Government will move to improving the welfare of kept elephants

In her 23 May 2025 letter, Baroness Hayman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, responded to Professor Simon Girling on behalf of the Animal Welfare Ministers regarding the Zoos Expert Committee’s review of the Elephant Welfare Group’s 10-year report.

The letter thanked the committee for gathering a broad range of views—both from those who want elephants to eventually be phased out and those who support continuing the work of the Elephant Welfare Group.

While the review acknowledged that elephant welfare in UK zoos has improved, it also found that there wasn’t enough evidence to justify ending the keeping of elephants altogether.

Consequently, the Ministers agreed to follow the committee’s advice by planning further enhancements: 

• Seeking to revise the specific elephant standards in the Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain, taking into account expert advice and the responses to the 2022 consultation.
• Seeking to require each zoo to have an elephant improvement action plan, to include details of how they intend to meet the new zoo regulatory standards well ahead of when they come into force.
• Seeking to require inspection and assessment of these plans and their implementation by zoo licensing inspectors in line with the frequency required by the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 (ZLA).
• Asking the EWG to continue their work and report progress every two years to ZEC. This should include a focus on improved data and evidence gathering, including further developing the elephant welfare assessment tools.

Additionally, Baroness Hayman urged the committee to create a more detailed action plan for these initiatives, highlighting a commitment to continuous improvement in elephant welfare while maintaining a balanced, evidence-based approach.