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STATEMENT JULY 2025
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international trade agreement between governments which, amongst other, allows wild elephants to be caught and sent to “appropriate and acceptable destinations”.
The definition of what is “appropriate and acceptable” is left to the importing country’s scientific authority to determine with no criteria specified other than it has to be satisfied that the elephants are suitably housed and cared for. “Suitably housed” is of particular importance because the elephants are indigenous to their own particular countries and the destinations to which they are being sent can differ in extremes in terms of habitat appropriateness. “Appropriate and acceptable” also does not sufficiently guarantee elephant wellbeing. The country of export must be satisfied that trade promotes conservation of elephants in wild.
Perhaps most critical is that, by definition, these wild elephants will all suffer from multiple traumas including capture, violent separation from family, transport, dwelling in captivity of non-indigenous provenance, and in many cases, those who are less than five years of age, prematurely weaned. All of which causes lifelong pernicious neuropsychological and physiological damage. These traumas transmit intergenerationally, across space, socially, and time.
Since 2012, Zimbabwe has captured and exported more than 100 live wild elephants, mostly young calves, to captive facilities in China. The process of capturing the elephants, removing them from their natal family groups, holding and transporting them, and their arrival at facilities that are clearly inappropriate and at which they will be kept in entirely unnatural social groups and exposed to constant public viewing, is extremely stressful. Some of the captured calves did not survive the process, and those that did have inevitably experienced deep physical and psychological trauma, resulting in unnatural and sometimes violent behavior.
Given the depth of scientific study of these traumatic effects on elephants and the precarious status of all elephant species, it is vital that third party expertise evaluates and enforces elephant wellbeing. CITES offers no independent, objective mechanism of oversight or monitoring of the welfare conditions of elephants when they enter the live export chain. Efforts to ask the Zimbabwean and Chinese CITES authorities about thecondition of the elephants in China or at the Shanghai Animal World have been met with no response.
In December 2016 The Guardian reported that more than 30 elephants, some of whom were as young as three years of age, had been cruelly captured and forcibly removed from their families in the wild in Zimbabwe.Elephant experts and advocates from around the world opposed their capture and preparation for relocation from Zimbabwe to permanent captivity in China.
It was speculated at the time that some of these elephants would most likely be sent to Shanghai Wild AnimalPark. This was confirmed when secret footage was obtained of the Zimbabwean elephants a year later filmed at Shanghai Wild Animal Park, one of the three known recipient facilities of the wild elephants.
Animal protection groups in China have expressed sadness and disappointment about the welfare and wellbeing of African elephants in captive facilities across the country. They have advocated for stronger animal protection laws, in particular raising concern about the export of live elephants to Chinese zoos from Zimbabwe. Their work highlights the ongoing challenges in ensuring the welfare of animals used in entertainment and the need for stronger ethical considerations and legal protections.
In 2024 reports were published in the media of the elephants displaying concerning behavior at Shanghai Wild Animal Park where two elephants were violently harassed by the other elephants. The Zoo responded to the footage that was published suggesting that this behavior was ‘normal’ among young bull elephants. However, further videos were published on Twitter on the 25 June 2025 which suggest that this dangerous and unprecedented elephant behavior is ongoing at Shanghai Wild Animal Park.
The Shanghai Wild Animal Park issued a statement on the 25th June 2025 after the video of the elephants was circulated online specifically showing a female elephant being pushed and forced to kneel against a fence by other elephants in the enclosure.
According to the media article similar incidents have reported since 2022. The zoo said it took immediate action the day the video surfaced: “We implemented temporary interventions for the male elephants and carried out medical checks on the female elephant including bloodwork and behavioral assessments.”
The zoo has since updated its elephant care strategy and will now tailor the management plans based on each elephant’s physical condition, social behavior and natural cycles. The zoo has promised more regular training and health checks and tighter surveillance of the enclosure in order to respond to any abnormal behavior. According to the media article the video has left many questioning whether the current set-up is safe for all the elephants with stricter animal welfare standards continuing to grow.
PREN members campaigned vigorously in an attempt to prevent the capture and export of these and other wild elephants from Zimbabwe and other southern African countries to foreign zoos.
In 2022 Parties to CITES, agreed that any export of live wild-caught African elephants would be limited to in situ conservation programmes or secure areas in the wild, within the species’ natural and historical range in Africa, while African elephant range States tried to find agreement on the conditions for trade in African live elephants.
The outcomes of the discussions that have ensued will be considered at the upcoming CITES meeting in Uzbekistan in November 2025. PREN members will be attending the meeting and pushing for a permanent end to the capture of wild African elephants and their export to zoos and other captive facilities.
Sadly, this doesn’t help those wild-caught elephants that have already been exported to zoos in China and elsewhere.
PREN urges Shanghai Wild Animal Park and national authorities within China to work with international elephant experts to prioritize the welfare of the captive elephants in the country, and to urgently address the issues that have led to the concerning incidences that have been circulating.
Further Information: administrator@proelephantnetwork.org