Incredibly distressing video footage has emerged of the horrific conditions being endured by elephants at Beijing Zoo in China.

The video below was taken by conservation activist Sharon Pincott, who was in China to speak to school children about the work she does for elephants in Zimbabwe. She visited the zoo on two consecutive days, and was absolutely disgusted to witness the awful conditions that both African and Asian elephants were living in.

According to Sharon, the elephants are housed inside tiny concrete cells which open into small, barren outside areas. From what she could tell, the elephants clearly hadn’t been out of their concrete cells for the 48 hour period that she was around Beijing Zoo. She imagines, however, that they do go into their small outside areas sometimes – although not nearly enough. She was unable to find out where the three African elephants (an adult male, female, and young male calf) that are currently housed in the zoo come from, but she does not believe the calf came from Zimbabwe – she suspects it was bred at the zoo. The origin of the two adults is unknown.

However, Zimbabwe has previously stated that Beijing Zoo is an “appropriate and acceptable destination” for their elephants.

Zimbabwe’s long track record of supplying China with elephants

• In 2015, twenty four young elephants were sold by Zimbabwe to a Chinese zoo. The elephants, who are all around five years old, were part of a 27-strong group of elephants captured in 2014 in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. Reports emerged that they were malnourished and peppered with injuries upon arrival in China.

• In 2016, it was reported that China apparently ‘ordered’ 200 juvenile elephants to be captured for a variety of zoos and safari parks across the country over the next five years.

• Later that year, thirty seven baby elephants were forcibly taken from their mothers in the wild in Hwange and flown to Chinese zoos, despite an international outcry against previous exports.

• And just last year, in 2017, rare footage emerged of the capture of wild young elephants in Hwange, that showed the rough treatment of the calves as they were sedated and taken away. It is believed they were part of a legal sale to Chinese zoos.

Export of elephants is sanctioned under CITES regulations, as long as trade in individual animals doesn’t threaten the long-term survival of the species.

To date, Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has still made no official announcement regarding any revision to Zimbabwe’s policy on capturing elephants for sale to zoos. Read our CEO’s open letter to the president regarding the exportation of wild-caught baby elephants from Zimbabwe to China.

VIDEO

Sharon provides commentary in the video below, so please turn up your audio to listen:

The video is a culmination of Sharon Pincott’s 14 videos put together as one. The last two clips show (1) the pristine and ample space given to humans whilst the elephants struggle to live in, not only tiny enclosures, but in squalid conditions and (2) the final video showing the tiny outdoor enclosure, which seems rarely used by any of the elephants.