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elephant Toronto Zoo Freedom

Last week, Toronto’s city council voted this week to send aging African elephants Thika, Toka and Iringa, currently residing at the Toronto Zoo to a sanctuary in San Andreas, California. By a vote of 31 to 4, the Toronto City Council overwhelmingly agreed that California’s Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary is a much more appropriate home for these elephants.

The city council voted to override an earlier decision by the Toronto Zoo board that aimed to place the elephants in a zoo.

Now, these three elephants will know the joys of roaming freely, swimming in ponds, taking dust baths, and socializing with other elephants.

TV icon and animal defender Bob Barker has offered to pay for the elephants’ relocation to the sanctuary at a cost estimated to be between $100,000 and $300,000.

Click here to see an amazing graphic of the unforgettable journey the three elephants will take from Toronto to California.

Image Source: Jonathan Michael Peel/Flickr