#FreeTheCommerfordElephants
Help free Minnie from a traveling circus
Minnie is a wild-born elephant who has been held captive and exploited for over three decades under threat of a bullhook by a traveling circus called the Commerford Zoo.
The elephants held captive and exploited with her, Beulah and Karen, died in September and March of 2019 respectively. Minnie is now the sole surviving elephant in the Commerford Zoo, which the USDA has cited more than 50 times for violating minimum standards of the Animal Welfare Act. The Commerford Zoo still forces her to give rides despite the physical and emotional harm this is known to cause and despite documented incidents in which she has attacked her handlers and members of the public, as traumatized elephants often do.
But she still has the opportunity to heal and live freely. Both The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee and the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s ARK 2000 sanctuary have offered to provide her with lifetime care at no cost to the Commerford Zoo. Because Minnie is now without the company of other elephants and remains in an environment radically unsuited to elephant well-being, the need for her release is more urgent than ever.
For Minnie’s sake and in honor of Beulah and Karen, we are demanding Minnie’s immediate release to a sanctuary where she will be able to live freely for the first time in years.
How you can help:
Sign and share our Change.org petition urging the Commerford Zoo to release Minnie to a sanctuary.
Send a short, polite email to the Commerford Zoo at commerfordzoo@yahoo.com, urging them to release Minnie to a sanctuary.
Join the NhRP and a dozen other organizations in urging Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to help secure Minnie’s release to a sanctuary.
Urge Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Katie Dykes to launch an investigation into Minnie’s welfare.
Complete this action alert asking Connecticut State Representative Maria Horn and Connecticut State Senator Craig Miner to publicly urge the Commerford Zoo to send Minnie to a sanctuary and to take legislative action to prohibit the keeping of elephants in captivity in Connecticut (US only; international residents copy and paste from this Google Doc).
Connecticut residents: contact your state representatives and ask them to publicly call on the Commerford Zoo to release Minnie to a sanctuary.
Massachusetts residents: call your state representatives and ask them to support H.2934 and S.2028.
Email volunteer@nonhumanrights.org to join or organize a rally when the Commerford Zoo comes to your area.
Help share the elephants’ stories by posting about our campaign on social media with the hashtags #FreeTheCommerfordElephants and #RumbleForRights.
Related Resources
What is Minnie’s life like at the Commerford Zoo, and why is a sanctuary the only environment where she can exercise her autonomy? Read and download our Minnie FAQ.
All three elephants have been forced to perform for decades. Learn more about and share Beulah, Karen, and Minnie’s life stories.
On Oct. 22, 2019, Connecticut State Representative David Michel hosted a press conference in Hartford, with Rep. Michel, NhRP Director of Government Relations Courtney Fern, CT State Representative Rep. Anne Hughes, CT animal rights activist Jill Alibrandi, CT State Director for the Humane Society of the United States Annie Hornish, and others condemning the inaction of the local, state, and federal authorities responsible for ensuring the Commerford elephants’ welfare. They also urge other lawmakers to join the call for Minnie’s release to a sanctuary. Read Jill’s statement and Courtney’s statement.
On Sept. 27, 2019, the NhRP, the Humane Society of the United States, the PETA Foundation, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Connecticut Residents Seeking Sanctuary for the Commerford Animals, and other organizations sent a letter to Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, urging him to help secure Minnie’s release to a sanctuary. He has not yet responded publicly or privately.
On Sept. 15, 2019, Beulah collapsed and died at the Big E fair after the Commerford Zoo exploited her for profit one final time.
On Sept. 20, 2019, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Karen died in March 2019. The circumstances surrounding Karen’s death remain unknown.
In August of 2018, the NhRP shared our concerns regarding the whereabouts and well-being of the Commerford elephants.
On Feb. 2, 2019, in Worcester, Massachusetts, close to 100 people joined the NhRP and Change.org to rally for freedom for Beulah, Karen, and Minnie outside a Commerford Zoo “kids fun fair.” Watch and share the video.
In September of 2018, after a troubling photo of Minnie giving rides at the fair went viral, NhRP President Steven M. Wise talked to local media about the elephants’ suffering. Watch and share the video.
“At the time, I didn’t know the name of the elephant or know how I could get involved to make a change. I only knew that I needed to finally act on the pit in my gut to try to do something about it.” Read and share a guest blog post written by a New Jersey resident who became an advocate for Beulah, Karen, and Minnie after seeing them forced to perform at a local fair.
Since 2017, Gigi Glendinning—a captive animal photographer and collage artist whose work is dedicated to ending the use of nonhuman animals in entertainment—has supported our fight for freedom and sanctuary for Beulah, Karen, and Minnie by sharing her photos of the elephants with the NhRP and allowing us to share them with our supporters and the media. Read and share our interview with Gigi.
“The key is ending injustice, period.” Read and share our interview with a humane educator and mother who witnessed Minnie’s exploitation at the Big E, a Massachusetts fair attended by over a million people each year.
Elephant advocates in the Northeastern US and around the world expressed their support for Beulah, Karen, and Minnie’s right to be free when we first filed suit on their behalf. Read and share their blog posts:
- Team Kaavan and the #FreeKaavan campaign
- Lori Sirianni of Friends of Lucy
- Debbie Ethell of the KOTA Foundation for Elephants
- Barbara Lovett of Save Nosey Now
- Upreshpal Singh of the #FreeLasah campaign
- Carrie LeBlanc of CompassionWorks International
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“- Laurence AnthonyPerhaps the most important lesson I learned is that there are no walls between humans and the elephants except those that we put up ourselves, and that until we allow not only elephants, but all living creatures their place in the sun, we can never be whole ourselves.
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