Franklin Zoo (Closed) Elephant Kills Woman at Franklin Zoo

Status
Not open for further replies.
Chlidonias said:
which paper? I had a quick google but can't find it so a link would be good.
Click to expand...

Are you not subscribed to the Darling Downs Daily News, Chlidonias? :D

I can't find anything either, but Mainfreight apparently paid for Mila's barn at Franklin Zoo.
 
Chlidonias said:
which paper? I had a quick google but can't find it so a link would be good.
Click to expand...

You know my computer limitations and you still expect a link?

Optimist!!

My usually reliable intelligence sources inform me that there is a 3 page story in today's Sunday paper about Neil Graham from Mainfreight and his sponsorship of all things elephant at FZ.

Mr Graham's involvement [and that of his wife] has not been a secret, as alluded to by zooboy28.

The Darling Downs Daily News has yet to run the story - ZooChatters got the scoop!
 
I'll assume it's the Sunday Star Times then. Still nothing on the internet that I can see, and I'd be hopeful if I thought I could find a print copy in Hokitika (!). Maybe zooboy28 can find a copy and give us the gist of it.
 
Chlidonias said:
I'll assume it's the Sunday Star Times then. Still nothing on the internet that I can see, and I'd be hopeful if I thought I could find a print copy in Hokitika (!). Maybe zooboy28 can find a copy and give us the gist of it.
Click to expand...

Yea, I can't see it on the Herald on Sunday website, and I think I flicked through the Sunday News at work today and didn't see anything relevant. Will see if I can find a copy of Sunday Star Times tomorrow.
 
yes i saw the article on Neil Graham in the sunday paper HERALD on SUNDAY .He discloses that he hsa generously given a lot of money to jumbo , it might interest you to know that his Company has already shipped jumbo with Tony from CHRISTCHURCH to AUCKLAND return '
 
frankwilliam said:
a lot of you guys had plenty to say about jumbo and now you have all gone cold on the elephant issue
Click to expand...

I am still very interested, but new information is hard to get.
Do you have any more news on anything happening, as the media seems to have lost interest.
 
New article today, an elephant carer has been hired.

Story Link: Franklin Zoo | Carer Hired For Mila The Elephant | Stuff.co.nz

An Auckland zoo forced to shut down after a keeper was killed by an elephant has hired a US project manager to care for the animal for its "inevitable trip overseas".

Franklin Zoo director and keeper Dr Helen Schofield was killed by Mila the elephant in April.

An appeal to raise $1.5 million to hire someone to care for the animals and to transport Mila to an overseas sanctuary failed to raise the amount needed and the zoo was forced to close in July to refocus on fulfilling Schofield's dream of securing the elephant's future.

Schofield's sister, Jenny Chung said the zoo's trust had hired an elephant project manager from Florida and were waiting for her to arrive in the country before she could comment on Mila's fate.

"Until we have this person on site to give us all this information, we don't have that information so it's very frustrating for people... but we'll certainly have it when she comes," she said.

The project manager is waiting for Immigration New Zealand to approve her visa application, which Chung hopes will be done before the end of the year.

Chung said once the woman had arrived more fundraising projects would be launched.

"It'll cost hundreds of thousands of dollars so we'll... do a fundraiser when we have answers on where she's going, when she's going," she said.

In the meantime, Chung said the priority lay in caring for the remaining animals at the zoo.

"We're just looking after her every day and she's fine. All the other animals are fine," she said.

Most of the zoo's farm animals have been placed at farms across the country.

Auckland Zoo keepers are still assisting with the care of the exotic animals.
Click to expand...

So looks like Mila won't be going anywhere anytime soon, and the fundraising will continue.
 
Frank, are you or Tony contacting the media when they print these stories and giving the alternate story. It seems to me that the media do not doubt what the woman in charge now tells them. The media love conflict as it sells papers. I would have thought that they would want to print the other side. If people in NZ are only hearing one side of the story some thing needs to be done.
 
From what I have seen journalists are fairly lazy. If someone gives them a story which appears to be true and they don't think they will be sued for deformation they will print it. If you or anybody else wrote down the facts as you see them and how and emailed it to the paper they would likely print your side. They would ring you first to check out your story, and as I wrote earlier conflict sells papers.

You have to get your side in the papers as that is what Jenny Chung is doing. I can see the headlines now "Chung Milking Elephant for all she can get"
 
You have to contact the papers giving only one side of the story. As I have said journalists are lazy and are not bothering doing any work on this story, they are just printing press releases put out by whoever has the elephant now.
 
Couple of articles on the subject....

Article one mainly covers the hiring of the new Elephant Manager from the United States and mentions that if everything goes to plan then Mila is expected to be shipped in March or April next year

The Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust is very pleased to announce the recruitment of a world class elephant programme manager to facilitate the relocation of Mila, ex circus African elephant at Franklin Zoo & Wildlife Sanctuary in New Zealand to a facility in the US.

The new elephant manager is very experienced in protected contact elephant management and uses positive reinforcement to create a trust based relationship that will enable Mila to be trained for all behaviours necessary for her safe transport. This includes medical testing, crate desensitization, and basic health care.

We want to find a home for Mila that will allow her to socialize with other African elephants and will provide expert care as she ages. This elephant manager will not only facilitate Mila’s day to day care, but will also oversee the travel logistics and extensive permitting required to transport Mila to her new home.

The elephant manager is currently travelling around the appropriate facilities in the USA to ascertain the best facility to care for Mila’s individual welfare needs as well as dealing with the US biosecurity agencies. We anticipate her arrival in New Zealand towards the end of October or early November.

It is hoped that Mila will be ready to travel to her new home by March or April 2013 and the Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust will be fundraising for this very expensive and complex process.

Donations towards Mila’s care travel and future can be made on the web site Franklin Zoo | Have A Wild Time or please make cheques payable to: Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust, 83 Ridge Road, Tuakau RD 4, Auckland 2694, New Zealand.
Or by Direct Credit: Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust, The National Bank of New Zealand, Papakura branch account: 060401
0327303 00.

ZAA (Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia) have done a wonderful job facilitating and planning the re-homing for most of the exotic animals into facilities with the correct skill base to care for each animal’s individual welfare needs and Franklin Zoo Charitable Trust is extremely grateful to ZAA’s care and professional assistance to ensure the animals are going to be well taken care of.

The re-homing process will take some months and the Franklin Zoo & Wildlife Sanctuary continues to care for the animals while their new homes and travel arrangements are being prepared. All domestic animals are now safely installed in their new homes.

We are also very grateful to Auckland Zoo, who continues to provide expertise and support to the Franklin staff, Mila and to the Franklin Zoo & Wildlife Sanctuary.
Article two - Helen Schofield has recieved the 2012 Assisi award from the New Zealand Companion Animal Council

There is no doubt that Helen Schofield dedicated her life to helping animals, and now a posthumous award in her honour has recognised the passion and love she had for them.

Schofield, 42, was killed on April 25 when Mila the elephant, formerly known as Jumbo, crushed her to death at Franklin Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary, just south of Auckland.

Schofield was honoured last night, at an awards ceremony in Wellington, with a posthumous Assisi Award from the New Zealand Companion Animal Council, an umbrella organisation which incorporates animal welfare bodies, veterinarians and academic researchers.

NZCAC spokesman and SPCA executive director Bob Kerridge said the awards honoured people who had made a "very real difference" in the lives of animals.

"Helen cared passionately about animals from her childhood onwards and was, above all, dedicated to saving exotic animals, including those, like Mila, who had been rescued from circuses," Kerridge said.

"Having qualified as a veterinarian, Helen invested in Franklin Zoo, which she was transforming into a sanctuary, where such animals could spend their last few years in dignity and safety. Her untimely death is a great loss to all New Zealanders who care about animals and to the creatures she looked after."

At her funeral in May Schofield was described as a hero. Friends and family spoke of how she started volunteering at the local SPCA age 10 and would leave notes, signed "from the SPCA", in people's letterboxes if she thought they were mistreating their animals.

She was inseparable from the family dog, and would look out for sick sheep to tend to them when driving through the country.

Johanna Brens QSM, a woman with hearing impairments who helped found and inspire Hearing Dogs for Deaf People in New Zealand, respected Auckland pet shop industry veteran Rolf Jansen and Otago University student and animal campaigner Danielle Duffield were some of the other recipients at tonight's awards ceremony, which is named after St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I'm getting rather sick of frankwilliam posting basically the same message every week. How about letting the people you mentioned speak for themselves? As far as I know, Bruce Ireland was let go because Franklin Zoo, being a Charitable Trust, could no longer afford to employ a senior zookeeper. Peter Stroud never mentioned in any interviews that I have seen since Helen's death that he has been treated badly. Anyway, his purpose of being involved was to design the enclosure. And what did he do? Just that. I heard that Laurie Pond was only there to help Franklin Zoo get started with caring for Mila, and what did he do? Again, just that (and again, I have not heard him say that he was badly treated).

Are any of the Auckland Zoo elephant keepers actually caring for Mila? I thought it was only Kevin Buley, Life Sciences Manager for Auckland Zoo.
 
driftaguy said:
I'm getting rather sick of frankwilliam posting basically the same message every week. How about letting the people you mentioned speak for themselves?
Click to expand...

What are you sick of, hearing a view which differs to yours. Its called freedom of speech.

Those people are free to post their side as well as Frank.

I am glad Frank posts his side, and just hope media organisations will print another view to Jenny Chung's. Reading articles on the internet they all sound like they come from press releases released by Jenny Chung and they are not looking any more to the story.
 
Monty said:
What are you sick of, hearing a view which differs to yours. Its called freedom of speech.
Click to expand...
in fairness, most of Frank William's posts really are just repeating more-or-less the same thing over and over again.
 
Monty said:
What are you sick of, hearing a view which differs to yours. Its called freedom of speech.

Those people are free to post their side as well as Frank.

I am glad Frank posts his side, and just hope media organisations will print another view to Jenny Chung's. Reading articles on the internet they all sound like they come from press releases released by Jenny Chung and they are not looking any more to the story.
Click to expand...

Well actually, I posted on ZooChat the press release/statement made by Tony Ratcliffe just after Helen died.
[URL="https://www.zoochat.com/community/posts/578497[/URL]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I find the whole saga very sad, for Jumbo and Tony.

It merely confirms the opinion I had of the way New Zealand is run.

Behind the times in everything.
 
Erin Ivory has previously worked at the San Diego Animal Park as senior keeper with their breeding herd of 15+ elephants, including two adult bulls. Rest assured that she has enough experience to safely work with dangerous elephants. The gender of the keeper/trainer/caregiver is not relevent in modern (=protected) elephant management, even if circus people have a hard time believing it!
 
We have all had our say in one of the longest single-issue threads on ZooChat. Time now to let the chosen person get on with the job and, for those in a position to do so, to give her any support needed to accomplish her job with the best possible outcome for Jumbo.

Like many, many people I believe that the best course for the elephant and for the poor old public who are continually being slugged to pay for this exercise, would have been to let the Ratcliffes do the job - it would all have been safely accomplished by now. However, that was not our call to make.

The appropriately named Ms Ivory does exist, she is now on the job and she has a reasonable enough CV - although apparently not much experience with Africans. As she will not be permitted to work FC with Jumbo, that should not be an insurmountable problem.

Of some intrigue is the statement, that has been made several times in New Zealand, that an end destination in America has not yet been decided for the elephant. Apparently PAWS is not a done deal.

Those of us who have Jumbo's welfare at heart will all be hoping and praying for a successful conclusion to this saga.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top