PETITION TARGET: Japanese Minister of Environment Masaharu Nakagawa
UPDATE (3/31/2023): We sent our petition, signed by more than 25,000 people to the Japanese Minister of the Environment. Unfortunately, Miyako is still suffering at this cruel zoo. We are disappointed that she’s not been relocated to a sanctuary, and we are continuing to advocate for animals. —Lady Freethinker Staff
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Imagine spending 24 hours every day in a barren concrete cell with no friends, nothing to do, and no escape from the endless boredom and frustration.
Now imagine enduring this lonely misery for 45 years.
This is the heartbreaking reality for Asian elephant Miyako, who lives in the Utsunomiya Zoo in Japan.
Snatched from her homeland of Thailand at just six months old, Miyako has never seen another elephant since.
She spends her days pacing her tiny cement pen, desperately trying to interact with zoo visitors for some stimulation, and biting the steel bars of her cage in frustration.
Her outdated and bare enclosure is surrounded by a dangerous moat, which could cause serious injury if she fell; she often tiptoes on the edge trying desperately to reach zoo visitors with her trunk.
A life of solitary confinement is nothing short of torture to an elephant. These deeply social animals naturally live in large family groups and form intense emotional bonds with one another.
Sign this petition urging Minister of Environment Masaharu Nakagawa to free Miyako from this hellish life and send her to a sanctuary where she can live the rest of her years with freedom, dignity and companionship.
