Yesterday we broached the idea of getting rid of the zoo’s elephants, freeing them of their tight digs in Woodley Park and sending them someplace where they could romp around as nature intended. Today, we have two updates. It seems that things might not be as bad as we thought.

Not too long after our initial post, a spokesperson for the National Zoo sent us an email detailing the steps the zoo was taking to ensure that the elephants were as happy and healthy as possible. They wrote:

…“roaming” and space are not the ultimate guarantees of elephant health and well-being. Elephants are very complex social animals—their needs are not as simple as acreage. The National Zoo’s new elephant plans are focused on elephant life as a multi-generational herd, and will provide this herd with varied habitats and options for socializing. In addition, knowledge from 50 years of studying elephants is included in the plans for a new habitat (i.e., all indoor space—of which there will be nearly five times more—has all soft flooring, mostly sand and dirt, but some rubberized spaces, too.)

And right on cue, today the Post describes the new $60 million elephant habitat that will be completed sometime next year. States the article:

Under the current design concept, the zoo’s elephants would have at least four acres of outdoor and indoor space, including a central area in the Elephant House where the animals could socialize 24 hours a day instead of being kept in separate enclosures at night. The herd, which now lives on less than an acre, would grow from three elephants to between eight and 10 adults and their offspring.

Though an improvement, some animal rights activists still claim that this is far short of the 40 to 1,000 acres some elephant sanctuaries provide, an argument we’re still partial to. While we’d like to see the elephants roaming freely in larger habitats, it’s good to see that the National Zoo is taking action.