It is 95 degrees out, and Rowan Morrison's portable fan has mysteriously stopped working. The fan was her only respite from the brutal heat, and while that alone would constitute bad news for most people, it is particularly troublesome for Morrison, who is standing in front of the Philadelphia Zoo in a full-body elephant suit. Morrison, along with about a half-dozen fellow activists, is protesting the zoo's proposal for a new elephant exhibit. Wild elephants roam between 30 and 50 miles a day, the protesters say, but the zoo has proposed a 2.5 acre plot (which is approximately three times more than what its four pachyderms have now). Morrison is calling on Philadelphia to follow the lead of seven other U.S. zoos that have responded to the recent deaths of several captive elephants by closing their exhibits and turning the megafauna over to spacious "sanctuaries."

As with all small protests, Morrison's is ignored by most passersby. Every once in a while, though, somebody takes interest and signs her petition, which, with internet signatories, now contains more than 400 names.

"We're really just starting out," she says.

On the other side of the gates, zoo president and CEO Pete Hoskins stands amidst a large crowd of spectators, watching the elephants play in their outdated home. Two splash in a small pond and two stand on dry land, using their trunks to fidget with child-sized canisters. Hoskins says these elephants are perfectly healthy.

"The fact is that animals in zoos generally do much better from a health standpoint and from a longevity standpoint," he says. The zoo has a full-time veterinary staff, which says the elephants' feet are perfectly fine. The protesters, Hoskins says, "have an emotional argument with no real facts."

Morrison contends that elephants live longer in zoos because of factors like poaching, and characterizes the zoo veterinarians' approach as "waiting for the elephants to get arthritis."

The exhibit she objects to is really just an idea at this point. In addition to expanding the elephants' stomping ground, the zoo would like to add educational features, join a national breeding program and introduce two new elephants. The renovation would cost approximately $22 million and would open to the public by 2009.

The main obstacle in the zoo's way is fundraising; Morrison, Hoskins says, is not a concern.

"There are thousands of people here today," he explains, gesturing toward the crowd. "About three are out there protesting."