Yes, but it might not happen for a long, long time. Even with around 16 zoos in North America abandoning the notion of keeping elephants, there are about 45 zoos that have either expanded or created brand new elephant habitats in recent years. The space and social network comparisons are obviously not even close, as the sanctuaries are in my humble opinion a thousand times better than zoos for elephants. I'm only talking about elephants here as they traditionally fair poorly in captivity, but I realize that everyone has their own thoughts on the subject. There is even an elephant zookeeper on this site that thinks that elephants should not be in zoos!
When I was younger and in my teens I was all for every species of animal in captivity and adored zoos. I still love zoos and go out of my way to see new ones at every opportunity, BUT I am now 33 and see that wildlife institutions aren't as rosy as they used to seem to me when I was young and wide-eyed with innocence. For example: I used to love visiting Woodland Park Zoo's AZA Award-winning Asian Elephant Forest exhibit (it opened in 1989) and at 1.5 acres for 3 elephants is what some assume to be a good size. However, the elephant "herd" consists of one African and 2 Asian females, and in the wild elephants are known to travel in large groups. At the Seattle zoo there have been many nights where the elephants are chained by their feet inside areas that are barely big enough for them to take more than 10 steps. They are left inside a small building for 50% of their lives...and then when let out for the other 50% of the time have a tiny area that is not even a fraction of what would be their wild range. Certain animals like elephants, polar bears, some big cat species, should either have multi-acre facilities with 100% access to all aspects of the habitat...or should be only kept in massive sanctuaries.
When I was younger and in my teens I was all for every species of animal in captivity and adored zoos. I still love zoos and go out of my way to see new ones at every opportunity, BUT I am now 33 and see that wildlife institutions aren't as rosy as they used to seem to me when I was young and wide-eyed with innocence. For example: I used to love visiting Woodland Park Zoo's AZA Award-winning Asian Elephant Forest exhibit (it opened in 1989) and at 1.5 acres for 3 elephants is what some assume to be a good size. However, the elephant "herd" consists of one African and 2 Asian females, and in the wild elephants are known to travel in large groups. At the Seattle zoo there have been many nights where the elephants are chained by their feet inside areas that are barely big enough for them to take more than 10 steps. They are left inside a small building for 50% of their lives...and then when let out for the other 50% of the time have a tiny area that is not even a fraction of what would be their wild range. Certain animals like elephants, polar bears, some big cat species, should either have multi-acre facilities with 100% access to all aspects of the habitat...or should be only kept in massive sanctuaries.
