I'm glad they persevered with their plan through all the cyivist hubbub over the past month. These guys really blew their tops when they discovered the zoo was going to transfer them to another zoo in place of a sanctuary, and they really bent over backwards to derail the move to Tulsa so they could go to their beloved elephant sanctuaries
Now there are no more Asian Elephants in the Los Angeles Zoo and in the State of California.
The Performing Animal Welfare Society in San Andreas has 2.1 Asian Elephants, but they are the only three in the state. According to the list on post #1 these are their Asian Elephants:
I meant Zoos.
Hopefully there will be some younger Asian individuals available to come to EOA to replace Billy and Tina in the near future, even if it might be a while from now. They did say an pause for the immideate future, so that still ignites some hope in me.
Same, hopefully protest/controversy dies down by then
It might be best if they wait for the activists to cool it and finally go easy on the zoo for once before they can acquire some younger individuals. Even if breeding herds might still he in their long term plans, I still think they cam temporarily do bachelors in the meantime until a matriline split becomes available. Much of the newer Asian facilities with breeding herds have the capability of managing multiple adult bulls/bachelors alongside that herd type or already do it, a lot of times because of having 3 or 4 outdoor yards.
Same here.
Louisville earlier on did say that they will look into making a large habitat with the ability to manage breeding herds by evaluating zoo grounds once mikki and Punch go this summer. I think they only con about it is that it's a costly endeavor, and I'm not sure they have enough funds for ot yet. But they don't seem to be one of these zoos who would absolutely love to to have elephants back down the road.
To echo what @Great Argus said, I too thought they’re sort of over their elephant program on-site at the zoo. According to their own blogs, there are significant hurdles such as cost of a new elephant exhibit that may be too much. It looks like their idea is to repurpose their elephant habitat/barn for another species not yet determined.
I find it interesting that the zoo has repeatedly stated that any future exhibit would have to be able to hold a bull group and a breeding group as a requirement. Could just be an ambitious hope for them, but it looks like this might also be a reflection of a changing standard for new exhibits going forward.
It could be perhaps sort of “go big or go bust” approach to exhibiting elephants. They’re very social animals and perhaps to keep family units as close as possible that they’d need to maintain enough space for their herds. Could every zoo do this? Probably not. But those thoroughly dedicated to their respective elephant programs may reduce to fewer numbers of holders but able to maintain larger herds together. All of the recent elephant projects are getting larger and more expensive obviously. Like the SDZ Safari Park’s Elephant Valley is the parks largest and most expensive project, the renovation is set to cost 66 million dollars. That’s a tall order to ask for for most facilities unless you have dedicated mega donors.
Tbh, with all this considered (among a mountain of other problems), I'm wondering if LA Zoo should go private
