Bob Barker: Send Canadian Elephants to California

TORONTO -- Former Price Is Right host and animal rights activist Bob Barker wants the Toronto Zoo to send its three elephants to sunnier climes in California.

"Canada is no place for elephants. It’s too far north. If we can get all of the elephants out of Canada, they’re gonna be much happier,” he told the Toronto Star newspaper in an interview Tuesday.

Barker insisted Thika, Toka and Iringa will be far happier swinging their trunks in a California sanctuary, compared to frigid Toronto where they cannot  roam.

“They have acres and acres of land. They have a mud hole; elephants love to play in the mud. They have a pool; some of them stay underwater practically the whole summer. And there are elephants for them to socialize with. Elephants come in that have been mistreated and been lonely and depressed, and they just blossom. It’s wonderful to behold,” he said of the California sanctuary.

Barker is backing a public campaign by Toronto councillor Shelley Carroll to convince the Toronto Zoo board of directors to send its elephants southwards.