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Teru has spent 40 years living in this outdated zoo enclosure at Yuki Park Zoo in Kofu, Japan. She has been alone for 20 years in this concrete prison since the death of her companion Mimi in 2000. There is no shade. There is no companion. There is literally nothing. Teru shows stress via her non-stop repetitive swaying and bobbing.

“There is simply no justification for keeping elephants under these conditions.”

– Dr. Keith Lindsay, Elephant Biologist

This is Fuko. She’s been alone for 12 years and spends most of her time in this tiny indoor cell at Nagano Chausuyama Zoo in Japan.  To cope with her impoverished conditions, Fuko paces in a meaningless repetitive pattern, over and over in her enclosure. Her pacing is an abnormal stereotypical behavior that is often seen in captive wild animals kept in substandard enclosures. They are often associated with boredom, anxiety, frustration and depression, and they mean that Fuko’s biological, behavioural and social needs are not being met.

Miyako the elephant has been kept alone at the Utsunomiya Zoo in Japan – for 47 years, alone. She was brought here from Thailand when just a baby: 6 months old. She exhibits stress via her stereotypical behavior, gripping and shaking with her teeth the steel bar in her outdated enclosure. Unstimulated by her barren environment, Miyako attempts to interact with zoo visitors.  But this old moat style enclosure is also dangerous. If she falls over into the moat, she could be seriously injured.

Hamako has been alone for 12 years, since the death of her companion Miyo. Her outdoor enclosure at the Hamamatsu City Zoo in Japan has no shade for her in the hot summer heat. Her indoor enclosure temperature was only 9.3 celsius in the middle of winter with no heater. Hamako shows a stress-coping behavior of patterned pacing in her outdoor enclosure, with which she occupies her time until the next “feeding time”.