Toronto’s elephants to leave for California sanctuary today

The long saga over the health, and welfare elephants at Toronto Zoo is nearing its conclusion today.

The three remaining and aging elephants will be loaded into giant cages today, and trucked to a sanctuary in California

Elephants first came to the zoo in Canada’s biggest city in 1974, when three young animals arrived from Africa. Over the years the number of elephants rose to nine, but have since declined to the three remaining.

There have long been criticisms about the keeping of elephants in zoos, and the conditions at the zoo. Many have said the summer paddock is too small, while the winter shelter is far too small, with additional arguments that elephants are ill-suited for the cold and damp of Toronto winters.

After years of wrangling, and often contentious in-fighting among city councilors, and among zoo staff.

But even as the move takes place today, the controversy continues with conflicting information about who will accompany the elephants to ensure their well-being and allegations of requirements to sign non-disclosure agreements about the move.

A Zoo spokeswoman said staff won’t accompany the animals because the transport group demanded they sign the documents.

A spokeswoman for Zoocheck Canada, which has campaigned for the elephant move to the sanctuary denies that, adding that its not necessary for zoo staff to go along as there will be two veterinarians and four handlers for the animals. She also accused zoo staff of trying to sabotage the move from the beginning.

It is expected the trip to the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s wildlife sanctuary in San Andreas, California., will take three to five days by road.