I wonder if Colchester's bull Elephant would be put to better use somewhere else? There hasn't been any breeding there for somewhile and there are only one or two reproductive cows now anyway.
In the UK at the moment the only collections that I know for sure still working in free contact with Elephants are Whipsnade and Twycross.Ones that i know for certain that are working in protected contact are Belfast,Chester,Blair Drumond Safari Park,paignton,Blackpool.The rest I'm not 100% sure about.
colchesters male is protected but he has a new girl friend every week so they must to be protected as well . the other few females though are gone in with.
I wonder if Colchester's bull Elephant would be put to better use somewhere else? There hasn't been any breeding there for somewhile and there are only one or two reproductive cows now anyway.
The thing with the bull is he was one of the Chipperfield circus elephants, and was actually bought along with the 2 cows from the Chipperfields themselves when the infamous animal abuse scandel was going on, so they may not want to part with him. He is -or was- used for AI of course.
Yes, I can see the problem there. What is the situation with Colchester's females now. One died didn't it? So that now leaves three? But no pregnancies in recent years?
The last birth was in march 2004 so very nearly A decade ago now, Jambo to Rosa, Kito born to Tanya was even earlier in Dec 2002, Zola suffered a miscarriage in 2002. they now have 3 females as far as I recall and Tembo the bull. The 4th Rosa died a few years back now I think from uterus cysts.
One wonders if after ten years or more of no breeding, the cows are no longer reproductive. Its a sad outcome for a group which initially held promise. Having only had male calves born didn't help either, female calves they would presumably have kept at least till full grown. I wonder what they plan for them longerterm.
