Elephant living in isolation for 35 years rescued by South Georgia sanctuary
By Jennifer Lifsey
Click here for updates on this story
ATTAPUGUS, Georgia (WANF) — After battling for the past five years to rescue an elephant from a zoo in Puerto Rico, a sanctuary in South Georgia finally succeeded.
Mundi, a 41-year-old female African elephant, is 8′ tall and weighs 8,000 pounds. She was born in 1982 in Zimbabwe and was one of the 68 young elephants brought to the United States in a rescue mission.
She was then sold to the island zoo in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, where she lived in isolation for 35 years in a 1/4 exhibit yard and was chained nightly, according to Elephant Aid International.
The Mayaguez zoo has struggled financially and has been closed to the public for several years after experiencing extensive hurricane damage and losing its USDA license.
In 2018, Mundi was under contract to come to the South Georgia refuge, but Puerto Rico’s struggling government imploded, the Governor was run out, and all contracts were canceled, leaving Mundi to languish.
Finally, in February 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice ordered the zoo to close permanently and relocate all the remaining animals to reputable sanctuaries.
After numerous efforts to try to rescue Mundi, she is now expected to arrive at the Elephant Refuge North America in Attapulgus, Georgia on May 4, where she will live with two other rescued elephants named Bo, a 34-year-old male, and Tarra, a 49-year-old female.
As a result of a fight with another elephant when she was young, Mundi is blind in one eye and has a permanently damaged tusk, EAI said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
