Garden City ? A national animal rights group has cited Garden City’s zoo as one of six zoos nationwide that need to make major changes in how they house elephants.

In Defense of Animals, based in Mill Valley, Calif., charges widespread evidence of chronic foot and joint problems among captive elephants.

The nonprofit group singles out the condition of the animals in six zoos, including Garden City’s Lee Richardson Zoo, and seeks change in pertinent federal rules.

The group filed its complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees zoo animal treatment.

The group’s petition asks the USDA to inspect several zoos where elephants have arthritis and foot disease.

In Defense asks that zoos provide more space for elephants if USDA inspectors find the animals suffer from chronic foot and joint woes.

Tight quarters account for such problems, the group claims.

In Defense also asks, without specifying numbers, that elephant enclosures be large enough to allow captive animals exercise space similar to the expanses their counterparts enjoy in the wild.

Kathy Sexson, director of Lee Richardson Zoo, said elephants in the wild ranged over such large areas out of necessity, seeking food and water. In captivity, where their physical and mental needs are provided for, they don’t need to travel as far.

Providing “miles and miles” of space for elephants would be nice, Sexson says, but zoos have space limitations.