An animal rights group has sued to stop zoos in Kansas, Nebraska and Texas from bringing in new elephants from Africa.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the Friends of Animals filed a lawsuit last week in federal court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Last month, the agency issued permits allowing the importation of 18 African elephants from Swaziland.
The elephants would be divided among the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas, the Dallas Zoo in Texas and the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Nebraska.
The three zoos agreed to spend $450,000 over several years on black rhino conservation.
The environmental lawsuit argues the service did not take into account how the transfer would negatively hurt the social, mental and physical well-being of the 18 elephants.
