Sandro Treated the Open Barn Like a Suggestion and Slept Outside

On his second night at Elephant Sanctuary Brazil, Sandro had a barn with the door left open. He stayed outside anyway.¹

Sandro is an Asian elephant, about 54 years old. Staff at the sanctuary, in Chapada dos Guimarães in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, say it was probably his first night sleeping outdoors in about 50 years. That figure is the sanctuary’s own estimate. Sandro spent roughly 44 years at the Quinzinho de Barros municipal zoo in Sorocaba, in São Paulo state, after living in circuses when he was young.²⁷

“Sandro is doing well and spent his first night sleeping outside in probably about 50 years.”

That line comes from the sanctuary team’s blog post, titled “Sandro enjoys the stars.” The post adds: “The barn is open so he can go in whenever he wants, but he chose nature.”¹

A long ride and a fast exit

Sandro left Sorocaba on Wednesday, September 16, and traveled roughly 1,600 kilometers to Mato Grosso. The transfer followed a court decision after years of dispute.²³

The trip took about two and a half days, and he ate and drank the whole way. When his crate opened on Friday, September 18, he was out within seconds.⁸ “I blinked. It was out,” Scott Blais, co-founder of Global Sanctuary for Elephants, said, as quoted by Ecoticias.⁷

Saturday on the trails

After his morning meal on Saturday, staff opened the gate so he could roam the sanctuary’s natural area. He explored the trails and ate leaves and grasses. He went far enough that the live stream lost its internet signal, which is one way to know an elephant has found some room.⁴

He napped in the barn in the late afternoon.⁴ When keeper Michele went down at 10 pm with his feed, Sandro was outside, and the cameras did not show him in the barn during the night.¹²

In the morning, Blais walked him to the nearest water trough for a drink and a bath before breakfast.² The sanctuary announced the outdoor night on Sunday, September 20.⁵

Years in the making

Global Sanctuary for Elephants has worked to bring Sandro to the Brazil sanctuary since 2020. The group says that at the zoo he did not get complete veterinary exams or enough exercise, and that his indoor area was small, damp and hard-surfaced.⁶ He was the zoo’s only male elephant, and his companion, Haisa, died in 2020.²³

A three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the sanctuary was the best place for him. Ecoticias reports that the city of Sorocaba kept appealing after the ruling.⁶⁷

His new home covers about 1,100 hectares and was created for elephants that spent much of their lives in captivity.²

The barn has not gone to waste. On a later night, monitoring cameras caught Sandro lying down asleep on a mound of dirt inside it. Elephants usually sleep standing up and lie down only when they feel safe.⁴