Auckland Zoo elephant herd now in the works

I'm currently working 5 jobs (4 part time for my family's businesses), I'm on the Committee for the Campaign for Better Transport and the Treasurer for the Republican Movement...

It has been a hectic year...

But I'm travelling to Adelaide, Perth, Singapore, Delhi and Bagdogra for 5 weeks from boxing day so thought I better get Zoo Chatting before the inevitable Zoo orgy ensues..!

Believe it or not I still have all the photo's from when I visited last year on my camera (yet to be downloaded) and I've been planning all year to write reviews of the three places I visited..!
 
Bagdogra!? I had to Google that one! You'll love the Singapore zoos (assuming you'll have time to fit them all in!)
 
its disappointing to see the SPCA getting involved in this kind of nonsense
Auckland Zoo's elephant plan opposed - national | Stuff.co.nz
08/12/2010
The Auckland Council is yet to act on a letter they received more than a month ago from animal welfare advocates urging them not to allow a herd of elephants to be brought to Auckland Zoo.

The letter, which was signed by 20 people, urged the council to reconsider expanding the zoo, at a cost of $13 million, to allow a herd of Asian elephants to be brought over to accompany current elephant Burma.

Signatures include those of the head of wildlife for the UK's SPCA, a representative from Elephant Aid International, a representative from Stop Animal Exploitation Now in the US, and New Zealand representatives from the SPCA, SAFE and the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

The council should send Burma to live overseas in an open-range zoo or sanctuary, the letter said. If this was to happen there would be no elephants in any zoos in New Zealand.

SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor said the letter was sent to the Auckland Council on November 4.

There had been no formal response from the council although there had been individual responses to say the letter had been received, he said.

The letter was also sent to Prime Minister John Key, and MPs Kate Wilkinson, Rodney Hide and David Carter.

The plan to expand Auckland Zoo to create an area for a herd of 10 elephants was approved by the Auckland City Council.

It would see an estimated $13 million spent to expand the zoo into 22,000 sq m of Western Springs Park.
Pryor said the new council had an obligation to review the former councils decision.

In the letter the experts said no urban zoo could cater for elephants because they were social animals who spent their lives with closely related individuals moving across large tracts of land.

''Family life cannot be created in a zoo and there is growing evidence that simply placing unrelated elephants together does not simulate natural social life.''

The group also said removing elephants from Asia was unethical, ''including the current impossibility of proving that imported elephants are actually captive born and not plundered from the wild''.

They said the importation of elephants would cause ''great controversy'' and would affect the Auckland city ''brand''.

They also said the $13 million estimated cost was almost certainly an under estimate. The National Zoo in Washington recently spent million on basic and inadequate facilities for a herd of nine elephants. In Australia, the Melbourne Zoo and Sydney’s Taronga Zoo each spent in excess of million.
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Again. Not looking into the facts. If Burma leaves there will still be jumbo. They seem to have just forgotten about this animal they campaigned so hard for so long. Also if they looked into the construction costs they might find that open range zoos with much larger enclosures spend significantly less on exhibit construction. The money is spent usually on public facilities. The best sanctuary in the US spent about $2 million on their huge facilities. So stating that the $13 million dollar figure will blow out is them just trying to upset rate payees and push their cause.
If the elephants do end up coming from Sri Lanka they will most likely be landmine and human elephant conflict orphans or bred at the pinnewala orphanage, which has a huge number of elephants.
 
some more new articles:
Wildlife experts want to stop zoo going ahead with elephant plan - National - NZ Herald News
Some of the most powerful voices in world wildlife welfare have banded together with leading zoo professionals to stop Auckland Zoo forming a herd of elephants living in inner-city Western Springs Park.

They also want the zoo's one remaining elephant, Burma, sent overseas to live with other elephants in an open-range zoo or sanctuary.

The draft letter, obtained exclusively by The Aucklander and signed by 20 wildlife lobbyists, is understood to have been sent to the new Auckland Council.

It includes the head of Britain's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wildlife division, Dr Robert Atkinson, and the head of the globally recognised Born Free Foundation. Influential groups in the United States, Kenya, Norway, Australia and New Zealand have aligned themselves with the letter.

They ask the new council to reconsider the defunct Auckland City Council's decision to allow the zoo to expand into Western Springs Park and buy more Asian elephants.

In an estimated $13 million project, the zoo plans to expand into 22,000sq m of the park to cater for a herd, built up over time, of 10 elephants. The wildlife professionals say the $13 million is grossly underestimated, citing US and Australian experience.

In the strongly worded nine-point draft, the signatories say:

* No urban zoo in the world can adequately cater to the needs of elephants.

* Removing the herd from Asia is unethical.

* Keeping 10 elephants is not a sound investment - to maintain a herd will cost ratepayers $1 million a year.

"The good name of the city of Auckland, and of New Zealand as a country, will be damaged," they write.

The Auckland Council could not confirm whether it had received the draft letter or provide a response.
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Zoo's elephant plan should be stopped ? Wildlife expert - Story - Environment/Sci - 3 News
It is said that elephants never forget and Auckland Zoo says 27-year-old Burma has not recovered from her companion Kashin's death in August last year.

“Since Kashin died in August 2009, Burma continues to be monitored closely,” the zoo says in a statement on its website.

But that's only part of the reason why the zoo is embarking on an ambitious project to bring in a herd of up to ten Asian elephants.

The zoo also wants to establish a sustainable elephant breeding herd.

“Initially, we plan to bring in two elephants to be companions for Burma, and as a start to building up to a breeding herd of 10 elephants.”

But a group of prominent international zoologists and animal welfare advocates disagrees, saying no urban zoo in the world can adequately cater to the needs of elephants.

“The critical issue is that we have not really worked out how to successfully manage the social life for elephants and social development in zoos. Zoos represent a particularly close form of confinement for elephants and a completely managed lifestyle,” says Peter Stroud, a zoological consultant in Australia.

“It is not difficult to breed elephants in the wild and not difficult when you give them space and a social life but zoos do have a lot of trouble with these issues because they are not managing the mental wellbeing of elephants.”

The group is calling on the Auckland Council to reconsider the $13 million of funding that was approved for the breeding programme by the now-defunct Auckland City Council in October.

"The zoo is a valuable asset for Auckland. It is a professionally run organisation, by people who are passionate about animals and have their best interests at heart,” says Auckland Council's Regional Facilities CCO Chairman, Sir Don McKinnon.

"Establishing an elephant herd is an important project for Auckland Zoo. There are a number of complexities that will need to undergo a careful evaluation process.”

The group also says the plan is cruel - elephants are creatures of habit, and can never fully adjust to new habitats or family groupings. And that the zoo's proposed 22,000 square metre habitat is far too small for a herd of ten.

“22,000 square metres, that is reasonable by urban zoo standards but compared with the space a wild elephant family would occupy, that is a tiny area which would not contain a herd of elephants for more than a few minutes.”

“It’s like putting a person in a hotel room and saying that is all you need,” says Mr Stroud.

He says the logical thing to do would be to move Burma to other elephants.

“Now the question is; what is the best thing to do for her? Leaving her there is not the answer and bringing elephants to her is not the answer either.”

Mr McKinnon says Regional Facilities Auckland and the Auckland Council will consider the proposal in the New Year.
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there's a link on this one to an 11 minute radio interview
 
bio of Peter Stroud
Peter Stroud has worked as animal keeper, senior curator, zoo
director and zoo board member. He spent nine years as animal
keeper in Adelaide & Toronto zoos and Orana Park Wildlife
Trust in New Zealand, and has since worked as Superintendent
of Birds in Adelaide Zoo, Founding Director and Senior Curator
of Animals at Victoria’s Open Range Zoo and Curator of
Mammals at Melbourne Zoo. Other than his animal
management talents, Peter is also a writer and media
commentator on captive wildlife management and husbandry,
biodiversity and endangered species. He is also a member of
IUCN’s Conservation Breeding Specialist Group and Asian
Elephant Specialist Group.
Click to expand...
 
He is also the man who oversaw the castration of the last entire male Kudu in Australia.

His other credits include allowing a SBS film crew to film a Zebra kicking herself to death in a travel crate and the subsequent unsuccessful Caesarian procedure in a bid to save her unborn foal. Lovely zoo stuff on national television.

Zoos Victoria used him, at taxpayer's expense, in the process of sourcing elephants in Asia.

He subsequently used some of that information as a consultant to AusZoo's elephant acquisition efforts.

He also jumped on the Jumbo bandwagon.

Now he's advising AGAINST Auckland's proposal?
 
"elephants are creatures of habit, and can never fully adjust to new habitats or family groupings."

I find it hard to believe that elephants are really that inflexible. I just hope that they don't start using the "it's never been done in New Zealand" argument because we have proven, with five successful births, that in can be done.
 
I do worry about the long term cost but the husbandry issues are just the usual nonsense...
 
NZ Jeremy said:
I do worry about the long term cost but the husbandry issues are just the usual nonsense...
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For advocates of "sanctuaries" to bring up long-term operating costs is a joke. Who will foot the bills when the owners of these much-vaunted glorified pet collections die? Most zoos have the long-term backing of a municipality, trust and/or endowment, plus the reliable stream of revenue from thousands of visitors. "Sanctuaries" rely on one or two individuals to raise money to house, feed and care for their elephants--not a particularly good long-range business plan.

One of the "expert signatories" of the letter--Peter Stroud--who designed and opened Melbourne's elephant exhibit (before he was fired)--is really pushing the line of credibility with his grandiose pronouncements.
 
I worry about the long term cost from an overspending viewpoint as a ratepayer with a muppet Socialist Council, long term viability isn't an issue...

You raise an excellent point...
 
Still in the works methinks - no change, the zoo seems focussed on getting it's New Zealand Precinct finished which works have begun in earnest on...
 
The way the budget on alomst everything in the Super City has blown out I cant see them finding enough spare money to fund a canary cage let alone an elephant enclosure.
 
So you can't source more elephants for now, what do you give her as company instead..

... I know! A horse! Genius! :rolleyes: :D

To give Burma some animal companionship while she is without the company of other elephants, Auckland Zoo is trialling introducing an equine companion - a species that shares a similar social structure to elephants.

Whether Auckland Zoo is preparing for the arrival of new elephants or arranging to send Burma away, there is likely to be a further period (6 - 12 months) where Burma will remain on her own.

"Under the expert care of our elephant team, Burma is continuing to cope extremely well, but elephants are highly social and intelligent animals, and shouldn't spend long periods of time on their own.

"Given the similarity in social structure of the two species, we've worked alongside equine experts to select Cherry, an 11-year-old mare. We believe she has the right temperament to provide a great match for Burma," says Auckland Zoo's Life Sciences manager, Kevin Buley.

The Zoo is liaising with specialist consultants to ensure the highest level of welfare for both animals, and to give the greatest chance of success. The introduction is being carefully managed through a gradual integration to minimise any potential risks to the horse, Burma, or her keepers.

Mr Buley says the first step, before any kind of contact with Burma, will just be getting Cherry used to the elephant area and the Zoo grounds. Depending on how the relationship develops, it is hoped that Cherry will be included in most of Burma's daily activities, including walks through the Zoo and up into the bush.
Auckland Zoo - Building a future for elephants at Auckland Zoo
 
The Auckland website says that if they cannot get elephants within a few years time, Burma might have to move to Australia as a last resort. I would imagine she would got to Australia Zoo as they already use free contact while Dubbo only uses PC on their Asians (but FC in their African).
 
Something similar is being done at Dubbo with cuddles and camels. You can see them in her nightyards.
 
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