Our World Elephant Day actions received significant media attention, even prompting a response from Six Flags to the media. Unfortunately, its statements are filled with false claims and misleading justifications for keeping Joyce and other elephants captive in amusement parks.
On World Elephant Day (August 12), we launched several actions to put pressure on Six Flags to release Joyce and the other elephants from Six Flags Great Adventure. This included a 7-foot-tall sand sculpture of Joyce in Ventnor City, NJ, delivering our 62,940 petition signatures to the park, and a highway billboard less than 20 miles from the amusement park. Both actions successfully raised awareness (over 500 article pickups and a potential audience reach of 167 million!), and Six Flags was forced to respond to journalists.
But Six Flags’ response was built on falsehoods. It tried to portray the park as an appropriate environment for wild animals rather than the profit-motivated entertainment business that it is.
1. Six Flags called itself a sanctuary when it’s far from one
In the article by NJ Spotlight News, Six Flags stated, “We often provide sanctuary to animals that have previously endured poor or uncertain conditions...” However, Six Flags is an amusement park, not a sanctuary.
A true sanctuary puts animals first and works towards ensuring their physical, behavioral, and social needs are met. Sanctuaries don’t profit from animal entertainment, and they create living conditions that are as close as possible to the wild. On the contrary, Six Flags offers safari tours. The elephants captive there only have a couple of acres of land to roam compared to the hundreds of acres available at an elephant sanctuary in Georgia. They’re also surrounded by loud, rumbling rollercoasters. In the frigid winter months, they’re confined to a closed barn.
2. Six Flags has continued to ignore our request for an external veterinary examination
Six Flags claims it has “decades of animal care experience” and a team of internal vets prioritizing the health and well-being of Joyce and the other elephants, but we can’t know for certain since these vets are employed by them and could be biased. They also claim a move could cause health decline or death.
Our team has requested Six Flags to allow us to arrange an external veterinary examination to assess these claims, but our request continues to be ignored. If an independent vet determined that Joyce is not physically fit to transport, we agree it would not be appropriate, but maintain that Six Flags should phase out its captive elephant exhibit entirely. Elephants suffer physically and psychologically in small, barren, captive environments, and it’s time to end elephant captivity in the US, forever.
3. Six Flags claims long lifespans are synonymous with a high quality of life
Although some animals in captivity have longer lifespans than their counterparts in the wild, it does not guarantee a high quality of life.
Elephants—in the wild or not—need vast acres of land to roam and suitable environments to thrive. Yet in the harsh New Jersey winters, conditions completely inappropriate for elephants, Six Flags confines Joyce and the others to a barn where they are isolated and not allowed outside. At an accredited sanctuary in a warmer climate, this would never happen.
4. Six Flags claims relocating would mean separating Joyce from another elephant she has bonded with
Joyce and her companion could be relocated together to one of the three available elephant sanctuaries in the US. We would work with partners to keep Joyce and her companion together, as this would likely make the transition to the sanctuary easier for both.
What’s next
If Six Flags truly cares about the elephants, the best course of action for it to take is to shut down the elephant exhibit permanently and to send the elephants to a sanctuary where they can live as natural a life as possible–and not next to thundering rollercoasters. In fact, in our letters to Six Flags leadership, we have encouraged them to contact the elephant sanctuaries to learn more about the space, care, and life they can provide. If they truly love Joyce, they should want the best for her.
Our campaign will continue to work towards pressuring Six Flags to do the right thing.
Sign our petition and help us reach our goal of 100,000. We’re currently at 81,000!