Joyce Campaign Activist Toolkit

Joyce was tragically brought to the US from Zimbabwe in the 1980s after most of her herd was killed by the government.

Since then, she’s lived a life of suffering, performing in captive attractions around the country.

We believe her story deserves a different ending.

To win this campaign, we won’t be able to do it alone. That’s why we put together this activist toolkit with all the resources you need to put pressure on Six Flags and urge company leadership to free Joyce and send her and the other elephants to a sanctuary where they can live the rest of their lives in peace.

While this won’t be easy, it is possible. Together, we can get our voices heard and make change happen again for Joyce.

Our Ask

We are urging Six Flags Great Adventure to close down its elephant enclosure and commit to not purchasing or breeding any new elephants for the Wild Safari.

We are asking for Joyce and the other four elephants to be sent to one of the three elephant sanctuaries in the US where they can live the rest of their lives free from exploitation.

Why Six Flags?

Six Flags is a multi-billion-dollar company that specializes in amusement and water parks but has no expertise in animal care or conservation. It hasn’t had the proper permits to buy and sell endangered and threatened animals since 2007. Despite this, it has purchased animals, including some from roadside zoos, in violation of federal law.

In addition, Joyce and the other wild animals can’t thrive at Six Flags. Our research has shown that Joyce is living in an enclosure 700,000 times smaller than her natural home range in the wild.

By releasing Joyce and the other animals, Six Flags would be doing right by wild animals and helping to end the captive wildlife entertainment industry for good.

How You Can Help

Sign Our Petition

Add your name to our petition to free Joyce–our goal is 100,000!

Send an Email to Six Flags

Use our one-click action, enter your information, and it will send a message to Six Flag’s leadership team. You have the option to customize your message.

Submit a Customer Complaint to Six Flags and Boycott the Park

What’s one way to pressure Six Flags? By hitting its bottom line! Submit a customer complaint and boycott the park until it decides to do the right thing and free Joyce.

Go to Six Flag’s Contact Us page.
Scroll down to Send Us a Note (Electronically)
Click Ride, Shows, and Events
Click Ride Comment/Complaint
Fill out the form and click submit. Suggested body below:

Hi, I am writing to urge Six Flags to release Joyce the elephant from your Wildlife Safari to a sanctuary where she can live the rest of her life in peace. She is not a commodity to be used for entertainment and she definitely does not belong at an amusement park. Please work with World Animal Protection to release her. Until then, I am boycotting Six Flags and telling all my friends and family to do the same.

Post About Joyce on Social and Tag Six Flags

Download one of our social media graphics and put the pressure online! We have a square graphic and one sized for stories.

More Ways to Help

Comment on Six Flags’ Instagram and Facebook Posts

Leave a comment on one of Six Flags’ Instagram or Facebook posts with the hashtag #FreeJoyce. Example:

Hey @sfgradventure, stop supporting animal cruelty and #FreeJoyce from the Wildlife Safari!!!

Write a Letter to Six Flags’ Headquarters

Anyone can send a letter, but if you are a teacher, this is a great activity to do with your students! You can also include drawings from your students of Joyce in a sanctuary. Send your letter to:

Six Flags Great Adventure

1 Six Flags Blvd.

Jackson, NJ 08527

Share the Short Documentary With Your Community

Send the video to your friends or family. Or, host a film screening of your own in your home or local event space and share actions your friends can take from this toolkit!

Share This Guide With Family and Friends

Sharing is caring! The more people who join us, the better our chances of winning the campaign.

Tell Us Your Campaign Ideas

Have any thoughts on how else we can move Six Flags? Let us know! We love learning new ideas about how we can make a positive impact for animals.

Donate Monthly

We are fighting a multi-billion-dollar company to free Joyce. A monthly donation helps provide the sustained income we need to keep up this campaign.

Do You Live in New Jersey?

Contact the Mayor of Jackson Township (Where Six Flags Great Adventure Is Located)

Call Michael Reina at 732-928-1256 or if you’re in the area, you can meet the mayor at the Town Hall on the last Monday of each month at 7pm to raise concerns about Joyce.

You can also send an email to the Jackson Township council members.

Submit a News Tip to a Local NJ TV News Station

Many news stations allow you to share requests for a story—request that they share Joyce’s. You can reach out to News 12 New Jersey and ask the network to air a story about the Joyce campaign. Send the network an email and include your full name, phone number, and all relevant information, including photos or videos (like the link to the documentary!). Sample message:

I’m reaching out to bring your attention to a deeply concerning story about elephants in captivity at Six Flags Wild Safari Adventure in New Jersey—one that I hope you will consider covering. Elephants are not amusement attractions. One elephant in particular, Joyce, has been suffering in captivity at the park for over a decade after a tragic life as a circus performer, deprived of the space and care she needs. World Animal Protection, a global nonprofit dedicated to animal advocacy, has been working to secure Joyce’s immediate release to a sanctuary where she can live in a more natural environment.

I encourage you to reach out to World Animal Protection to learn more about Joyce’s plight and its campaign to free her. You can contact Jeanne Turkheimer, Communications and Influencer Relations Manager, by email.

Reach Out to Your Representatives in the State Senate and Assembly

Urge your legislators to pass a state law banning elephant captivity. The New Jersey Legislature allows you to search legislators by an alphabetical list, municipality, district number, and an interactive map. Emails are listed under “Current Roster.”

Submit an Op-ed or Story Tip About Joyce to a New Jersey Newspaper

Use our campaign talking points (in the next section of this toolkit below) to draft an op-ed, or suggest the newspaper run a story about the campaign to free Joyce. Here is a list of newspapers to start with:

The Jackson Times: Select “Story Idea” and “The Jackson Times”
NJ.com (The Star-Ledger, Times of Trenton, and South Jersey Times): Follow the instructions to submit an op-ed.

Campaign Talking Points

Joyce was one of 63 orphaned baby elephants taken from Zimbabwe and sent to Florida in 1984. Since then, she has been shuffled between circuses, zoos, and amusement parks across the U.S., enduring a lifetime of isolation, suffering, and fear.
In 1987, Joyce was sent to the Carden Circus, where she was forced to perform unnatural tricks like dancing and balancing on a tub. She endured more than 15 years of exploitation in the circus industry.
Since 2010, Joyce has been confined at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. Her three-acre enclosure is a fraction of the vast landscapes she would roam in the wild. Not adapted to cold climates, she spends brutal New Jersey winters locked inside a barn.
Elephants are highly social animals that thrive in large, complex herds essential to their well-being. Though Joyce shares space with four other elephants, it’s nothing like the intricate social structure she would have in the wild. She also shows signs of discomfort around Lucy, the dominant elephant, leading to chronic stress and anxiety.
Three U.S. sanctuaries can provide Joyce with the space, care, and dignity she deserves: Elephant Refuge North America (GA), PAWS Wildlife Sanctuary (CA), and The Elephant Sanctuary (TN).
Captivity can never fully meet an elephant’s physical, emotional, or social needs—especially when they are confined for public entertainment.
Captive elephants face serious health issues and shortened lifespans. They commonly suffer from arthritis, osteoarthritis, hernias, swollen joints, foot lesions, skin calluses, and painful abscesses—conditions rarely seen in the wild.
In captivity, elephants are confined to enclosures that are a fraction of their natural range, often with limited access to natural terrain. In cold climates like New Jersey, they are forced to spend much of their time indoors on hard surfaces like concrete, worsening their physical suffering.

FAQ

Have you tried to contact Six Flags?

Yes, we tried contacting Six Flag’s leadership team, but we have yet to receive a response.

Can’t someone just buy Joyce from Six Flags?

Maybe, but it would not be the right way to go about freeing Joyce. If we were to offer Six Flags money, it would send the wrong message and continue the cycle of purchasing and selling elephants for entertainment.

Where do you want Joyce to go?

There are three sanctuaries in the United States that can provide the care and space that Joyce needs to thrive: Elephant Refuge North America in Georgia, PAWS Wildlife Sanctuary in California, and The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

This seems like a hard campaign. Is it possible to free Joyce?

Yes, it’s definitely possible. We helped transfer Mundi the elephant from the Puerto Rican Zoo to a sanctuary in Georgia. Under the right conditions, the same can be done for Joyce.

What about zoos? Are elephants living there safe?

Whether at zoos, amusement parks, or circus-style shows, elephants suffer during capture, transportation, training, interactions with people, and breeding. Captivity limits their ability to express natural behaviors, putting their physiological and psychological well-being at risk. No matter how good a zoo aims to be, captivity will never provide the physiological and psychological needs of elephants in the same way as their natural habitats.

My question wasn’t answered.

No problem! Email us.