bull Bornean elephant

permanently chained in this stall because the management did not want him mixed with the rest of the herd while the calves were small. I gathered the keepers were not overly happy about this. The stall is not obviously-visible from the public path.

September 2009
review here: http://www.zoochat.com/249/lok-kawi-review-12-september-2009-a-105387/ (second post of the thread has a response regarding the bull elephant apparently getting access to an appropriate outdoor enclosure of his own...)

five years later, the bull is still chained in this same stall. The only difference appears to be that there is now more fencing blocking the visitors from seeing him, so getting a photo is now impossible. See the above link for an update on the zoo.

Chlidonias, your recent review makes the place sound even more ghastly than it used to be! Ugh. With 9 swaying elephants in one enclosure and this bull being chained in a small stall, would it be outlandish to suggest that the bull elephant would be better off dead? That is a contentious point but it boggles my mind that Copenhagen Zoo has made it a public point to kill healthy, surplus giraffes and yet Lok Kwai keeps a bull elephant chained in perpetuity.

snowleopard said:

would it be outlandish to suggest that the bull elephant would be better off dead? That is a contentious point but it boggles my mind that Copenhagen Zoo has made it a public point to kill healthy, surplus giraffes and yet Lok Kwai keeps a bull elephant chained in perpetuity.

Click to expand...

Sadly its still not uncommon in Asian zoos I think? I saw a bull in the Dusit zoo some years ago like this though I have no idea how long he had been in that state but I suspect it was semi-permanent. Mind you, it wasn't so long ago some European and US Zoos kept bull elephants in not dissimilar conditions, and in desocialised situations, and even now some places/situations are far from ideal e.g. Packy at Portland to name one.

I agree its hardly any sort of life for this animal though.

It has been pointed out on the review thread that the bull in the above photo has actually died already. The one chained at the zoo now is a different bull.....