WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A legal fight has ended over the Sedgwick County Zoo’s new African elephants.
The Wichita Eagle reports that animal-rights group Friends of Animals dropped its lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for approving the transport of 17 elephants from Swaziland to zoos in Wichita, Dallas and Omaha.
Friends of Animals’ lawyer Jennifer Best says dropping the suit was a tough decision that came down to how to best use the group’s time and resources.
The Connecticut-based advocacy group filed the suit in February after the agency approved the transfer in January. The group argued that the agency didn’t consider the mental and physical toll on the elephants.
The zoos joined the government’s side and went ahead with the transfer about a month ago as a judge denied the group’s last-ditch effort to stop it.
