the elephants will be walking down.

(Chains jingling)

♪

Here they come.

(Man speaking local language)

(Chain rattling)

(Trumpeting)

LES: There's nothing new about the anthropocentric viewpoint

of a lot of people,

who think that they're the centre of everything

and that their experience with this animal

is more important than

what the animal's side of the experience is.

So, they're going to do a wash time, right?

So, the tourists pay for that?

- MAN: Yeah. - LES: Okay. I see. Okay.

Very happy elephants? Okay.

There's nothing natural about elephants

having people that close to them...

...dragging them over to tourists

with a hook and a chain to have these fake interactions.

Do it, or be forced to do it.

That's it. Those are their options.

I want people to know that

every time you have a close interaction

with an animal like that,

you do a great deal of damage to them.

Whether you see it or not,

the cost on the other side is huge.

(Trumpeting)

♪

In a country that's so beautiful,

that has so much natural wonder,

you can come and enjoy Sri Lanka

without all the animal exploitation tourism

that's attached to it.

(Man shouting in local language)

There's nothing good about this anthropocentric bias

we have towards elephants.

(Man shouting)

(Chains jingling)

♪

(Birds chirping)

RON MAGILL: You know, as a small kid,

I grew up in a small apartment in New York City.

My only connection to animals

was really watching a show on television,

or I got a chance to go to the Bronx Zoo.

And there's something that happened

when I went to the zoo.

When I looked at an animal eye to eye,

there was a connection that happened there.

Something... It was almost magical.

The zoo was what planted that seed in me.

It just grew and grew and grew to this tree of passion

that I have for wildlife, for animals in general,

that I've carried now all of my life.

When I first came to zoos,

they were basically geared towards entertaining people

to come see animals.

There really was little or no attention

given to the well-being of the animal.

We are now spending millions of dollars

creating habitats for animals

that not only reflect the animal,

but the habitat and the environment

in which that animal lives.

We live in a place that has a climate

that is very similar to

what they would experience in Africa.

It's all natural terrain.

Grasses and rocks and sand and clay and stuff.

RON: Elephants walk many miles a day to get to food,

and if you give them space to walk over a decent terrain,

it doesn't have to be many different miles.

It can be somewhat of the same miles,

as long as you provide the enrichment

that is going to keep them mentally active.

JOYCE: So much bullshit that comes out of zoos

about how elephants walk

just as much in captivity as in the wild.

Even if they were to take the same number of steps,

it's not the same.

Elephants are active most of 24 hours.

They're on the move, looking for food, looking for mates,

looking for water.

It has no purpose in captivity.

RON: Because elephants are so incredibly intelligent,

they cannot be bored.

We have to mentally stimulate them.

We fill that up with different types of treats.

They take the bucket and they shake it,

and they can then retrieve it off the ground.

The same thing with the tire.

It makes them stretch up and stretch up their trunks.

There's a bunch of mud over there.

We fill that with water and that's clay,

and they use that to throw it on their backs

and they roll in the mud.

They are having fun.

They're good elephants. They're good elephants,

and I don't-- I'm always hesitant to use emotional words,

but they appear to be happy here.

They appear to thrive here.

INTERVIEWER: But in the wild, they don't need to be stimulated

'cause the wild is stimulating them.

Exactly.

INTERVIEWER: So, isn't that then

show us the failure of the zoo,

because we have to make this artificial stimulation?

RON: There is no question that zoos cannot replicate

everything that's in the wild.

I think it's a compromise that we make

to help stimulate and inspire

especially this young generation.

That connection to people to get them to care,

to want to protect them in the wild.

That's a zoo's obligation.

To be great storytellers, to get them engaged,

to get them inspired,

to make them want to take it further.

I want every kid to leave this zoo

the way I left the Bronx Zoo, and say, "I want to learn more."

But I don't want to sugar-coat this.

I don't want to say, "No, this is why

we keep elephants in zoos. It's a great thing."

It's not a great thing! It's not a great thing.

It's the better of two worlds in the sense that

we can have these animals that, for the wrong or right reasons,

were taken out of the wild in the first place.

BOB: Zoos like to claim that these animals in captivity

serve as ambassadors for their species.

I think it's only partially true.

What I think is more true is that they serve

as sacrificial lambs for their species.

(Zoo attendees chattering)

Our goal is for every person here to go home with

a trunk full of elephant's wisdom.

Thank you, thank you.

We're going to start with the beautiful Kitty.

TOURIST: Oh, my God.

PRESENTER: Kitty is 56 years old.

She has been with our family for 33 years.

TOURIST: Wow.

PRESENTER: Now, joining Kitty, up next is Rosie.

Rosie is 39 years old.

She's been with our family for 29 years.

Now, last but certainly not least,

down on the end, little Miss Becky.

Becky is the youngest member of our herd at 36 years old.

She's been with our family for 29 years.

Katie's goal with this task is to keep the colour on Rosie

and not get too much on Joanne.

We're going to take that and press onto the canvas,

and that is how you get a beautiful elephant smooch.

PRESENTER: Oh, my goodness.

How did she do, everyone?

TOURIST: Aw.

PRESENTER: Absolutely gorgeous.

(Tourists applauding)

Even got the nose hair action. I love it.

(Crowd chattering)

You can hand us your phones and cameras,

and we will be happy to take pictures for you.

If you did still want a chance to visit the gift shop,

purchase any elephant artwork,

now would be a great time to head that way

to make sure you have plenty of time

for all of your photos.

INTERVIEWER: So, how did you get into this?

INTERVIEWER:

GARY JOHNSON:

PRESENTER: We get a lot of questions about training.

How do you train an elephant?

Well, operant conditioning.

That's the fancy-pants terminology for training,

and part of that is positive reinforcement.

You can help us today

by providing the ladies with a round of applause

whenever you see something awesome.

(Applauding)

GARY JOHNSON: You know, if--

The better trained your animal,

it doesn't matter if it's elephant, dog, even kids,

the better trained they are,

the better care you can give them

and the more freedom you can give them...

PRESENTER: Elephant yoga studio.

GARY: ...People don't understand that.

MAN: It seems like the elephant really knows you, eh?

TRAINER: Oh, yes.

I've worked with her for 28 years.

MAN: Wow.

Sit.

Sit!

Move up.

(Hook clanking)

MAN: Where do they live at nighttime?

TRAINER: We have a barn for them.

MAN: Ah, okay, okay.

- PRESENTER: And Rosie... - (Elephant squeals)

Yep. As I was about to say,

she's known for being our resident chatterbox.

- (Imitating chicken clucking) - Now, stop!

(Imitating chicken clucking)

(Cheering and applause)

High up. High!

High up! And I'm going to get out of the way.

TOURISTS: Oh!

Oh, my God.

Dixie up. Dixie up.

Lay down.

(Trumpeting in distress)

On the front foot,

we've got one, two, three, four, five.

Steady. Come on. Come on.

Hold your foot steady.

One, two, three, four.

It's a little bit tricky, isn't it?

We've got five on the front, only four on the back.

Becky is the youngest member of our herd.

Becky!

MAN: Becky, steady.

- (Hook clanging) - (Trumpeting)

Steady.

You are supposed to support your friends!

Oh, my. We're going to talk about this later.

Okay. So, that's some fancy footwork there.

(Cheering and applause)

Yeah! There we go.

I would like to know if any of you

have ever had two elephants

play Happy Birthday for you on the harmonica.

TOURIST: Wow.

(Playing harmonica)

♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy Birthday dear elephant song ♪

♪ Happy Birthday to you ♪

(Applauding)

PRESENTER: That was beautiful!

- PRESENTER: Inhale-- - (Lucy plays flute)

- Wow. - (Crowd reacting)

PRESENTER: You can clap...

(Cheering and applause)

(Sombre piano music playing)

LEADER: Elephants should not be alone!

PROTESTERS: It's time to find her a warmer home!

LEADER: Elephants should not be alone!

ANIKA SLEEM: I could not believe,

the images of seeing this elephant in snow

was so bizarre.

She's housed half a year inside a barn.

I mean, elephants don't live like that.

I look at Lucy and, you know,

I feel for her.

And she's always on my mind now.

Like, what can we do?

MARY-ANN: Even when it's not snowing,

people need to keep in mind that Lucy is still indoors...

I ended up interacting with the trustee

from Free the Wild, Anika Sleem.

She was a Pakistani-Canadian.

She said, you know,

"We worked hard to rescue Kaavan from Pakistan."

She said, "It would only be fitting

that I would want to help an elephant in my own country."

ANIKA SLEEM: Kaavan, his story came across social media.

I saw pictures of him chained, his deficiencies in food.

Any human with an ounce of compassion

could see that that was wrong.

I started tweeting. I tweeted Cher.

Cher tweeted me back, and I didn't--

I was like, is this Cher? (Laughing)

Like, Cher had formulated a charity called Free the Wild,

and her exact words were,

"Trying to get the right Pakistani people

together to fix this."

And everyone tried for Kaavan and no one was successful.

We were successful.

If we can do something for Kaavan

and see the outcome of his best life,

why can't we try to help Lucy and give her her best life?

If we could free an elephant in Pakistan,

why can't we help one in Canada?

MARY-ANN: We were absolutely ecstatic

and felt hope for Lucy,

just sheerly by Cher's celebrity status.

ANIKA: Free the Wild has offered

a medical assessment by elephant experts

to assess what is going on with her health

to see if she would survive going to sanctuary.

Our offer is still on the table,

and we are going to still try to communicate with the zoo

and the city officials.

I'll check in with you maybe in a couple of weeks.

Okay. That sounds good.

Okay, Mary-Ann. Thanks so much.

WOMAN 1: Okay. Here.

MAN: Do we have everything?

WOMAN 1: I didn't know what they had even read,

so, I'm going to put one right here...

WOMAN 2: So, I think there's just a few more.

- Okay. - Yeah.

Hey, guys.

- Woo-hoo! High-five. - High five.

All right, girl.

Look at this, hey?

Almost 150,000 signatures.

MARY-ANN: Today, we are dropping off a petition

asking city council to accept the offer

from Free the Wild.

Cher's foundation, Free the Wild,

has offered to bring in

a team of international experts

to do a full examination of Lucy.

Well, hopefully, this will help.

MARY-ANN: If it should turn out that the examination shows

that Lucy would be safe to be transported,

Cher's organization has offered to cover all costs

associated with moving Lucy.

We'll have to do, yeah, a few trips up in the elevator,

and we'll just wait at the top.

We are very peaceful. We promise.

DEBI: I don't think there's a question of

would her life in a sanctuary be better than life in Edmonton.

Should she be able to make that trip,

it would be a thousand percent improvement.

She would have all those key things

that are important to elephants.

Above all, freedom.

She would never have to be told what to do,

when to do and how to do it.

- We got her done. - Woo-hoo!

150,000 signatures.

Time to hashtag Retire Lucy.

WOMAN: Retire Lucy, please.

Good job, guys. Excellent job.

JAKE DAVIS: I think there's been a societal shift going on.

People are starting to recognize

that highly intelligent species

of animals like your elephants,

they have a reason for being here

separate and apart from human interest.

REPORTER 1: In a historic court hearing

Monday in Bronx Supreme Court,

Happy became the first elephant ever

to have a hearing ordered on her behalf.

REPORTER 2: An animal rights group is suing the zoo,

claiming 48-year-old Happy is anything but,

living an isolated existence.

The Nonhuman Rights Project

argues elephants are not meant to live alone.

They say Happy should be in a private sanctuary.

LAWYER: Good afternoon, Your Honors,

and may it please the court.

Madam Chief Judge, I represent the petitioner,

the Nonhuman Rights Project,

and Happy, a solitary female elephant.

How can the court apply habeas

when we're not talking about a human?

Using species membership is arbitrary.

JAKE: Habeas corpus is a mechanism

for challenging arbitrary imprisonments.

We believe that habeas corpus

should be extended to elephants.

ATTORNEY: There's no question, at least based on

the five unrebutted scientific expert reports,

that this is no place for an elephant,

and these two sanctuaries would be

as close to freeing her as possible.

Maybe a hundred years ago, we didn't know what, you know--

That elephants could think and talk,

but now, we do, and you have a duty under the common law

to update it.

The court has the authority

and the power to grant Happy

the freedom that she really deserves.

JUDGE: Thank you, counsel.

ATTORNEY: Thank you very much.

REPORTER 3: A New York court has ruled

that an elephant at the Bronx Zoo

must remain there, as she's not legally considered a person.

JAKE: We didn't win Happy's case,

but we view the case overall as a win already.

Two of the seven judges issued lengthy dissents.

After getting those dissents,

we know that we have the law on our side.

We know our arguments are sufficient.

We know that there is a shift in society,

and we now know that it's undeniable.

As long as we're able to continue to bring these cases,

at some point in the not-too-distant future,

we're going to win,

and an elephant's going to be taken out of a zoo

and it's going to be sent to a sanctuary,

and it's going to live a life

that's as close to what nature intended as possible.

SCOTT: Pocha and Guillermina,

seeing them in that space,

have nothing but rock and concrete.

Four hundred square metres.

There's no grass. There's no dirt.

There's no leaves. There's no anything.

Pocha arrived in that facility when she was young.

She came from a zoo in Germany,

and I believe she lived more than 55 years there.

Guillermina was born into that concrete pit.

When I say these are two of the most isolated,

confined elephants I'd ever seen,

it's not an overstatement.

♪

Getting Pocha and Guillermina out of the zoo

was actually a huge joint effort,

starting with the voice within that community that said,

"This is not right.

We cannot justify this."

The zoo and the government,

they created the model to transform the zoo

into an eco-park, to try to relocate

as many animals as possible to sanctuaries internationally.

It's people making a choice to make a positive difference

and no longer justifying what we all know is not justifiable.

(Vocalizing)

The training for the medical tests that were required,

it was all very extensive and very slow.

By far, the biggest challenge

was the separation of mother and daughter.

Two crates, two elephants.

For the first time in their life, they're going

to have to be separated for the journey.

(Vocalizing)

♪

The fear that these two had...

But eventually, we ended up having to reorganize

and put the crates one in front of the next

so they could both still be in contact with each other.

There was never going to be a perfect scenario to do this.

But the perfect scenario

is giving them a chance at sanctuary.

My past was dark and ugly.

I started working at a safari park.

African Lion Safari.

Doing elephant rides,

helping out in shows more.

WOMAN: Here we go! Clap a little bit...

SCOTT: So, we had a lot of people come and say,

"You're learning from some of the best of the best."

(People applauding)

At that point in my life, I had no comparison.

WOMAN: We're going to slip this harness over George's head,

and he's going to pull this enormous log

around the arena for us.

SCOTT: They had been living a life

of smoke and mirrors for decades.

If people saw even 10 percent of what these elephants endure,

most people in our world would say,

"My heart can't take it."

I was 15 years old

when I beat my first elephant,

and when I got done listening to my mentor telling me

how I needed to do what I needed to do,

he said, "You cannot let anybody else see this."

It's vicious.

I've seen electric prods used

in the anus and vulva and ears,

gang beatings where people, you know,

grab multiple instruments

and beat them on the bony parts of their body.

I've seen skin slough off body parts

because they've been beaten so severely,

and these people that are doing this

feel like they are on the top of the world.

It's a huge ego boost.

I can control an elephant.

MAN: Up in the air.

(People applauding)

WOMAN: There you have them, folks,

our safari elephants.

To thank you for coming today,

they would like to give you a final safari salute.

(People applauding)

SCOTT: People are intrigued by elephants.

People want to get close.

They want to be able to ride. They want to be entertained.

As a visitor, you have the ability

to open up your eyes and see the truth.

But many times, it's easier to keep our eyes closed,

so you end up seeing just that big elephant.

You don't see that being within.

♪

♪

INTERVIEWER: When people go to the African Lion Safari,

the optics look like all these animals are free.

SCOTT: It's a beautiful facade.

Let's walk the elephant through the trees.

Let's bring him to the lake.

The elephants didn't like going in the lake most of the time,

but they would use a BB gun, hit them with little pellets

so they would back up into the water.

This is swimming on demand. This is still dominance.

And then when the cold weather hit,

it was hours and hours and hours inside the barn.

It is chained up at night,

physical dominance, abuse.

A beautiful picture to a harsh reality.

At African Lion Safari, you know,

being the largest breeding centre in North America,

there's a lot of pride that goes over that.

INTERVIEWER: How many elephants do you have here?

WORKER: So, we have 17 in total.

And they have had such successful breeding programs.

The gold standard of elephant management

is producing baby elephants.

SCOTT: If you want to bring money to the zoo,

have a baby elephant.

♪

DEBI: The zoo will say that they're contributing

to conservation of elephants,

but the breeding programs are more for them than for the wild.

They needed to keep that supply, internal supply going,

so they have breeding programs

to replenish their populations.

The populace was not accepting them

for having animals for entertainment purposes,

so they came up with a rebranding strategy...

WORKER: Once the elephants are done enjoying their snack...

DEBI: ...as agents for conservation.

WORKER: And a couple of our elephants

have gone to Denver Zoo.

Chuck and Jake, they went to a bachelor herd there.

INTERVIEWER: So, you would send them to other zoos

to mate with other elephants as well?

WORKER: Yeah. So, we do have a breeding...

SCOTT: Most captive breeding programs

are separating these families.

These are animals that are so maternal.

Their family bonds are incredibly strong.

It's wrong on every level.

♪

DEBI: Animals can breed just fine in the wild.

They don't need breeding programs domestically

to help them out in any way that way.

(Vocalizing)

WOMAN 1: Yes! Yes! Yes!

WOMAN 2: Oh, my God! It's coming.

(Elephants vocalizing, squealing)

(Trumpeting)

(Vocalizing continuing)

(Trumpeting)

JOYCE: In the wild, an elephant birth

is just such a celebration.

(Elephants vocalizing, trumpeting)

Trumpeting and rumbling.

(Roaring)

DEBI: And they help the new mom.

They help her with nurturing and protecting the baby.

(Elephants vocalizing)

(Vocalizing continuing)

JOYCE: But in captivity, it's the complete opposite.

(Elephants vocalizing)

Most zoos have got females

who have been taken from the wild at a very young age,

females who just don't know what to do

when they suddenly produce a baby elephant,

and so there is a lot of infanticide.

MAN: Get ready over there.

WOMAN: Good, Shawnee. Good girl.

MAN: Good girl.

LES: That's why zoos then chain their elephants to the floor

and take their babies from them

without allowing them to bond.

MAN: Good girl. Steady, steady,

steady, steady, steady, Shawnee. Shawnee.

SCOTT: You know, this baby is too valuable.

We have to make sure she's okay.

WOMAN: Shawnee, no.

SCOTT: She just wanted to hold the baby.

She's getting the shit beat out of her.

MAN: Get on back.

(Elephant screaming)

WOMAN: Get it back. Get it back. Get it back. Come on.

(Elephant screaming, rumbling)

(Elephants vocalizing)

(Vocalizing continuing)

MAN: It's crawling on the baby's head.

LES: They have no choice even who their breeding partners are.

They put a bull onto a truck,

ship this bull to this zoo.

Hopefully, this bull will breed with these cows,

and many cows don't reproduce.

Zoos continue to import elephants,

because their captive populations

are not self-sustaining.

A lot of these zoos are trying to still source to this very day

elephants from their countries of origin.

When you have to replenish your stock,

your captive stock, with animals,

that's not conservation, is it?

(Elephants vocalizing)

You're mining precious resources from the countries of origin,

is what it is.

(Elephants vocalizing)

♪

Heavy-duty airlift involving wild elephants,

more than a dozen of them.

American zoo officials pulling off a secret rescue.

And now, the debate over their transfer intensifying.

(People shouting indistinctly)

WOMAN: Police escorting them safely

to zoos in Dallas, Wichita, and Omaha.

But it almost didn't happen.

Animal rights groups saying they had a safe location and money

ready to care for the elephants in the wild.

Instead, the zoos secretly shipped them to the US,

robbing them of their freedom.

MAN: Three US zoos applied

to import 18 elephants from Swaziland.

(Elephants vocalizing)

BOB: I think what surprised us the most

was the sheer number.

I mean, 18 elephants.

(Elephants vocalizing)

And when they got the permit,

Michael wouldn't let it go,

and he said, "I'm going to file a lawsuit."

We needed to show that the law was inadequate,

that what was going to happen to these elephants

needed to be addressed and made illegal.

(Elephants vocalizing)

♪

CHARLES: You know, the zoos know.

You know, they think, "Where can we go to get elephants?"

And they go, "Swaziland. Ted Reilly."

MAN: There, there. You beautiful bull.

MICHAEL: Ted Reilly is the head

of Swaziland's parks and conservation programs.

In the last 15 to 20 years,

he's become known as an animal wildlife broker.

Sells to zoos,

entertainment industries, cosmetic industries.

TED: All of these animals have been poached.

You know, whether Reilly approached them

because he knew of their need

or whether they approached him

because they knew he would be the guy

that could find it for them, it's not clear.

But they came together.

(Chuckling) And by 2015,

they were developing plans

and entering into contractual arrangements

to sell these animals off.

(Elephants vocalizing)

MAN: There was no overpopulation problem

with Swaziland viewed as a whole.

(Elephants vocalizing)

In order for this to take place,

Reilly had to create an overpopulation crisis,

and he did that by restricting the area

that the elephants had to roam.

(Elephants vocalizing)

CHARLES: He said, "They're overrunning the land,

and if no one takes these elephants,

I'm going to shoot them."

So, in other words, it had the imprimatur of a rescue.

(Elephants vocalizing)

JONATHAN: In certain cases in South Africa,

we've been involved in moving elephants

that would otherwise have been culled

from one area to another just to save their lives.

We were willing to just give them the money

that they would otherwise have lost.

That was the first thing.

The second thing is, we were willing

to premium that by 10 percent.

We would have done anything within reason

to show them that we were willing to do this.

It was never necessary,

because they weren't interested in it.

There was another deal going on,

and the deal was that the zoos wanted the elephants.

We're not buying the elephants.

What we are doing is transferring money to Swaziland,

to a trust that's placed in trust

to support rhino conservation.

(Elephant vocalizing)

So, we file our lawsuit just days after the permit's issued.

We have a call with the judge,

and the lawyer for the zoos makes it clear:

"Well, we do need to go get them,

but we can agree to a schedule to have this hearing,

this injunction motion heard."

And we walked away from that phone call with the judge

with the schedule, with the zoos in agreement.

I felt like we had a really strong case.

Frankly, I think the zoos think we had a really strong case,

which is why they stole them.

CHARLES: One week before the planned court date,

a plane lands in Swaziland.

MICHAEL: There was a plane that arrived

and was coming to take the elephants away.

Of course, I'm astonished.

We're in the middle of this court case

and this agreed-upon schedule.

We were blindsided by this.

(Elephants vocalizing)

JONATHAN: They were captured, taken out of there,

and put in enclosures and prepared

for what we believe was a commercial sale.

(Elephants vocalizing)

(Tranquilizer gun firing)

(Elephants vocalizing)

(Tranquilizer gun firing)

MICHAEL: My next move was to call the court.

So, the judge, who's now getting a little annoyed,

is like, "I want everyone on the phone in 20 minutes."

CHARLES: It came down to this high-pressure, dramatic,

like, courtroom battle via telephone.

And Mike Harris made his case about how this is all a ruse

and these elephants are not imperilled

like they say they are,

and the lawyer for the zoos, at the last minute,

sort of seeing, maybe, these elephants slip away,

she pulled out her trump card:

"I have a veterinarian who says

that these elephants have already been sedated.

It would be dangerous to their health to re-sedate them

if we win and fly them out again."

I've asked a bunch of veterinarians about that

and they said that's crap.

MICHAEL: And the judge says to me,

"Well, is that true?

And do you have your own expert?"

And no, we didn't.

I mean, they blindsided us.

"Then I'm denying the TRO."

(Banging)

And within a matter of 12 hours,

those elephants were on that plane

heading to the United States.

REPORTER: The journey for Omaha's herd officially ended

when a 747 carrying them from southern Africa landed...

I asked this zoo director. I said, "That's a ruse."

I mean, I'd been there.

I saw that those elephants that were ruining the land

were kept on, like, 20 percent

of this, you know, multi-multi-acreage preserve.

The zoo director I talked to, Sedgwick County Zoo, said,

"Oh, yeah. No. That story was totally made up."

And I'm, like, sitting there as a journalist going,

"So you're telling me point blank

that the whole thing that got those elephants

on that airplane over here was, in fact,

a made-up, you know, rescue drama."

He said, "It wasn't a last-minute rescue."

We've been working on that for years."

I am confident in saying

that if we did not move these animals here,

they would not be alive.

No matter what these animal rights activists say...

...these animals would've been dead.

This was sneaky behaviour,

unprincipled behaviour.

It demonstrated lack of candor.

It was the most deflating moment of my career,

or my life, for that matter.

It's underhanded.

It's backhanded.

It's really nasty.

And it ruined the lives forever of 18 elephants.

INTERVIEWER: Wow... (Speaking indistinctly)

MAN: You know, as much as we'd love to have them stay

in their wild environment,

this needed to happen,

so the Swazis were brought over here.

CHARLES: You know, people will buy a lot of stories.

One day, sitting at the Sedgwick County Zoo,

where they have that exhibit

of one of the actual travel crates,

and inside they make this fancy tableau

of, "Yes, this last-minute rescue..."

Father and daughter came through,

and he's going to his daughter,

"Could you believe those animal rights people protested this?

This was a rescue.

These zoos saved these animals' lives."

MICHAEL: That's not conservation of wild animals.

That's just their own investment in their own business.

JONATHAN: It was a commercial imperative

underpinning what they were doing.

You want to look after elephants in the wild,

go and look after them in Africa.

There are plenty of ways of doing that.

(Speaking indistinctly)

WOMAN: Hey! Back it up. Back it up.

(People speaking indistinctly)

Hi! Oh!

JONATHAN: People coming in and paying for the privilege

of seeing these creatures incarcerated,

it's a terrible thing.

People need to boycott it.

That's what they need to do once the truth gets out.

♪

♪

MAN: Buenos Aires and Argentina in general,

we are people that are extremely sensitive to animal welfare.

So it was just natural for us to gravitate

towards what the animal right activists were saying.

We know that we cannot keep animals

for the sake of showing them to people.

We need to step up and evolve

into a modern-day institution

where we translocate all our animals to sanctuaries

and we keep on rescuing native endangered species,

not showing them to people,

just rescuing them, releasing them.

♪

So, well, these are Kuky and Pupy,

African savanna elephants.

They arrived 30 years ago in this place.

Basically, they lived their entire lives here.

Oh, yeah!

TOMAS: Ever since the government said,

"We're going to stop having a zoo;

we're going to start having an eco-park,"

our top priority was to translocate

all our wild, exotic animals to sanctuaries

and better conditions.

We've been working with Global Sanctuary For Elephants.

We cannot wait, honestly,

for them to go to the sanctuary in Brazil

and to have a new life,

which should happen any moment from now.

(Rumbling)

But our main objective is for this to be an interactive place.

♪

♪

TOMAS: We need to educate people with robotics,

with animations, with film,

with so many of the attractions that we have

where people learn a lot about our wildlife

but without actually seeing physical live animals.

You know, for generations,

kids have been obsessed with dinosaurs.

Not once a kid had seen a dinosaur.

The idea that we need to see animals to protect them -

no, we don't.

They're going to throw mud at us.

(Tomas laughing)

You see? Yeah.

They just want the attention.

Whatever is happening, they want to be part of it, so...

(Speaking Spanish)

Um...

(Truck beeping)

♪

SCOTT: When we put them on the trailer,

we put them so they're face to face

so they could still see each other,

and there was doors that could open

that they could still touch each other.

So they still had that contact.

There's always concern,

so you prepare for the worst case scenario.

But if you look at the history of elephant transports,

every one has been with remarkable success.

♪

♪

I remember being on the trip,

and the sun was coming up.

And you could see both elephants

looking out the side of the crate.

Is this the first time

they saw the sun rise over the horizon?

It's beautiful.

♪

They put their trunks out of the doors

so they could touch each other.

"I'm here for you. Yes, I'm here for you."

♪

(People speaking indistinctly)

We get a lot of accolades for the work that we do,

but we are not alone,

and when you come back home

and there's this group of people waiting

in the little village just to say hi,

you just feel a sense of gratitude.

And it's just something remarkable to be a part of.

(People speaking indistinctly)

(Laughing)

(People speaking indistinctly)

LES: The fate of Lucy is very complicated.

I always want an elephant to be

someplace where she's around her own kind.

She has more room and more opportunities

to live a dignified end of her life.

What we need to really focus on

is to make sure that if she can't move,

that no other elephants are ever exposed

to this trauma anymore.

(People speaking indistinctly)

Each year, the Edmonton Valley Zoo

brings in an external expert.

This year, thanks to the generous support

of Free the Wild and their supporters,

we've been able to bring in experts from all over the world.

♪

MARY-ANN: I believe the zoo

allowed the independent experts in

because of pressure from the public.

Lucy has become well known.

ANIKA: So, we had meetings with the zoo director, Gary Dewar.

We wanted to show them that we actually were not here

to fight with the zoo.

We want to work with the zoo.

(Chattering)

From the people that we suggested,

they handpicked who they wanted to assess Lucy.

We have three veterinary elephant specialists.

We have Frank Goeritz from Germany,

Dr. Patricia London, who is based out of Nepal,

and then alongside them,

we have a husbandry expert called Ingo Schmidinger.

And together, they form, essentially,

the panel of experts.

ANIKA: At the end of the day,

two out of three reports said that Lucy should go.

(Vocalizing)

MARY-ANN: I was thrilled. I was absolutely thrilled.

After waiting all these years to hear from somebody

not affiliated with the Edmonton Valley Zoo

confirm what we always felt was true,

we were utterly thrilled.

The first report I read was Dr. London's.

She stated was that Lucy absolutely needs

to go to sanctuary

and that she can make it safely with proper preparation.

(Elephants vocalizing)

She won't have bull hooks in her face,

and she will be able to do whatever she wants.

(Elephants vocalizing)

And it would be like heaven,

absolute heaven for this elephant.

(Elephants vocalizing)

♪

SCOTT: Pocha standing there with the crate door open

for several hours, playing in the dirt...

...natural earth,

something that she hadn't felt in decades.

And she hasn't even really embraced sanctuary yet.

Even the simple things are profound.

♪

♪

♪

♪

The most remarkable and beautiful elements

of all of this was watching Pocha

watch her daughter find that freedom.

(Elephants vocalizing)

♪

♪

♪

(Birds, insects chirping)

LES: What I was doing within the zoo world

wasn't actually having any positive outcome for elephants.

It's hard to have to look in the mirror and go,

"I just wasted a couple of decades of my life doing this."

I stopped just believing what people in the zoo community

were trying to sell me.

I got the advice that if you want to learn about elephants,

get out into the bush.

Here, it's just a matter of being respectful

and moving very slow.

They need less human contact.

They need less human influence.

(Men speaking indistinctly)

Elephant. Oh, we got an elephant on the road here.

Look at him going down that steep bank.

Right here to the left, just crossed the river.

Beautiful.

(Whispering) Stop, stop, stop. Thank you.

(Quietly) Look how amazing this animal is.

Looks like this is a young bull...

My guess is, it's maybe early 20s.

It really is so precious to be in such close proximity

with elephants when you do it respectfully.

No matter how many times I bump into elephants in the wild,

it's always a thrill.

Look at his body condition.

He's in amazing shape right now.

The true place for any living animal, not just elephants,

is in their natural environment that they choose,

and we have to accept that we don't know it all.

And we should stop trying to pretend like we do.

Generally, where there's one elephant,

there's more.

Yeah. Look at this.

(Elephants vocalizing)

Beautiful little family here.

The perfect ecosystem for this species.

(Elephants vocalizing)

Part thick woods, part grassland here.

They all have their pick of what they want to eat right now.

(Elephants vocalizing)

Listen how peaceful it is here,

just how tranquil this environment is.

(Elephants vocalizing)

When you get the gift of being with elephants

in their natural places,

you hear them breathing.

(Elephant vocalizing)

You hear them sometimes squeak or grumble.

(Elephants vocalizing)

You can hear these subtle ear flaps,

and it's incredibly peaceful.

(Elephants vocalizing)

That was never a state that I was in

working with captive elephants.

There's no stereotypies.

There's no elephants swaying or bobbing their heads.

(Elephants vocalizing)

It's not just a matter of seeing it.

You can feel the attachment to nature here

and just watching the elephants do what they know how to do.

JOYCE: Elephants play such an important role

in the ecosystems in which they live.

They are what's called a keystone species.

So, when you remove elephants,

many other things can collapse.

They open up habitat for other species.

(Elephants vocalizing)

They distribute seeds, you know,

by feeding on fruiting trees

and then walking through the forest.

They deposit seeds in its own little potting soil.

(Elephants vocalizing)

I mean, we couldn't begin to plant the number of trees

that an elephant can plant.

(Elephants vocalizing)

They're responsible for keeping forests alive.

They're nature's gardeners.

(Elephants vocalizing)

LES: If we want to help the best way to help these animals,

leave them alone,

protect their natural areas,

give them some space,

and they'll take it the rest of the way.

And we'll benefit from it.

What we need to do is learn

how to live harmoniously in their shadow,

not the other way around.

(Elephants vocalizing)

We have the perfect multigenerational family

of elephants with this amazing soundtrack.

My heart's racing.

(Elephants vocalizing)

This is amazing, you guys.

Ah, I'm losing it.

Makes me cry.

♪

It never goes away, the magic of seeing them in their home.

Lucy or any captive elephant deserve to grow up here

amongst their family members.

They can't live without this environment,

and the environment, to a big extent,

can't survive without them.

This should have been Lucy's rightful home.

(Elephants vocalizing)

♪

We were very optimistic,

probably more than we should have been,

as we've come to learn since then.

REPORTER: Another animal rights group

is walking back part of their calls

to have Lucy the elephant moved to a sanctuary.

(People speaking indistinctly)

The headline on the statement

was that Free The Wild agrees

with the Edmonton Valley Zoo

that Lucy is not well enough to be transported to sanctuary.

Free the Wild would be following up

with the Edmonton Valley Zoo over the coming months

to re-evaluate her and work on optimizing her health.

Only the report from Dr. Goeritz said that Lucy shouldn't go,

so I didn't understand why Free the Wild was in agreement

with the Edmonton Valley Zoo that Lucy should remain.

ANIKA: In the amount of time that we were given,

which was 48 hours to do an assessment,

to put our name to this, to say that Lucy won't die,

we did not want to do that.

Putting Lucy under sedation would put her at risk.

She could die. She could stop breathing.

MARY-ANN: I lashed out at Anika.

Her response to me was,

they felt it was important to build a relationship,

and she said that they wanted

a consensus from all of the consultants.

I don't want to put the zoo in a light

where they're being targeted,

and I'm not putting a timescale on this.

In other words, they were going to continue

to try to work with the zoo

to get the zoo director to change his mind,

and I said to her,

"I wouldn't waste your time on the zoo director.

He will never change his mind."

People have to understand that it took 30-something years

to get an assessment like this.

MARY-ANN: Lucy's been playing a long game for 46 years.

She has no time to play a long game.

ANIKA: If Lucy gets better,

then she should go to sanctuary.

If they haven't followed up with the recommendations,

Lucy is going to decline.

That's even more of a reason why she should move then.

DEBI: See, the issue I have with the zoo is,

she could have safely been moved 10 years ago.

She could have been safely moved five years ago.

They just let this ride.

They had $77 million in 2009 to put some towards Lucy,

and they did not.

They could have built her a therapeutic pool.

They could have given her space to roam.

They could have got her off free contact.

(People speaking indistinctly)

They have done nothing to alleviate the causes

of the issues that she's suffering from.

(People speaking indistinctly)

She is short for this world.

Whether she dies in their barn,

whether she dies on their walkway,

whether she dies in a crate on the way to a sanctuary,

her premature death is on them.

It's on them.

♪

SCOTT: Several years before they came,

we had been asking questions about Pocha's health.

After her arrival, she actually looked really good,

and she was exploring, and she was wandering,

and she was discovering the sanctuary

and rediscovering life.

But you could still see there was something

that wasn't quite right.

You could see it in her face. You could see it in her posture.

She had an internal disease

that was just too much, you know,

so six months after her arrival,

she passed.

♪

Guillermina was going up to her mom

and then coming back down towards the barn

and go up to her mom.

(Elephants vocalizing)

She was rumbling and making some calls,

and the other elephants came.

This is an elephant who had been deprived of everything in life

except her mom.

It's all she had.

The other elephants came,

and one by one,

Guillermina went to her mom with one individual.

Then she came back down,

and she got the next one and went to her mom.

(Sighing)

And she did it again.

Her little elephant ceremony.

If Pocha had died in that pit,

Guillermina would not have her new friends to help her.

Pocha gave her daughter everything she could,

and sanctuary gave Pocha freedom to her daughter.

♪

MARY-ANN: I have to hold on to hope for Lucy.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep doing this.

If she could have a year or more

to lay on a sunny hillside

with the company of other elephants,

making choices for the first time in her life,

I would feel happy for her.

And that even if she passed away,

she passed away with dignity and love

and the chance to finally be an elephant

that she's been deprived of since she was two years old.

I will fight for her till I take my last breath.

♪

♪