Incredible elephants! They join in a protective circle during the earthquake (their gesture will make you reflect on the zoo)

Yesterday a magnitude earthquake 5.2 he shook the county of San Diego In California, frightening not only people, but also the animals hosted in the faunal parks. In particular the San Diego Zoo Safari Park cameras they resumed a touching scene: a group of African elephants has formed a protective circlecalled “Alert Circle”, Around the two little ones of the packZuli and Mkhaya.

As soon as the ground started to tremble, adult specimens – Ndlula, Humans And Khosis – quickly moved for surround the puppiespositioning themselves outwards, ready to defend the group. This behavior is typical of elephants, animals social and highly intelligentwho perceive the soil vibrations also through the legs.

They remain immobile and policemen for several minutes, until they feel sure they have passed. A gesture moved millions of people in the world and the video has become viral, underlining what is once again complex and the family bond is deep Among these giants of the savannah.

What freedom really exists in a zoo?

However, behind the tenderness of the scene there is one hidden much more bitter reality. These elephants, like so many other animals, but are confined in captivity. The San Diego Safari Park, despite being a modern and attentive structure to animal welfare, It still remains a zooa place where sentient beings are exposed to the publicfar from theirs natural habitat and subjected to a deeply lifestyle artificial.

The scene of the “Alert Circle”, however moving, forces us to reflect on a fundamental point: What freedom really exists in a zoo? Elephants are animals that travel Tens of kilometers per day In nature, which establish complex ties, which learn, suffer, remember. Keeping them in a delimited space, however extensive and well -kept, means limiting them, breaking a millennial balance, transforming a free being into a prisoner to be observed.

Modern zoo often justify themselves by talking about conservationbut true protection passes from Protection of their original habitatsnot from imprisonment. The instinctive response of the elephants to the earthquake showed us how extraordinary are. But he also reminded us that their strength, their intelligence and their love for the pack they deserve freedomnot a life on display.