King Henry I created the first wild animal menagerie in Britain. The Greeks established the first public zoos, which were used by students to study animal and plant life. The Romans used animals commonly found in zoos for entertainment they watched hundreds of thousands of them fight to the death in arenas. To display power and wealth, rulers from Northern Africa, India, and China established many small zoos between 1,000 and 400 B.C. This enormous zoo covered about 1,500 acres. and approximately 500 years later, around the year 1000 B.C., the Chinese emperor, Wen Wang, founded the Garden of Intelligence. Queen Hatshepsut opened the first zoo in 1500 B.C. The first animal exhibitions were recorded as far back as Ancient Egypt where wild animals, regarded as objects of wealth, were presented as gifts to the pharaohs. Wild animals have intrigued humans throughout history. In denotative terms, a zoo is “ a collection of living animals usually for public display.” This relatively simple definition gives no indication of the implications a zoo has for animals confined to their cages. Zoos and related animal exhibitions, varies by species. Under current laws, the amount of protection each animal is afforded within U.S. The majority of Americans will visit a zoo or similar facility that exhibits animals at some point in their lives. It also exposes the underground trade of surplus zoo animals, which continues because of the lacking enforcement of current laws.

Using the elephant as a case study, this paper exposes the inadequacies of our existing laws, which have resulted in unfortunate incidents nationwide.

Voluntary associations such as the American Zoo Association set higher standards of care for their members, in some instances, than the minimum standards set forth in the Animal Welfare Act. State laws consist of anti-cruelty statutes that come into force only after a violation has occurred. The ESA applies to those animals listed as threatened or endangered, but even then exhibition alone will never constitute a violation. The AWA sets minimum standards for the care, handling, housing, and transport of animals exhibited in zoos.

On the federal level, those laws most important to zoo animals are the Animal Welfare Act and the Endangered Species Act. On the international level there are only regulations which apply to the trade of the species between international countries, limiting how many can be imported and exported and how they are transported. This paper examines the laws pertaining to zoo animals on the international, federal, and state level, along with voluntary standards, not mandated by law.

Zoo s k