Dulary and the other Philly Zoo elephants have spent their entire lives in zoos. Won't they have a hard time adjusting to freedom, like the whale from "Free Willy"?

Keiko the Orca whale from the movie Free Willy, was returned to the wild. Sadly, he died of pneumonia after a few months of freedom in Norwegian coastal waters. We are not advocating that Dulary, Petal, Kallie and Bette return to the wild for many reasons, including: (1) the rest of their familes were killed and so they would not be able to return to their herd; (2) they have not developed the skills necessary to live in the wild and may be unable to adjust; (3) their habitat in the wild is rapidly diminishing due to an increasing human population. The Elephant Sanctuary ("TES") in Tennessee is not the same as the wild, although it is the closest thing to the elephants' natural habitat available at this time. At TES, the elephants have hundreds of acres to roam and their choice of companions. At most zoos, the elephants have a fraction of an acre and are forced to live in close quarters with other elephants with whom they may or many not get along. There are numerous situations ...  more