Elephants are highly intelligent, wide-ranging animals with complex social and cognitive needs. Providing adequate enrichment in zoo settings is one of the most demanding challenges in animal care.
Elephant welfare in zoos represents one of the most contested and challenging areas in captive animal management. The evidence base increasingly suggests that no zoo can fully meet the spatial, social, and psychological needs of these remarkable animals, and several major zoo organisations have concluded that elephant keeping is incompatible with their welfare standards. For elephants that remain in zoo collections, comprehensive enrichment programmes are essential to reduce stereotypic behaviour and provide cognitive engagement. Foraging enrichment that occupies multiple hours daily, complex environments with varied substrates and features, social stability in compatible groups, and positive reinforcement training for husbandry and veterinary procedures are current welfare best practices. The long-term question of whether modern zoos can provide good welfare for elephants deserves honest, evidence-based evaluation.