According to Posta Beth, Robert Huber, and Donald E. III Moore in “The Effects of Housing on Zoo Elephant Behavior: A Quantitative Case Study of Diurnal and Seasonal Variation” an eighteen-month study in 2008, of each zoo in the United Kingdom, revealed several negative indicators of obesity and lameness in elephants. Furthermore, elephants are not pressured to search out their own food and water in captivity because of the food and water they are given causing them to become weak in their legs and gain a substantial amount of weight. In the wild, elephants walk approximately sixteen hours a day simply foraging for food and water and even longer in the dry season to meet their dietary needs. Having that suddenly stripped away from them would not only cause intense fear but an almost immediate damage to their average routine. As time goes by for the elephants they start to gain weight and their legs cripple from the burden causing one of the most common side effects in obese elephants- swaying. Not only is swaying stereotypical behavior but it also causes injuries in their legs and feet with a seldom chance of recovery at any point in their lives (Posta, Huber, and Moore p. …show more content…
The vast majority of those animals are taken in the wild, usually a whole family or colony at a time. According to The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), “In 2003, the San Diego Wild Animal Park and Lowry Park Zoo captured 11 African elephants, a species designated as threatened, from their natural habitats in Swaziland.” Not only did this cause the animals “psychological trauma” (PETA) due to being torn away from their home and families, they are often captured at a young age because it is easier to capture them and they bring in higher profit. Most feral beings have rarely, if ever, had eyes lay upon them, so abruptly introducing them to hundreds or thousands of eyes a day would be an extreme culture shock causing adrenaline induced panic and rage. Taking them to a new environment also quickly deteriorates their health as a result of a sudden shift in the air quality, the weather, the season length and harshness degree, the differences in bacteria, and many other things. While in confinement animals, “suffer physically and mentally from the lack of freedom that captivity impose[s]” explained Born Free Foundation in The Effects of Housing on Zoo Elephant Behavior. There is a genuinely immense statistic the animal was taken from their children, their mate, their families, or snatched from their home,