Zoo elephant welfare has become a central issue in zoo accreditation, with space requirements, social group management, and chronic foot disease representing the primary welfare challenges.
Zoo elephant welfare concentrates the central tension of keeping large, wide-ranging, socially complex animals in captivity. Foot disease — the leading cause of zoo elephant death — is directly caused by inappropriate substrate and insufficient movement. The floor areas of even the largest zoo elephant enclosures represent a tiny fraction of wild home range. Social isolation or inadequate group size prevents the matriarchal social dynamics essential to elephant behavioral health. Leading zoos have responded with larger enclosures, softer substrates, and larger, well-managed social groups. Others have recognized that they cannot meet elephant welfare needs and have phased out their exhibits.