Brookfield's director, Stuart Strahl, wants elephants at Brookfield. In fact, he wants eight including a male. That's their long-range plan. It's unfortunate Christy died but she had a congenital defect and would not have lived as long as she did had she not been at a zoo where she got excellent care.
Pittsburgh Zoo is an elephant breeding facility and their elephants are doing well.
I think elephant TB is more of an issue than the weather. Trunk washes don't always find it.
To accommodate for winter nights Cleveland is building a heated night range. I don't know how you prove if an elephant likes the snow, but I would assume if they go out and roll around in it even when the door to a heated barn is left open, I would assume they like it.
Brookfield's exhibit is adequete, not ideal, but adequete. The elephants are being provided for and they have a lot of elements that encourage an active elephant such as the sand pile and mud wallow.
I never said that elephants don't like the snow (and if I did, ignore me) and I would imagine that some probably do. But, at the same time, some most likely don't and are, therefore, kept inside all winter. However, if you want to prove whether elephants like snow or not, then I suggest that you find an unbiased paper by a respected zoological scientist and post a link on this forum - although that would still be unlikely to change how they are treated for several decades (see protected contact).
And I still cannot comprehend how you see this exhibit as adequate. Even with all the enrichment in the world, an elephant should never be kept on a third of an acre; they may spend say an hour a day (being generous) using the sand pile and mud wallow, but what do they do for the rest of the time? I am not suggesting that we should make all elephant enclosures a million acres, but they surely need more space than this exhibit provides. And the fact that only a single female is kept simply makes the whole situation a great deal worse.
I never said that elephants don't like the snow (and if I did, ignore me) and I would imagine that some probably do. But, at the same time, some most likely don't and are, therefore, kept inside all winter. However, if you want to prove whether elephants like snow or not, then I suggest that you find an unbiased paper by a respected zoological scientist and post a link on this forum - although that would still be unlikely to change how they are treated for several decades (see protected contact).
And I still cannot comprehend how you see this exhibit as adequate. Even with all the enrichment in the world, an elephant should never be kept on a third of an acre; they may spend say an hour a day (being generous) using the sand pile and mud wallow, but what do they do for the rest of the time? I am not suggesting that we should make all elephant enclosures a million acres, but they surely need more space than this exhibit provides. And the fact that only a single female is kept simply makes the whole situation a great deal worse.
@ redpanda, BlackRhino is an intern animal keeper at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, an AZA certified zoo. She is knowledgeable about AZA standards for animal care and exhibit design. Not only is she knowledgeable about AZA standards, but in order to work in a zoo, she is required to have a degree in zoology or biology. In other words, she has the book smarts and the hands-on experience and she was speaking from her perspective as a keeper.
Brookfield Zoo has a long term plan for exhibiting and breeding elephants. They would need to start a capital campaign to realize their goals but they certainly have the space to expand. The AZA would look for another elephant to live with Joyce.
@zoogeek: something is amiss here. BlackRhino is a he and he does not have a degree in anything as he is a young high school student who has visited maybe a dozen AZA zoos. He and I are friends on Facebook and also have corresponded many times via private messages here on ZooChat. I'm assuming that all of this information is correct, and BlackRhino is not who you believe he is.
@zoogeek: something is amiss here. BlackRhino is a he and he does not have a degree in anything as he is a young high school student who has visited maybe a dozen AZA zoos. He and I are friends on Facebook and also have corresponded many times via private messages here on ZooChat. I'm assuming that all of this information is correct, and BlackRhino is not who you believe he is.
My mistake then! I thought Blackrhino was an intern keeper at the CMZ? I must have you mixed up with another poster. My apologies! I must have been very tired from the same/old-same/old arguments.
Team tapir said that the zoo got rid ofthe plan to put te elephants back in the current elephant house. The only placethat I could see elephants move to is where the current camel, zebra and addax exhibits are.
