Videos/Photos

PHOTOS

These two pictures below are of Sunda's feet taken on July 2, 2012.  These photos promted In Defense of Animals (IDA) to file a formal complaint with the USDA recommending confiscation of Sunda and relocation to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.  Her two feet are in life-threatening condition if she is not removed from the environment (Topeka Zoo) that caused this problem, which includes being forced to stand on concrete and hard surfaces year round.  To view the formal complain, click here.  To contact the USDA and ask them to remove Sunda and send her to the Elephant Sanctuary, click here.

Here are the billboards that went up on January 10, 2012.  This one is on Gage Blvd and 2nd St. It will be seen by everyone who takes the Gage exit off of I-70.  The one below is at Gage and 20th St.  Both are very high traffic areas, and the Zoo is on Gage.  These billboards have caused quite a stir. 

Here is the actual art work that is on the billboard.  While it looks like the photo on left is black and white, it is not.  It's just that there is no grass, no color in their tiny world.  You can detect a tiny bit of color on the building.  So the contrast in lushness and color is real.  We're not making this up.  If you are still in doubt, please go visit Tembo and Sunda and check out their sad, grey world.

 

This photo below was taken in winter, 2010.  The elephants were in the barn.  Their yard was a muddy, gooey, slippery mess from melting snow. 

Here they are below on November 6, 2011.  Nearly every time we visit Tembo and Sunda, they are rocking back and forth as they are here, trying desperately to take weight off their sore feet.  This rocking is also a sign of extreme emotional suffering.  Wild elephants are never seen doing this, because they can walk many miles each day and have many activities to keep them busy and engaged in life.  It is heart breaking to watch them rock this way and to look into their eyes and see such sadness and lack of hope.  If we all work hard and convince the zoo to let them go to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, they will be able to live, walk, play, create, swim, dust bathe, and celebrate life as they were meant to do.  Please watch the videos that we took on this day by clicking on the video tab above. While you are watching it, imagine yourself being confined for your entire life after being captured as a baby.  Imagine having nothing to do but rock back and forth interminably every single day. 

VIDEOS

This footage was taken on November 6, 2011 at the Topeka, KS Zoo.  It was an unusually warm day for November, about 65 degrees.  Otherwise, the elephants would have been inside their barn where no zoo visitors would be able to see them.  Nearly half the year they are confined to the small barn on a concrete floor.  Tembo and Sunda are rocking back and forth from extreme psychological deprivation.  They are lifting their feet to try to reduce the pressure on them from constant standing on hard surfaces.  This behavior is never seen in wild, free elephants because they can walk many miles each day with their companions on soft ground and enjoy life the way Tembo and Sunda could do if we can send them to The Elephant Sanctuary. 

  

This is Sunda by herself continuing to rock and lift her feet.  Tembo had walked toward the barn and continued swaying in front of the barn.  This is the sad behavior we see in these amazing animals whenever we go to visit them.  They deserve so much more.  They have suffered long enough. 

Taken during a visit to the elephants in late 2010. 

These two videos were taken in late 2010 and show Tembo & Sunda displaying neurotic behavior (constant swaying, foot lifting) in their enclosure at the Topeka, KS Zoo.

This is me, Judy, holding our new flag which says May All Beings Live Free, in front of the Topeka Zoo sign.  We went to check on the elephants on November 6, 2011, at 4pm.  It was about 65 degrees that day and sunny, so the elephants were actually out in their tiny yard.  If it had been much colder they would have been inside the concrete barn where they live during most of the winter.  Unbelievably, the public cannot even see them when they are in the barn nearly half the year.  So they suffer immeasurably while basically being in storage as if they were inanimate objects.   

Please help free Tembo and Sunda and give them a life of freedom at The Elephant Sanctuary.  Thank you. If you do visit the zoo, please send your report to me at judycarman@ymail.com, along with photos or videos if you are able to take any.  Be sure and record the temperature, date, and time of your visit. 

This was taken the same day April 4, 3:30 pm, no access to

outdoors.  This leaves the elephants on concrete floors with very

little room to move around. 

This was taken in September, 2010.  Sunda is on the left rocking back and forth.  This rocking is an abnormal behavior never seen in free elephants.  I was there for one hour and she never stopped rocking and stayed in the one spot.  Tembo, the African elephant is in the middle of the photo.  She stood there listlessly and barely moved for the hour I was there, occasionally picking up a few wisps of hay.  There was no sign of communication between them.  It is heart breaking to watch these magnificent animals deprived of their freedom and everything that is normal for an elephant. 

In this photo, the elephants have gone into the barn even though it was a nice day--perhaps to get away from the prying eyes of zoo visitors.  They have no privacy unless they are in the barn. 

This sign is very telling.  Inexplicably the multi-million dollar barn prevents people from seeing the elephants when they are indoors.  While this gives the elephants some privacy, as I said above, it also begs the obvious question--if the public cannot even see the elephants nearly half the year, what is the point?  It is not mentioned on the sign, but because of severe Kansas winters, the elephants are kept indoors on a hard surface with nowhere to run and nothing to do for months on end.  These animals are highly intelligent.  If we were confined in such a small space, standing on a hard surface and had nothing to do, we would suffer--especially if we had done nothing to warrent being imprisoned. 

This is AOK's elephant costume.  It was in the Lawrence Earth Day parade with "Free Tembo and Sunda" on the sign.  In this photo, it is being used at a circus protest in Kansas City. 

This photo was taken on April 4, 2011, around 3:30 pm.  It was around 50 degrees,

and the elephants were confined indoors.  Note the closed doors.