Caldwell Zoo African Elephant Habitat

Whilst I agree its definitely important to have bachelor herds in the AZA, half an acre really cant be considered roomy in my opinion. Maybe in the 70s, but standards of animal care have changed... It looks to have a decently large barn facility though, which is nice to see.

@DelacoursLangur the picture is missing a few parts of the outdoor habitat including their big deep pool, the demo area consisting of a large black steel gate, and their new moat area which consists of 45° slopes into the circular paths with a red clay wall. I think the entire enclosure totals to be an acre. I still hope they make it a lot bigger if they're housing bachelor herds.

@The Horse Boy
The moat is usable space at that incline? That adds about a quarter acre, still only 3/4 of an acre total if you measure on google earth including the moat and pool.

I am not calling for it to be shuttered or anything, its adequate and lord knows the AZA needs as many bachelor holding facilities as it can muster. But its nothing to celebrate either... The good news is there is plenty of room to expand into the zebra yard next door when/if they choose to in the future and can secure the funding.

@DelacoursLangur I do know they recently converted one of the rhino yards into an additional giraffe space. So that should give them plenty of room to make a dallas and birmingham-like habitat for them.

And I'd kindly disagree with your argument on measuring the elephant space using that app, bc I did that few times last summer and it actually measured to be exactly 1 acre if you count the moat and 2 barn space.

@The Horse Boy Moving the giraffes over to the former rhino yards to make way for an elephant expansion would certainly make a lot of sense.

As far as I am aware the moat is too steep for elephants to use, and indoor holding facilities are typically not included in exhibit measurements. That said, the barns do look to be of a decent size which is great to see, and leaving those as is would make a renovation considerably more affordable. Regardless of where we stand on the semantics of what should be included when measuring exhibit acreage, the total accessible outdoor space allocated to the elephants remains a quite frankly dismally antiquated .56 acres.

Maybe they could improve the moating even more if it is too steep. And not only should they make a much bigger outdoor yard, they should tear down the smaller light brown barn and renovate it into a black barn to join the larger one at the back and turn them into one whole indoor holding unit. It would add room for more elephants if they choose to expand the herd and give them more indoor options. It seems like they're commited to elephants for the future with the bachelor duo currently living there. What does worry me is where the rhinos and antelopes will go to make way for a much bigger elephant complex. The rhinos need a much more modern and roomy exhibit in my opinion. And the moving the giraffes there certainly indicates it.

Here's a recent photo from Google Maps showing one of the elephants using the slope down into the moat to show that not as steep for the animals as one thinks.
Google Maps