The animal protection organization In Defense of Animals has ranked the Louisville Zoo one of the 10 worst zoos for elephants in 2019.

Citing the zoo's repeated efforts to artificially inseminate African elephant Mikki, 34, the annual report, which is now in its 16th year, named the Louisville Zoo the fifth worst zoo for elephants. It's now made the list three times.

"Artificial insemination is an unnatural, invasive and likely traumatic experience for elephants," In Defense of Animals wrote in its section on the Kentucky zoo. "Their 4-meter long reproductive tracts are penetrated without their consent, often requiring their legs to be chained down — indicating that, if given the choice, individuals like Mikki would flee the procedure. Still, the Zoo subjected Mikki to six traumatic and invasive artificial insemination procedures in 2016 alone."

Zoo officials have long championed Mikki's 2017 conception and 2019 birth of bull elephant Fitz and have said his birth marks a considerable contribution to his species' gene pool.

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He's the second baby elephant born at the zoo. Mikki's first baby, Scotty, was born in March 2007 and died from complications of colic, a common ailment among elephants and horses.

Zoo spokeswoman Kyle Shepherd told The Courier Journal that the zoo is "proud" of its work as an Association of Zoos and Aquariums, or AZA, accredited facility.

"We did tether Mikki during the artificial insemination attempts in compliance with AZA elephant management standards, which state that the elephant be tethered when keepers are in shared space," Shepherd said. "Mikki’s welfare is top priority, so with this in mind, during the artificial insemination procedures we assessed her serum cortisol (stress hormone)."

Shepherd said Mikki showed "significant decline" in her stress levels over four years' time, and her artificial insemination procedures didn't change that.

"The fact that we find a similar decline regardless of whether an artificial insemination procedure was performed suggests that the procedure itself does not stress Mikki as measured by serum cortisol concentration," Shepherd said. "These tests continue today."

In Defense of Animals wrote that Fitz "will be robbed of the relationships he would naturally form with other elephants including other family members near his own age" by being at the zoo with his mother and Asian elephant Punch.

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The report also calls keeping Mikki and Fitz in with Punch an "unnatural social grouping" that is "utterly unsuitable."

"It also perpetuates a harmful and inaccurate picture of how elephants live in the wild, thereby negating any possible educational value while doing nothing at all to conserve these endangered and threatened species," the study goes on. "When one considers the significant boost to zoo revenue that comes with the arrival of new elephant calves, Louisville Zoo's motivations become perhaps clearer."

The group, whose goal is to get zoos to phase out elephant exhibits and to stop breeding elephants, called for the three elephants in Louisville to be moved to a sanctuary "where they will have acres of forests, hills, meadows, and ponds to roam and live free from fear of invasive physical domination."

Shepherd said the zoo's breeding program has a goal of combating the "alarming plight" of elephants, which die at a rate of 96 per day.

"The reality is that elephants in the remnant wild are subject to poaching, disease and the loss of their habitat — African elephants are in danger of being extinct in the next 20 years," she said.

The zoo's breeding program "is not only for the betterment of our specific elephant herd, but also for the species at large. Elephants are social animals and our breeding attempts are intended to grow the social herd and continue to support their behavioral health," according to Shepherd.

The No. 1 worst zoo for elephants, according to the ranking, is the Pittsburgh Zoo, which is home to Fitz's father, Jackson.

Jackson came to the Pittsburgh Zoo in 1994 and has fathered 16 calves. the Louisville Zoo announced him as Fitz's dad in November.

Previously:Louisville Zoo announces paternity of Mikki's baby elephant

The study cited "an unbroken pattern of negligence that defies even mainstream zoo norms" and concrete flooring, which it called a "common cruelty inflicted on elephants" that brought the Pittsburgh Zoo to the top of the list.

Between the Pittsburgh Zoo and the Louisville Zoo are the Zoo Miami, the Bronx Zoo and the Oregon Zoo. Others after Louisville include zoos in Utah, California and Virginia.

Read the full report here: idausa.org/campaign/elephants/10-worst-zoos-for-elephants-2019/.

Reach breaking news reporter Sarah Ladd at sladd@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ladd_sarah. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.