European elephants 2010

Thats right about the demonstration, if i remember correctly ( in 2008) they basically showed the elephants presenting their feet, trunks and ears etc for health checks and show them carrying a branch in their trunks so definitely not the "tricks" which you seem to be implying elandantiloop. Although there wasn't a demonstration last due to the tragic deaths of leelee and donaldson.

You are right about the daily walks Pertinax but i think Karishma does go out on them as I have been a couple of times since January and seen all 7 ele's out. A volunteer told me they try to go everyday in the afternoon depending on staffing and that they had started taking the other females who didn't used to walk (Karishma and Mya?) so that when Karishma's calf was born they would be able to walk as well! which i guess makes sense as it would be a little unfair to deny the calf the chance for the enrichment gained from the walks just because mum doesn;t walk.
Will be a really impressive sight to see all 8 females and calfs walking around the park if it happens!
 
I don't know what they exactly do in whipsnade and what the walk in the parc in involves but I've seen some photo's of it on asianelephants.net
and it seemed not someting very good in my eyes.

So I don't know the details about it but in general I prefer the methods that Emmen uses, though they go very far in this and don't even come with the elephants to check if one's pregnant.
 
I've seen the elephant's walk, and they all seem to enjoy it, and our let into the downs and woods at the top of the Park to eat to their heart's content during this walk. For this reason it's probably very beneficial, and I'd be more concerned for the keepers if anything.
 
catinthehat said:
but i think Karishma does go out on them as I have been a couple of times since January and seen all 7 ele's out. A volunteer told me they try to go everyday in the afternoon depending on staffing and that they had started taking the other females who didn't used to walk (Karishma and Mya?) so that when Karishma's calf was born they would be able to walk as well! which i guess makes sense as it would be a little unfair to deny the calf the chance for the enrichment gained from the walks just because mum doesn;t walk.
Will be a really impressive sight to see all 8 females and calfs walking around the park if it happens!
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That's interesting, and thanks to Zambar too, for the information on the ' 'edu-displays' which I didn't know about. I am sure they are very careful not to let the Elephants do anything 'undignified'- at least in public, which could invoke criticism.

Regarding the walks, maybe they trust Karishma enough now to include her (plus her calf obviously) too. But if two of these females don't get on well enough for them to be left together in one group, isn't there a problem when they are out walking them altogether? Perhaps with the keepers in attendance such problems don't arise.
 
During the elephant show, the keepers make one of the females to stand on her hind legs, a circus trick that damages the joints of an elephant. The keepers put a lot of effort into making it seem as if the show were "educational", but keeper talks/feeding with comments would serve the same purpose.

They are walking all elephants??

- Mya killed a keeper in London
- Aziza recently injured one of the keepers during one of these walks
- Karishma was sent to Whipsnade because the keepers in Twycross couldn`t handle her
- Euan is now nearly 6 and that`s well past the age in which bull calves trained in direct contact have attacked and killed keepers

That`s a tragedy waiting to happen.
 
Yassa said:
During the elephant show, the keepers make one of the females to stand on her hind legs, a circus trick that damages the joints of an elephant. The keepers put a lot of effort into making it seem as if the show were "educational", but keeper talks/feeding with comments would serve the same purpose.

They are walking all elephants??

- Mya killed a keeper in London
- Aziza recently injured one of the keepers during one of these walks
- Karishma was sent to Whipsnade because the keepers in Twycross couldn`t handle her
- Euan is now nearly 6 and that`s well past the age in which bull calves trained in direct contact have attacked and killed keepers

That`s a tragedy waiting to happen.
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I didn't realise that was bad for the elephants.....as the keepers seemed to be showing how they could reach vegetation high up in trees. I assumed they would do this in the wild anyway, wouldn't they?

In response to the walks etc....surely they zoo management would have stopped the walks if they thought there would be any danger/tragedy waiting to happen. And if they thought Mya really was that dangerous surely keepers wouldn't still be working with her without a barrier between them. I'm sure there is alot more to some of the stories and it could be possible that as members of the public we haven't heard the full story....but then I guess i could be being a little naive
 
Look into the long history of elephant keepers being killed or injured by elephants in western zoos and the only conclusion is that elephant keepers are notoriously bad at recognizing risks and for whatever reason, the management often lets them do what they want.

Hey, less then 6 months ago, Aziza - one of the elephants who is daily walked in the presence of hundreds of visitors - pushed a keeper against a tree and injured him, he`s lucky to be alive. In 2001, Mya killed an experienced keeper. Just 3 weeks ago, a german elephant keeper was very seriously injured by a 4 year old bull calf she knew since his birth, and the head keeper was present but could not do anything.

If your assumption were correct, none of these incidents had happend. And there are many, many, many more.
 
according to asianelephant database he had sired one calf as chali wrote:
1. 11/1985 ♂ Kij † in Tbilisi
this is sad why would anyone want to poison an elephant?
 
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dragon(ele)nerd said:
according to asianelephant database he had sired one calf:
1. 11/1985 ♂ Kij † in Tbilisi
this is sad why would anyone want to poison an elephant?
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The latter is a baseless accusation by an totally incompetent political appointee director after its former director resisted municipal attempts to have the zoo budget cut significantly, its well-trained staff sacked and part of its territory sold off as prime real estate. This zoo has now become an utter disgrace.

Besides: Messrs. Brezina comes out with a claim before any post-mortem has been done. Expertly incompetent .... (for lack of proper qualification) :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
If I look at the history and political activities of Mrs Brezina she s not only not capable to judge this, she also might have other motives to shout this (covering her own ass b.e.)
 
Tonight a female elephant was born in Hannover. Nikolai x Sayang.
There are still four pregnant cows.
 
Where will the new Elephant Pavilion be constructed? I saw a previous plan indicating that it would be situated where the current savannah is now (the one with waterboks),
 
Toddy said:
Where will the new Elephant Pavilion be constructed? I saw a previous plan indicating that it would be situated where the current savannah is now (the one with waterboks),
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Yes, the new Elephant pavilon will be constructed in the current antelope savannah. I uploaded 2 photos:

- this is the left side of the antelope enclosure, it will be the future first elephant outside pen. The elephant house will be situated where the old wooden antelope stable stays, and will continue where the fence is, almost to the point where the bridge toward giraffes starts.
old-antelope-enclosure-96396-m.jpg


- this is the right side of the same antelope enclosure, it will be turned into a second outside pen for elephants. (The former pen for Milu will disapper to make room for the elephant bull´s exhibit.)
old-antelope-enclosure-96397-m.jpg


Such a shame that this meadow, used +50 years for antelopes, will be turned into another dusty barren elephant run. I personally would sneeze at new elephant barn and save this meadow for future. Does Prague need elephants?
 
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