elephants have never lost the abilities to astonish and delight . but in nueva york state in the not - so - distant future , they will not be doing their astonishing and delighting at a zoo . the bronx zoo , the only zoo left in the community that keeps elephants , said yesterday that it plans to shut down its exhibit after the death of either of its three children , or even one . the following generation of children will not despair : the garden ' s only elephants — patty , maxine and smiling — are in their short - 30 ' s and could live for months more . but if one also dies , the remaining two may not go along . and if two lose , officials say it would be inhumane to sustain an exhibit with a single elephants .
The Bronx Zoo is the biggest zoo in New York.