Updated: Sat Jun. 20 2009 3:00:41 PM

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — A week after an elephant died at the Toronto Zoo, a small group of people stood outside the zoo on Saturday demonstrating against what they said was a mammoth problem.

About half a dozen people held signs reading "elephants suffer in zoos" and handed out pamphlets to people driving into the facility as they denounced the treatment of animals in captivity.

Security prevented protesters from entering the grounds.

"Elephants are dying prematurely in zoos. They're only living to about half of the age they should," said Jamie Rivet from In Defence of Animals.

He said the death of an elephant at the zoo last week would not have happened if the animal lived in the wild.

Tessa, a 40-year-old elephant, died after being shoved by a dominant member of her group looking to steal food.

"Elephants that are kept in zoo enclosures can become abnormally aggressive or hostile," said Rivet, who added elephants also suffer from disease and arthritis while in captivity.

But officials from the zoo said the shove was an accident, and definitely not malicious.

"Our elephants are not aggressive at all and they've been at the zoo for 35 years. We have no aggressive elephants," said Eric Cole, the supervisor of the African Savanna, who has been working with the animals for more than 10 years.

Cole also said it's difficult to make a link between illness that occurs in the wild and sickness that happens in captivity.

"There's no ground to say elephants are prone to getting more arthritis in zoos," Cole said.

Tessa would not have survived in the wild that long, because Cole said she was a compromised with congenital conditions, and normally would have been left behind if wandering with a herd.

"Elephants do not live to 80 years of age," Cole added, disputing the protesters claims.

The demonstrators in Toronto were part of an international day of action with events taking place all over the world.