Ida Worst Zoos For Eles 2007

NZ Jeremy said:
What zoos is sand used at and how do their elephants fair better..?
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i dunno how much better they fair, but melbournes elephant barn is rubberised at one end and deep (at least a couple of feet) sand on rubber at the other. from memory it was initially all rubber, then they modified a couple of stalls for sand as an afterthought. the public has no access to the bull barn so i'm no sure what bong-su gets but ide guess its sand. he's the only elephant at teh zoo that has had a history of foot problems although he's been in good health for many years now, probably ever since the zoo got serious and jacked-up the concrete in the old exhibit whilst they awaited the new one

also the melbourne elephants have access to their outdoor enclosures every night, year round, so they essentially spend next to no time on concrete or even rubber at all......
 
There's an awful lot of hand-wringing on this forum over the size of elephant enclosures in city zoos. We would all like to see larger elephant enclosures (but I'd like to see larger enclosures for other species,too.......) It's too simplistic to believe that an animal on 5 acres is automatically going to be 5 times happier than an animal on 1 acre.

Let me ask you self-appointed elephant "experts" this; What do you see as a suitable sized, humane enclosure for, say, five elephants?
 
The person with grandkids responds!! I mean that in a nice way Ara...

The Seattle Zoo has 3 elephants on 1.5 acres and they don't even utilize the entire space, but that hasn't stopped people from criticizing the area of the enclosure. But with zoos like Oregon and Chester having 6 or 7 elephants on 2 acres, then surely anyone can realize that those exhibits are too small?

You pose a solid question, and since I've already ranted and raved about elephant space on ZooBeat many times then I'd have to say that the simple answer would be to make the standards much, much higher than they currently are. The forum member Taccachantrieri listed off the space requirements and they are puny, so why not make it an acre per elephant? 5 acres for 5 pachyderms, and so on. Naturally enrichment in the form of food, pools, surprises, etc would also be a necessity for any modern zoo.
 
Ara said:
It's too simplistic to believe that an animal on 5 acres is automatically going to be 5 times happier than an animal on 1 acre.
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i would instead say its simplistic to assume that only urban zoos can provide elephants with an enriched landscape. which all of us know isn't true - so please, spare the assumption that the anti-urban-elephant camp is talking about throwing a bunch of elephants in a treeless, barren 10 acres of nothing.
 
Help Elephants in Zoos

Go to that website and read about the horrors of the Oregon Zoo's 6 elephants. The sad fact remains that the Oregon zoo has the # 1 breeding record for elephants in any zoo in North America...ever. Three elephants put to death in a decade due to foot disease, and the exhibit remains the same...tiny and inadequate for the animals it holds.

This link has a health record of all 6 elephants:

Help Elephants in Zoos

The horrible foot ailments are beyond belief, not to mention the hundreds of puncture wounds from an ankus on several elephants. And all this from the leading breeder of elephants in North America.
 
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Wow, that's a terrible thing to read! Food for thought!

Elephants really have suffered at the hands of humans, haven't they? They deserve better than that!

"Tradition" has a lot to answer for. It's "tradition" to use an ankus to control elephants, so it has become accepted. If people started using an ankus on horses or, say rhinos, there would be a great outcry.
 
Ara said:
Let me ask you self-appointed elephant "experts" this; What do you see as a suitable sized, humane enclosure for, say, five elephants?
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I'm not elephant expert, but from experience, I seen breeding groups of 8+ with normally behaving elephants in maybe 60,000 m2.

Space per one elephant makes no sense. They live in herds which keep together. It's not one-family apartment.

For elephants, most important is soft floor, group who likes each other (for this you canot tell from across the world "put female A with female B"), good caretakers they know and trust, good health care and good enrichment. Space is at the end.

BTW, site of person who worked with real elephants: MANAGING ZOO AND CIRCUS ELEPHANTS - Elephant Encyclopedia
 
All those that read the health report on Oregon Zoo's 6 elephants should feel pity at their tough lives. The foot disorders are caused by years of rocking, weaving, and standing still on hard-packed surfaces...as they simply do not have the space to roam.

A major zoo resorting to killing 3 elephants in ten years due to foot ailments is abominable.
 
The Oklahoma City Zoo has decided to build a 4-5 acre elephant complex, and it will be completed by 2011. Great to see yet another zoo spending millions on their elephants! Here is the link:

NewsOK Mobile
 
Top 10 best for elephants

My top 10 best in order is

1. San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park
2. Oakland Zoo
3. Kansas City Zoo
4. Indianapolis Zoo
5. Tulsa Zoo
6. Saint Louis Zoo
7. Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo
8. Nashville Zoo
9. North Carolina Zoo
10. Utah's Hogle Zoo

Other zoos worth mentioning with nice elephant exhibits include Columbus Zoo, Pittsburgh Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo, and Toledo Zoo

Other zoo's who will within the next 5 years have awesome exhibits are

1. Los Angeles Zoo- Pachyderm Forest
2. San Diego Zoo- Elephant Odyssey
3. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo- African Elephant Crossing
4. National Zoo- Elephant Trails
5. Denver Zoo- Asian Tropics
6. Brookfield Zoo- Elephant Trails
7. Oklahoma City Zoo- Asian Area
8. Houston Zoo- McNair Elephant Habitat
9. Henry Doorly Zoo- African Elephant Habitat
10. Dallas Zoo- African Savannah

My Top 10 current worst- (This does not mean in 5 years this means the 10 worst TODAY)

1. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom- Cannot be put into words because the exhibit is god-awful. Unacceptable how elephants play TUG-OF-WAR with guests. 10 elephants have been euthanized here since 1995
2. San Antonio Zoo- Lucky was misnamed. Cruel how a female elephant lives in solitary confinement
3. Dallas Zoo- Atrocious elephant enclosure with a repetitive stereotypical elephant named Jenny
4.El Paso Zoo- Caught beating elephants in 1999
5. Buffalo Zoo- Tiny indoor area
6. Philadelphia Zoo (although it will soon be phased out)- Most barren exhibit in the country
7. Fort Worth Zoo- Sad depressing barren exhibit
8. Memphis Zoo- Barren concrete exhibit with no plans to refurbish it
9. Los Angeles (Reason it is not as high is because Bull elephants are more solitary) but still inhumane exhibit-- At least in a year Billy will have a beautiful paradise
10. Point Defiance Zoo- Barren cramped exhibit
 
What about Disney's Animal Kingdom? Beautiful, large vegetated habitats, incredible off-exhibit holding areas.

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@BlackRhino:

Hey, great list but you did forget about Disney's Animal Kingdom elephant exhibit, which is probably the biggest and best one of all at 7 acres.

Also, there are good news regarding Los Angeles Zoo's Pachyderm Forest. The LA zoo is finishing half of the exhibit (Phase II of the construction), so that Billy could move to at least half of the exhibit by the end of this year. This will also allow the zoo to destroy the old exhibit and barn. That means that LA won't be in the worst list for long.
 
@BlackRhino: I love that you have typed out the list, as I really enjoy statistics, facts and all sorts of lists. Everyone has different opinions, and I think that the Columbus Zoo has a huge elephant building (largest in North America) and an extremely nice outdoor yard which should really push them into the top 10 for pachyderm habitats.

What is really intriguing is how such a list will look in 5 years time, as there are a number of high-profile zoos constructing elephant exhibits that all look rather impressive. Of the 85 or so zoos in North America that currently hold elephants, probably at least 65 of the habitats are too small and outdated. That's a true yet sad fact, but the good news is that in another 10 or 20 years then hopefully the proportion of high-quality elephant enclosures will greatly outweigh the antiquated ones.
 
Jurek7 said:
I seen breeding groups of 8+ with normally behaving elephants in maybe 60,000 m2.
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What? Mistake! :( :eek: I never seen 6ha elephant exhibit. I meant 6,000m2!

On this occassion, maybe somebody can give size of enclosures of known breeding herds in Europe: Emmen, Tierpark Berlin, Rotterdam, Copenhagen (former) etc?
 
i dont think anyone has made a note of bareclonas exhibit which concrete and smaller than my very own bedroom!

and i must say that national zoos new elephant trails looks good from the website
 
snowleopard said:
It's time for a change, and 17 zoos have come to that realization and closed down their elephant exhibits. The Bronx Zoo is next on that list, as once their elephants die then they won't have anymore.
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Personally, I don't think that the Bronx Zoo's display's are none too bad. Of course--they could be better. But I think there's a reason they haven't gotten any negative attention.

Philladelphia--on the other hand--deserved a spot on that list!
 
@ Snowleopard: As change are you saying that it is time for ALL zoos to close their elephant exhibits? I don't think that is necessary because I have seen some great elephant exhibits. I also think you believe IDA a little too much Mr. leopard. What it really tries to do is convince people and it is suppose to sound very convincing.
 
The San Diego Wild Animal Park, Indianapolis Zoo and others have created spacious, naturalistic elephant exhibits. What I personally cannot stand is Taronga Zoo in Australia having 5 elephants in half an acre, or Chester Zoo having 6 or so elephants in 2 acres, or the Oregon Zoo having 7 elephants in 1.5 acres. It's ridiculous that three well-known zoos have such tiny pachyderm paddocks.

I can't recall if I've ever mentioned on this website that all zoos should no longer have elephants in their collection. What I have definitely complained about, and I'm a voracious reader of animal-related literature, is that elephants have suffered greatly in zoos. It's that simple. The sheer catalogue of foot injuries of captive elephants is appalling, and yet there are still zoos that keep bulls in puny rooms that are demeaning and defy any logical educational purpose. If there are 85 North American zoos with elephants, I'll go on record by saying that 65 of those exhibits are inadequate and should be torn down/renovated/bulldozed/demolished.

I love zoos to death and just visited 30 this year, but there are problems big and small at every single one of them. Seeing a beautiful sumatran tiger exhibit at a particular zoo might be impressive, but then when the cats are locked into tiny rooms for 10 hours a day the effect soon wears off. Big cats, bears and elephants traditionally do terribly in zoos, and someone once mentioned on ZooBeat that out of dozens of North American polar bear habitats there is exactly one that is adequate for the bears. If the Detroit Zoo has the only truly decent polar bear exhibit out of 220 AZA zoos then there is surely a problem with showcasing that species in captivity. I am brutally realisitic when it comes to zoos, and having seen atrocious elephant exhibits at zoos such as Fort Worth, Memphis, etc it is disappointing to notice that the world-class elephant habitats around the world represent maybe 10% of the entire list of elephant enclosures. I'd guess that 90% of zoos worldwide with elephants have the animals in substandard paddocks, and I could list a huge number of zoos that still lock their elephants up at night in tiny cells. I'm not saying that elephants shouldn't be in zoos, but I'm just wishing that 90% of zoos either spend the money and improve the living conditions or get rid of the damn elephants. Bring on rhinos or some other mammal that adapts well to a captive lifestyle.
 
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