Nikita Dhawan, Founder of Youth for Animals, interviews Courtney Scott, Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals (IDA), about their Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants campaign.
Courtney Scott is the Elephant Consultant for In Defense of Animals (IDA). Located in Portland, Oregon, she has spent the last 15 years working to advance the cause of captive elephants. In 2008, after witnessing the Oregon Zoo's senior elephant Packy pacing in his pathetically small cage, she was motivated to launch the non profit Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants (FOZE). Seeing Packy's suffering also inspired her to produce a film exposing the plight of captive animals. IDA has been a staunch ally for FOZE, and collaborated on many protests and outreach events. IDA with FOZE successfully lobbied to get the zoo to stop its use of bull hooks and IDA's efforts led to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) ban on bull hooks for all its member zoos. As of 2021, Courtney has been busy working for IDA on the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants campaign, and is also engaged in developing more ways for IDA to support the cause of captive and wild elephants in Asia and Africa.
