How Much Does it Cost to Care for an Elephant Per Year?

[wensleydale]

How much does a single Elephant cost per year to take care of? I'm asking because according to the website of this molasses company Elephants Love Grandma?s Molasses - Grandma?s Molasses claims that they cost more than $100,000 to care for each year.

This conflicts with what I had heard earlier (about five years ago) that each cost a little over a thousand a month to care for, and what RWPZ pays each year to care for theirs (okay, I only know about the food cost for the three of them but still).

Could this be factoring in the cost of keepers and vet care? Do Asians cost more than Africans? Are they factoring in the cost of the barns they live in and the administrative staff? Grounds maintenance? Vet care? Or was I just given bad information? Please educate me.

 

[LaughingDove]

Do Asians cost more than Africans? .

I'm afraid that I don't know the answers to any of your questions but I would think that an african elephant would cost more, if only because of the size. I could be completely wrong of course .

 

[Zooplantman]

I expect that only Grandma can educate you on these issues. It's her figure
(although the site clearly says "It costs about $133,000 per year for each elephant to receive all the care necessary."
All the care. Not just molasses and hay

 

[wensleydale]

I expect that only Grandma can educate you on these issues. It's her figure
(although the site clearly says "It costs about $133,000 per year for each elephant to receive all the care necessary."
All the care. Not just molasses and hay

It just seems a little high, given that I was told that they only cost a little over a $1000 a month to care for, which was five years ago. Grandma seems to have used ambiguous language, the kind my english professor would have torn me apart for. I thought it might be the aggregate cost for all of them?

Anyway, I'm done with Grandma. She's not my real Grandma and besides her product frankly needs some improvement. It doesn't taste like real molasses ought to, too sweet, and she packages it in dribble jars.

 

[tschandler71]

Depends on many factors as to the wide range on those two numbers. But considering 1000 dollars will not buy much hay at all that number is way to low. Good quality alfalfa hay wholesale is about $150 a ton. An elephant will eat somewhere between 200-600 pounds of food a day.

I imagine the higher range may be closer to accurate, especially if you add up food, water, vet care, enrichment and then amortizate the cost of the facility over a certain period when figuring costs.

 

[lintworm]

Do not forget the costs of all the keepers that care for the elephantm several zoos have more than 1 keeper working full time on elephants...

 

[Deer Forest]

I'm afraid that I don't know the answers to any of your questions but I would think that an african elephant would cost more, if only because of the size. I could be completely wrong of course .

Although I don't know the certain cost of keep African or Asian elephant, according to my experience working with the elephants at Beijing Zoo, interestingly, the African elephants eat more grass or hay, but less fruit and vegetables than Asian elephant, in this case the African elephants may cost less.

 

[wensleydale]

It occurred to me that they might pay for a lot of things that really do no good, for example I know TES has at least once "Healing Touch" practitioner come (unfortunately healing touch is a load of rubbish Why Therapeutic Touch Should Be Considered Quackery ) also I know acupuncture is popular with animals, and the literature for that is actually largely negative as well Be Wary of Acupuncture, Qigong, and "Chinese Medicine" ( know I'm probably upsetting some people here, but its the truth). That might drive up the cost of care, any kind of vet care could, especially in an animal that has preexisting medical problems. Of course they could be giving it out for free, but that doesn't make taking up time with something that isn't really going to help is alright.