SAN DIEGO -- Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals gathered at the San Diego Zoo Friday to protest the delivery of seven African elephants to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

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PETA PROTEST See Images Of Protest

Protesters blocked the entrance to the San Diego Zoo Friday by parking a truck and dumping manure on the driveway.

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Police: 'This Is Illegal Dumping.'

A man in a fuzzy gray elephant costume then locked himself inside. Shortly before 12:30 p.m., officers managed to get one of the doors open, pulled the man out, handcuffed him and took him away.

While being arrested, the unidentified man told reporters his actions were meant to decry the capture of elephants.

Passerby Billy Feather, 10, said, "It was scary at first but then the more I watched, it got kind of fun."

Along with Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla., the Wild Animal Park imported the elephants from a Swaziland game reserve and a national park. The members of the elephant herd, all between 10 and 12 years old, have been raised together.

Zoo officials said the elephants had been selected for culling by the Swaziland government due to lack of park space.

The Wild Animal Park's Yadira Galindo declined to comment on the protest, but did say the elephants faced death if they were not relocated.

"Swaziland indicated that they could not find another viable place in the country for the elephants to live," she said.

PETA said it offered to relocate the elephants elsewhere in Africa, but the animals were instead sold to the San Diego and Lowry Park zoos.

"Zoos should be protecting animals in their homelands, not snatching them away from their homes and loved ones," said PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "Taking elephants who are thriving with their families in the wild and placing them on display in concrete enclosures halfway around the world is a cruel and inexcusable crime against nature."