Franklin Zoo (Closed) Elephant Kills Woman at Franklin Zoo

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Please see the following New Zealand website for current information about exporting animals from Australia to New Zealand.

Import Health Standards Search | MPI Biosecurity New Zealand

Once on this page you can enter the type of animal/genetic material to be exported in the "commodity type" field and choose Australia from the drop down box and hit enter.

Does this mean that Australia uses NZ's IHS for animals imported from NZ to Australia?
 
Firstly i doubt WPZ would accept another African. there is plenty of room but not the facilities to maintain four different groups if jumbo and cuddles didnt get on. Jumbo is a bit younger than cuddles and WPZ is quite obviously going to be needed for the Asian program at some point in the next ten years. Cuddles is the longest living resident of dubbo having been there since the zoo opened. i think it would be cruel to take her away from her dedicated team of keepers that she has developed a very strong bond with to live with an elephant that might not accept her as a companion.

Also that half a million dollar figure for her care over the next 12 months???? It costs an average of $80,000 a year to care for an elephant including staffing.
 
Only days before her death, she was making plans to fly to America to talk with the sanctuary about Mila being transferred there. She had also been getting Mila used to some of the handling methods they use in the sanctuary, and had been preparing Mila for her journey.

That is not a lot of accomplishments in THREE years. I totally agree that Helen had no plans of letting her go, at least not until very shortly before her death. Maybe she changed her mind a few weeks before she died, but surely not earlier.
If someone dedicated to get Mila to the US would take over organizing everything I am pretty sure she would be ready within a couple of weeks. It doesn`t take months to train an elephant to enter a crate.

Dubbo isn`t an option since they already turned her down once before. I remember that her owner originally tried to get her to Dubbo but they didn`t want her.

That she didn`t come along with other elephants in the past doesn`t mean she would be unhappy at PAWS. If you look at the history of the elephants at PAWS, you`ll see that Mila isn`t the only one who wasn`t very social before. So far, all antisocial elephants turned out to be very happy in the company of other elephants, with a lot of space to get away from each other. If all fails, she could stay in her own paddock and she would still be better off then in N.Z. since PAWS has much more space and natural grazing.
 
Yassa said:
It doesn`t take months to train an elephant to enter a crate.
especially a circus elephant who has basically spent most of her life living in a big crate!
 
especially a circus elephant who has basically spent most of her life living in a big crate!

Precisely!!! Not exactly "living" but certainly travelling for the past 30 or so years. She would walk into a crate in no time at all, particularly at the behest of Tony Ratcliffe.

@Yassa - why can't PAWS pay for Jumbo to travel to the USA if that is in her best interests? They are a very wealthy organisation.
 
Is not there an animal loving philanthropist in New Zealand?

[pity you dont have premier league soccer stars in NZ?]

Maybe the plight of Mila is not wide spread enough throughout the World?
 
Maybe the plight of Mila is not wide spread enough throughout the World?

Maybe people recognise that the elephant is well off where she is? That there is no "plight"? And that the proposed 1.5 million dollar fundraising smells of a con?
 
@Yassa - why can't PAWS pay for Jumbo to travel to the USA if that is in her best interests? They are a very wealthy organisation.

That would be excellent, and I hope they start fundraising soon. The "wealth" however is relative if you consider that they have hundreds of animals in three sanctuaries and need to stay financially stable and prepared for bad times. You can`t take needy elephants if a 10% drop in donations would force you to declare bancrupcy.
 
Maybe people recognise that the elephant is well off where she is? That there is no "plight"? And that the proposed 1.5 million dollar fundraising smells of a con?

Yes, good point.

If she stays put in NZ is that such a bad thing?

Is Tony Ratcliffe not someone who could assist?

I am thinking of Jumbo now, nobody else.

Please correct me if I am miles off target with these suggestions.
 
Yes, good point.

If she stays put in NZ is that such a bad thing?

Is Tony Ratcliffe not someone who could assist?

I am thinking of Jumbo now, nobody else.

Please correct me if I am miles off target with these suggestions.

You are right on target with these suggestions.

Keeping her in NZ is fine - she has proven in her youth to be incompatible with other elephants and has since had 30 years or so on her own. There is no demonstrable need to now pack her up and shift her half way around the world on the offchance that she might benefit from association with other elephants. I'm surprised that the animal rights people who deplore the transport of elephants around the country in trucks aren't protesting the thought of transporting her around the world in a box.

Tony Ratcliffe could, and would, assist with her if he was permitted to. His involvement would help to recreate the right environment for her that Cadders alluded to in post #169 as the elephant is well bonded with Mr Ratcliffe.

I don't doubt that you, and most of the posters on this forum, have the elephant's best interests at heart. Having first met Jumbo when she came out of quarantine at East Tamaki all those years ago, and having followed her progress ever since, I am not convinced that uprooting her at this stage of her life would be in her best interests. She has a first class facility to live in at Franklin Zoo, obviously dedicated keepers, the opportunity to continue her bond with her human mate of 30 plus years - why not leave it at that?
 
When put like that, its a no brainer.


I cannot for the life of me see any reason why to insist on moving her is in her interest.

Whats the harm in Mr Ratcliffe being involved?

Did he ever mis-treat her? ....I havent heard anything bad about the relationship between this man and the elephant, except she was in a circus, being carted around.


she is not in danger is she?

Is she happy in her present environment?

How long is it since she mixed with other elephants?


How many other forum members agree that its possibly the best solution?


I cant now see any validation for moving her, can you?
 
Having first met Jumbo when she came out of quarantine at East Tamaki all those years ago, and having followed her progress ever since, I am not convinced that uprooting her at this stage of her life would be in her best interests. She has a first class facility to live in at Franklin Zoo, obviously dedicated keepers, the opportunity to continue her bond with her human mate of 30 plus years - why not leave it at that?
complete agreement
 
It costs an average of $80,000 a year to care for an elephant including staffing.

That's at a government run zoo!! lol That is more than $1500 per week for one elephant. I know that the private sector could provide the same standard of care for a bit less than that.

I agree with your rationale for not moving Cuddles. The arguments are pretty much the same as the ones for not moving Jumbo.
 
That's at a government run zoo!! lol That is more than $1500 per week for one elephant. I know that the private sector could provide the same standard of care for a bit less than that.

I agree with your rationale for not moving Cuddles. The arguments are pretty much the same as the ones for not moving Jumbo.


I was going to add that cost could be lower for private. Privates always seem to be able to achieve the same at lower cost. I'm also sure i read somewhere Franklin Zoo recieves a few donations of food from local supermarket which surely helps a bit.

Does anyone know how much was spent or her home at franklin zoo?
 
That would be excellent, and I hope they start fundraising soon. The "wealth" however is relative if you consider that they have hundreds of animals in three sanctuaries and need to stay financially stable and prepared for bad times. You can`t take needy elephants if a 10% drop in donations would force you to declare bancrupcy.

PAWS made an absolute fortune last financial year. and if previous years have been anywhere near as much they should be able to run the sanctuaries even if no new donations were made for the next 20 years.
 
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