Mara’s story is typical of many captive elephants. Taken from the wild, most likely India, she was sold to the circus industry where she was forced to perform in several different circuses. After decades, she was confiscated under the new progressive legislation in South America.

Every elephant adapts differently to this unnatural life of captivity, and Scott describes how Mara vented her frustration in aggressive behaviors which continued in the zoo. The Buenos Aires Zoo, Argentina was not suited to care for her properly, which included Maia being kept together with two female African elephants, Kuky and Pupy. We talk about the differences in these two elephant species, and how they communicate both physically and auditorily very differently. In their transformation to an eco park, the zoo and the team of GSE start working towards her transfer to sanctuary - yet the pandemic in 2020 creates unforeseen obstacles.

Read more about Mara’s story on our website.

The episode transcript can be found here.

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Who we are: Global Sanctuary for Elephants exists to create vast, safe spaces for captive elephants, where they are able to heal physically and emotionally. There are elephants around the world in need of sanctuary, but too few places exist to be able to care for even a fraction of the elephants. International support is necessary to build sanctuaries for elephants in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Our pilot project is Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, currently home to six female Asian elephants.

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