DALLAS  -- Jenny the elephant lazily poked her trunk into a bucket of fruit as her keepers at the Dallas Zoo hosed her during her morning bath, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she’s about to be shipped far from her home of the past 22 years.

She’s also certainly unaware of the controversy her departure has stirred.

Zoo officials are planning to send Jenny, who became the zoo’s lone elephant when her companion died in May, to a drive-through wildlife park in Mexico because African elephants become unhappy when left alone. Activists say it’s a terrible decision, and that Jenny is a nervous 9,000-pounder who fears cars and would be miserable there.

“It would be inherently cruel to move her to Mexico,” said Margaret Morin, a registered nurse who heads a group called Concerned Citizens for Jenny. “We’ve grown up with Jenny. She’s our family. She deserves better than getting sent to a drive-through tourist attraction in Mexico.”

The group and dozens of other activists gathered in front of the Dallas Zoo last weekend protesting the move, and this week Dallas City Councilwoman Angela Hunt wrote a commentary in The Dallas Morning News criticizing the decision. They want Jenny to go to a much larger park in Tennessee.

Hunt said she’s concerned because the Mexican zoo is not subject to annual inspections and regulations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and elephants in Mexico are also not protected by the U.S. Animal Welfare Act.

“Jenny’s situation is of great concern to many people I represent,” Hunt told The Associated Press. “This is not an indictment of the zoo in Mexico, but Jenny deserves to be somewhere she will be happy.”

Officials at the Dallas Zoo, the Africam Safari Park near Puebla, Mexico, and even celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna all say Africam is a top-notch facility where 32-year-old Jenny will be well cared for.

“We know she is a nervous elephant, and with protected contact, she can approach people if she wants to and we can monitor her stress levels easily without anyone getting hurt or killed,” said Africam owner Amy Camacho.

Camacho said Jenny and her future companion, a female named Shanty, would share about five acres in a new African elephant exhibit at the park 80 miles southeast of Mexico City. Camacho said Africam would be a good place for the 32-year-old Jenny because she is an older animal and she is used to being in captivity.

On Tuesday, Hanna released a statement supporting the zoo’s decision.

“These animals need our help to protect their natural habitat, as well as facilitate conservation programs throughout the country that are helping new generations of wildlife stewards and conservationists,” his statement said.

But Hunt and the other activists think Jenny would be much better off at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., a much larger area where elephants can roam freely for hundreds of acres.  Jenny’s current home in Dallas is about one-sixth of an acre.

The 2,700-acre refuge in Tennessee facility is home to 17 elephants and is known as a haven for troubled elephants. While the Elephant Sanctuary is not a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, it is approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is the nation’s largest natural-habitat refuge. At the elephant sanctuary, Jenny would share a 300-acre enclosure with three other African elephants.

Carol Buckley, who co-founded the haven in 1995, said the refuge would take Jenny, but the sanctuary is not supporting activists to persuade the zoo.

Dallas Zoo spokeswoman Susan Eckert said the zoo has no plans to move Jenny to Tennessee.

Instead, they plan to continue inspecting Africam Safari Park near Puebla, Mexico to ensure it is the right fit. Africam, founded in 1972, is considered one of the top zoos in Latin America and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

On Tuesday, Dallas Zoo director Gregg Hudson visited the Mexico facility.

The Dallas Zoo will consider bringing the animal back once its habitat for African animals is built, Eckert said, but officials are not yet sure whether she will return. Since the zoo will retain ownership of the animal, they will monitor her behavior at Africam to determine whether she would be happier in Dallas. The habitat is slated for completion in three years.

For now, though, Jenny continues to frolic in the Texas heat until a final decision comes in the fall to move her to Mexico. Zoo officials say they will continue preparing to send her to Africam, although they would reconsider if they encounter a major problem with the facility.

“Whenever you deal with children or animals, you have to consider a lot of options,” Eckert said. “We’re still trying to go through our plans, and we usually have time to consider our options, but with all the furor that we’ve had to go through, we’ve had to be a little more outspoken about our choices.”