Twenty years ago, the first YouTube video was posted, featuring a captive elephant.
On April 23, 2005, YouTube made history with its very first upload: a 19-second clip of co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. Titled Me At The Zoo, the video features Karim casually remarking how “cool” it is that elephants have “really, really long trunks.”
What the video leaves out is the harsh reality of captivity—and the lifelong suffering it inflicts on elephants and other wild animals. Nearly two decades later, the elephants seen in that clip have likely passed on. But tragically, thousands more remain confined in zoos and entertainment venues around the world, denied the space, freedom, and social bonds they would naturally enjoy in the wild.
To mark YouTube’s 20th anniversary, World Animal Protection partnered with Happiness Brussels and Bine Studio to revisit the platform’s first video and ask a powerful question: What about the others?
Watch the video that urges us to look beyond the lens—and truly see the animals still waiting for freedom.