Following a heavy two-year campaign that included tens of thousands of letters and e-mails, demonstrations, and phone calls by concerned activists, three elephants—Tina, Jewel, and Queenie—are being freed from the cruelty they’ve endured from the traveling circus that purchased them.

On August 15, the USDA began to fulfill their promises of saving these animals by confiscating the most severely abused elephant, Jewel, who was obviously emaciated from food deprivation. The other two elephants remained with the Davenport circus family as they refused to cooperate with the USDA.

The FWS Steps In

Instead of abandoning the case, however, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that they intend to file charges against the Davenports on the grounds of an Endangered Species Act violation. Though this technicality—a purchase of the animals for $150,000 without a permit—isn’t wholly related to the abuse the animals have been subjected to, it’s still an important step to freeing the elephants. The FWS has been investigating Davenport for two years, and now they are declaring their actions illegal—and that the elephants will be confiscated as a result.

Because of these charges, the family has finally conceded to release Tina and Queenie as well. As of August 20, only Queenie remains with the family, awaiting her rescue.

How You Can Help

While these three elephants are finally being granted their freedom from their cruel captors, many others await rescue. You can take action at the In Defense of Animals website on the following campaigns and help free more elephants like Queenie, Tina and Jewel.

Take the pledge to support elephants. This is simply your affirmation to not support elephant cruelty, whether it’s in a circus, a zoo, or anywhere else.

Boycott the top 10 worst zoos for elephants. These include the zoos of San Antonio, Houston, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Oklahoma, Baton Rouge, Woodland Park (Seattle), National Zoo (Washington, DC), Fort Worth, Dallas, and Lowry Park (Florida). Other notable zoos that have been cited for repeated elephant abuse violations and have yet to make any improvements for the animals include Dickerson Park (Missouri), El Paso Zoo, St. Louis Zoo, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (California). In addition, you can contact these zoos and let them know that you won’t visit until they start treating their animals better—or release them into sanctuaries if they cannot.

Sign up for the Task Force Newsletter. This will deliver action alerts right into your e-mail inbox so you can easily take action as soon as they are available.