Elephant welfare in zoos has been subject to more scrutiny than almost any other species, driving significant improvements in space, social housing, and management practices.
Elephants present the most intensively studied and debated welfare case in zoos, and for good reason: their intelligence, social complexity, and need for movement make captivity uniquely challenging. The scientific evidence for chronic welfare problems in traditional zoo elephant keeping is strong. Progressive zoos have responded with massive habitat investment and social group improvements. But the question of whether any zoo can provide adequate welfare for elephants - as opposed to merely better welfare - remains genuinely contested in welfare science.