Sean Diener, executive director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, said he has received information from related groups that Wankie, 35, may be transferred from Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, where it is the sole remaining African elephant, to Hogle Zoo. Diener said the move would be a mistake, and that the pachyderm should be sent instead to a Tennessee animal sanctuary.

"Wankie has an opportunity to go to a sanctuary where she can live out the rest of her life" with many other elephants, not just the two at Hogle, Diener said.

Stacey Phillips, spokeswoman for Hogle Zoo, said no determination has been made about whether Wankie is Salt Lake City-bound. The decision lies with the San Diego Zoo, which owns Wankie, as well as the American Zoological and Aquarium Association.

"If they feel we're the appropriate home, we'd be happy to take her," Phillips said.

He said that Craig Dinsmore, the zoo's executive director, has been in contact with several zoos, including the one in San Diego, about bringing more elephants here. The Elephant Encounter exhibit, scheduled to open in June, can hold up to four elephants.

Zoo officials said the upgrade will provide better facilities for Hy Dari and Christy, the zoo's current African elephants.

Diener said the expanded elephant area fails to match up to The Elephant Sanctuary's 2,700 acres in Hohenwald, Tenn.

Six animal rights protesters lined up along Sunnyside Avenue with signs, which elicited the occasional honk from passing cars.

glavine@sltrib.com