Sunny is a female Asian elephant believed to have been born around 1979. She arrived at Ishikawa Zoo in 1989 at around ten years old. For more than 37 years since, she has lived alone.
Sunny was one of the elephants at the heart of Elephants in Japan’s original 2017 investigation. When elephant biologist Dr. Keith Lindsay visited on our behalf, he found Sunny forced to spend much of her day inside a small, barren, barred enclosure. With almost nothing to do, Sunny repeatedly ran her trunk over the same bare walls, searching the only areas she could reach. Over time, she left visible marks across the walls, a heartbreaking sign of just how often she had repeated the same action, trying to occupy herself in the same empty space. She was also observed swaying over and over, a behavior often seen in elephants suffering from long-term stress and boredom.
After our investigation brought greater attention to Sunny’s plight, there were some encouraging changes. The zoo began hiding her food around her enclosure so she could spend more time searching and foraging. Sand was added so she could dig and dust bathe, along with feeding devices and other items to give her more to do. Sunny was also given greater freedom to choose where she wanted to be between her indoor and outdoor spaces.
In January 2019, Elephants in Japan delivered more than 480,000 petition signatures calling for a better life for Sunny. The zoo later responded to us with information showing some of the changes it had made to her care.
Extract from Ishikawa Zoo’s response to Elephants in Japan following the delivery of more than 480,000 petition signatures in January 2019, illustrating welfare improvements for Sunny, including sand bathing and water enrichment.
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Sunny could not be visited as part of our latest investigation because Ishikawa Zoo was closed on the day of our planned visit. We therefore cannot independently assess her current living conditions or how much these changes have improved her day-to-day life.
More recently, there have also been concerns about Sunny’s health. Since 2025, she has twice been temporarily taken off public display while the zoo monitored and managed her condition. She later returned to limited outdoor access, but the zoo has not publicly provided detailed information about the health problems involved.
Sunny is an intelligent, emotional being, capable of forming lifelong friendships, remembering those she loves for decades, and comforting other elephants in distress. Yet instead of living as part of a close-knit family, she has spent nearly four decades completely alone.
