Pregolja is a female Asian elephant who lives at the Kaliningrad Zoo in Russia. She was born in this zoo in 1970 and has lived there ever since. She has spent 36 years of her life inside the same small and barren enclosure surrounded by rusty steel and grey cement. It is an environment that nobody should be forced to live in.  Pregolja is also all alone. Her mother (Shandra) died at the young age of 29 years in 1982, and her father (Jimmi) died in 2000. Pregolja has been without companionship of other elephants for a number of years.

 

 

We hope that Pregolja experienced some joy as a baby with her mother, but her history indicates that she developed psycological health problems early in her life. When Pregolja was only 10 years old the zoo decided to use her as a baby-machine and she was bred with Jimmi; her very own father! For the next thirteen years, Pregolja gave birth to 4 calves, but tragically killed the first 3 right after birth. Her surviving calf, Marta, is believed to be with circus Durov. (We are still trying to confirm Marta's whereabouts).

 

Elephants killing their newborns is not a new phenomena in captive elephants. In fact, it happens quite a lot in zoos around the world. However, such behavior has never been documented in wild elephants. Clearly, there is something about living in a zoo that leads to these abnormal and aggressive rejections of calves.

 

It is heartbreaking how Kaliningrad zoo is ignoring Pregolja's basic needs and not even recognizing the magnitude of her psycological problems that are taking a toll on her. This insensitivity displayed by the zoo is inexcusable, and will not be tolerated any longer. Please join us demanding sanctuary for Pregolja. She is in a desperate need of a better life.

 

To find out how you can help, visit the Free Pregolja Website.  Elephants do not belong in zoos or in the circus.