Twenty years ago, YouTube's first video went viral—captivity still pays the price   

NEW YORK, April 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty years ago today, YouTube released its first-ever video: a now-iconic 19-second clip titled Me at the Zoo. In it, co-founder Jawed Karim stands in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, casually commenting on what he finds "cool" about elephants. The video has since amassed more than 350 million views and become a milestone in internet history.

But as YouTube celebrates this anniversary, World Animal Protection is calling attention to the deeper—and darker—reality behind the video's setting: the suffering of wild animals held in captivity.

To mark the moment, World Animal Protection partnered with Happiness Brussels Agency and Bine Studio AI studio to release the video Us Still at the Zoo, a haunting new video that follows the story of Sumithi, an Asian elephant, and elephants like her, blending archival footage with AI-generated visuals, the video draws a powerful contrast between 20 years of global progress and the unchanged, confined lives of captive elephants.

Cameron Harsh, Programs Director, World Animal Protection, US states:

"Elephants aren't here to entertain audiences," said Cameron Harsh, Programs Director at World Animal Protection U.S. "They're intelligent, social, and dynamic individuals who deserve to roam free, not live confined in small spaces. Whether taken from the wild or born in captivity, elephants suffer deeply when denied a natural life. We can't allow another 20 years of this cruelty."

Sumithi died after 48 years in captivity. While it's too late to free her, it's not too late for others—including Joyce.

Joyce, an African elephant, was brought to the US from the wilds of Zimbabwe in the 1980s after hundreds of elephants were killed in the government's elephant culling operation. Since arriving in the US alongside 62 other orphaned elephants, Joyce has suffered a traumatic history of performances, isolation, and stress, regularly passed around between zoos, circuses, and other captive attractions around the US. Joyce is currently living in captivity at a Six Flags amusement park in New Jersey.

World Animal Protection is actively campaigning for Six Flags to release Joyce and the four other elephants at the theme park to accredited sanctuaries and to shut down its elephant exhibit for good. Moving Joyce and the other elephants to reputable sanctuaries offers them the best opportunity to live out her remaining years in peace, surrounded by nature and free to roam.

Take action and help release Joyce

About World Animal Protection 

World Animal Protection is a global organization working to end animal exploitation. We expose cruel systems, promote animal-friendly alternatives, and influence policy change. For 75 years, we've been rewriting the story for animals.

Working across almost 50 countries with offices in 12, we are the only global animal advocacy organization with general consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and all its subsidiary bodies It enables us to engage with and influence global decision-makers. We prioritize animals in farming and wild animals exploited for use in entertainment, as pets, and in fashion.

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SOURCE World Animal Protection