Bad news for the fight for the liberation of Ely, the elephant from the San Juan de Aragón zoo, in Mexico City.
Despite the fact that activists and organizations have fought and pressured her to be transferred to a sanctuary in Brazil, the CDMX government argues that the elephant is fine, that her habitat in the zoo is sufficient, and that now she will have a new companion.
The CDMX Environment Secretariat reported that Gipsy is an African elephant from Morelos that will arrive in Aragon.
An elephant will come to live with Ely in Aragon
For a long time we have been telling you the story of Ely and the struggle of various activists and organizations to have her transferred from CDMX to Brazil, to an elephant sanctuary.
Ely was rescued from a circus in 2012 and later taken to live at the San Juan de Aragón Zoo., located in the Gustavo A. Madero mayor’s office. Some time later, several organizations denounced that Ely was sad because she lived alone, abandoned and in poor conditions.
An amparo was even processed to resolve the situation but the transfer could not happen. The judge in the case ruled that Ely would not go to Brazil but her exhibit at the zoo would have to be expanded.
Two of the organizations that have been fighting for Ely’s release is Opening Cages & Opening Minds and Going For Your Rights.
The director of Abriendo Mentes denounced that for a while the government had already been targeting the elephant that would “accompany” Ely. She stated that this action is to prevent Ely from being evaluated by elephant experts and being transferred to a sanctuary to improve her quality of life.
“His only goal is to hold Ely in perpetual captivity. It is unworthy not to allow a dignified and necessary retirement for Ely and not only that, but now bring one more creature to suffer captivity in an environment with bureaucratic schedules, arid, ornate, without enough water and we know that there have been food budget problems…“.
The activist affirms that the CDMX zoos are not in a position to receive more animals, in addition to the fact that the cutbacks, neglect and irregularities continue.
Lucía Hernández, science communicator, explains that one more elephant represents a million-dollar compensation when she dies and this will not improve Ely’s health. She refers that in the CDMX zoos all the elephants have died in the worst possible conditions.
The CDMX Environment Secretariat Explain that the transfer of Gipsy, from Morelos to Aragon, is a recommendation of national and international wildlife experts. They also add that this will increase Ely’s welfare conditions.
