I actually do like that they painted the poles brown to soften their appearance - and they are slowly but surely planting the elephant yard up with actual trees. On a side note, San Diego has a whole enrichment "lab" under the barn, and they change out the logs/toys/furnishings for the elephants on a daily basis!
@StoppableSan In elephant expert Alan Roocroft's excellent new book, he mentions that the AZA recommends that all zoos have a minimum of FOUR elephants. However, just in California there's San Diego Zoo with 3, Fresno Chaffee Zoo with 3, Los Angeles Zoo with 3 and Oakland Zoo with one. Interesting.