Elephant Journey: The True Story of Three Zoo Elephants and their Rescue from Captivity
By Rob Laidlaw • Brian Deines, Illustrator
Pajama Press, $19.95, 40 pages, Format: Hard
Elephant Journey is about three zoo elephants and their rescue from captivity. Two of the elephants were originally from Africa, but were captured and moved to the Toronto Zoo, which is in Canada. Thika was born at the zoo ten years after Toka and Iringa arrived. She never knew what it was like to be a free elephant in the wild.
The elephants eventually started to show signs of ill health, which is common among zoo animals. Some animal protection groups petitioned to send the elephants to the PAWS sanctuary, instead of being relocated to another zoo.
“The three friends had no place to roam about, no trees to explore, and no pasture to graze.”
The trip was long and hard. They had to stop to feed and water the elephants, and clean out their cages. After a long journey, the elephants arrived safely at the sanctuary. Now, they could roam over 80 acres of land, including soft grass, trees, mud, and streams. At the zoo, the elephants had only an acre of hard, barren ground on which to walk around.
This is both a happy and sad story. It is sad because the elephants were unhealthy and unhappy at the zoo. It is happy because they were freed to live the rest of their lives in the animal sanctuary.
Reviewed by Elena, Age 7
