On January 21, 2016, the Metro Council in Portland (the agency that oversees the Oregon Zoo) heard from officials representing the Oregon Zoo and the Oregon Zoo Foundation, urging the cancellation of an off-site preserve for the zoo’s six elephants. A representative from Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants opposed the move. The preserve had been heavily promoted during the 2008 $125 million bond campaign, yet Metro and the zoo later claimed it was never part of the official measure. Metro President Tom Hughes said most voters were unaware of it, and Councilor Sam Chase called the project unnecessary. Zoo staff cited financial risks and insisted that the new 4-acre Elephant Lands exhibit at the Oregon Zoo offered plenty of space, leaving many to feel that both voters and elephants were shortchanged. (Though Elephant Lands sits on 6 acres of space for the zoo’s 6 elephants, they only have access to four acres when you remove the space for the viewing public, space that the elephants do not have access to.)
