Chester Zoo Elephant Riva Hi Way has died

Ryley

Ryley

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone, I’m devastated to say that 4 year old Asian Elephant Riva Hi Way passed away earlier this week..
I contacted Chester Zoo today and they told me,
“An anomaly was detected in her daily blood test and It was imperative for us to investigate quickly and thoroughly but, heartbreakingly, while undergoing a further routine diagnostic procedure, Riva died under general anaesthetic”.
 
Terrible news, my thoughts are with the keepers after another devastating loss. Does this leave only 1 elephant at Chester?
 
Goodness Chester really have had some rotten luck on the elephant front! :(

One wonders given there are on three individuals and Anjan will soon move, leaving only Maya & Indali. Moving these two into a larger group at another collection could be a possibility, however, I cannot think of any UK collections that would have any more space to accommodate two more eles. Unless the other option is for Chester to bring in some more females, as Maya is an ageing female and when she passes away it will leave Indali on her own.
 
Prochilodus246 said:
Goodness Chester really have had some rotten luck on the elephant front! :(

One wonders given there are on three individuals and Anjan will soon move, leaving only Maya & Indali. Moving these two into a larger group at another collection could be a possibility, however, I cannot think of any UK collections that would have any more space to accommodate two more eles. Unless the other option is for Chester to bring in some more females, as Maya is an ageing female and when she passes away it will leave Indali on her own.
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They can bring in a mother and a daughter (at least an experienced mature cow) then a breeding bull.
 
ZCChip said:
They can bring in a mother and a daughter (at least an experienced mature cow) then a breeding bull.
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They will need a breeding bull asap if they want to preserve their matriline (and keep Indali with individuals of her own family line). She's old enough to breed. Chester's goal should be to try and build up their grouping asap, it's not healthy longterm for Indali to remain in such a small and unnatural social setting.
 
Anjan is the only remaining elephant of her family line in the UK. Her father Aung Bo, is now in Dublin and the only other relative I can think of who is left is Assam and he's a 24yo bull living in Belgium.
 
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Very sad news for the zoo, keepers and most importantly the elephant herd. With only three elephants left I would suggest a controversial move would be to move all three elephants onto other collections. The elephant enclosure is being to become outdated and I know the zoo would like to enlarge and improve like they have for so many other species. I would give the enclosure and house over to Asian one horned rhino which also need more room and bring elephants back in the future when a new enclosure is built!
 
Frankie_number_1_fan said:
They will need a breeding bull asap if they want to preserve their matriline (and keep Indali with individuals of her own family line). She's old enough to breed. Chester's goal should be to try and build up their grouping asap, it's not healthy longterm for Indali to remain in such a small and unnatural social setting.
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Yes but she needs support. Especially with her first calf. I always had the impression that Maya is not that close to the others. It would be nice to have an experienced mother to help along with the maternal instinct. Remember La Petit? She killed her first calf but she had support with Motek the next time. I probably got the names wrong but close.
 
[QUOTE="Al, post: 1565737,]. I would give the enclosure and house over to Asian one horned rhino which also need more room and bring elephants back in the future when a new enclosure is built![/QUOTE]

The Indian rhino certainly need a bigger enclosure...plus indoor public viewing would be a big improvement too.

But Chester without Elephants? I can't really see it somehow, even temporarily.
 
Al said:
Very sad news for the zoo, keepers and most importantly the elephant herd. With only three elephants left I would suggest a controversial move would be to move all three elephants onto other collections. The elephant enclosure is being to become outdated and I know the zoo would like to enlarge and improve like they have for so many other species. I would give the enclosure and house over to Asian one horned rhino which also need more room and bring elephants back in the future when a new enclosure is built!
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Separating Maya and Indali is not going to be an option - and with Maya's age, moving her carries risks. She's in far better health than Duchess (Paignton), but I still can't zee them taking the risk. And I can't think of a collection that would have the space to take them, anyway.

Personally, I'd say the best option would be to bring in a couple of older (non-breeding) females, possibly from Europe (where I imagine there are quite a few) and integrate them with Indali and Maya. Blackpool and WMSP have shown the way in that regard.

Frankie_number_1_fan said:
They will need a breeding bull asap if they want to preserve their matriline (and keep Indali with individuals of her own family line). She's old enough to breed. Chester's goal should be to try and build up their grouping asap, it's not healthy longterm for Indali to remain in such a small and unnatural social setting.
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The best option in that regard would be a younger bull - one only slightly older than Indali (say, 10 or so). I think an adult bull is going to be too risky a prospect - and using AI is too iffy.
 
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Perhaps they would move indali and Anjan on once nature takes it course with maya and go it to African elephants to put there rotten luck with the Asians behind them
 
Ryley said:
Hello everyone, I’m devastated to say that 4 year old Asian Elephant Riva Hi Way passed away earlier this week..
I contacted Chester Zoo today and they told me,
“An anomaly was detected in her daily blood test and It was imperative for us to investigate quickly and thoroughly but, heartbreakingly, while undergoing a further routine diagnostic procedure, Riva died under general anaesthetic”.
Click to expand...
Absolutely terrible news, if there is an award for premature captive elephant deaths, then Chester has definitely won it! I just can't imagine what the elephant keepers and their three (I feel very sad and weird just by saying this) remaining elephants are going through and my heart goes out to all of them. What makes it a billion times worse is that the British/Irish region has now lost FOUR Asian Elephant cows who were of or younger than breeding age (one of which was pregnant) in the last TWO MONTHS ALONE (two at Chester, two at Dublin)! Can they possibly have any worse luck than this, this is horrible.
 
J C said:
Perhaps they would move indali and Anjan on once nature takes it course with maya and go it to African elephants to put there rotten luck with the Asians behind them
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Anjan is actually moving to a bachelor herd soon. So it will be the girls soon.


We will see what the stud book keeper recommends if Chester zoo puts in the request but it is probably realistic to wait until anjan leaves.
 
ZCChip said:
Anjan is actually moving to a bachelor herd soon. So it will be the girls soon.


We will see what the stud book keeper recommends if Chester zoo puts in the request but it is probably realistic to wait until anjan leaves.
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With Maya's age, moving her is probably going to come with a lot of risks - I also can't think of a collection that has the space to take her and Indali (and separating them would seem counterproductive).

Whilst, obviously, we'll have to wait and see, the best option at this point is to get a couple of older, non-breeding females and integrate them - Blackpool and WMSP have shown the way in that regard. Then, and only then, they probably should get a youngish bull, about the same age as Indali (or 2-3 years older)

J C said:
Perhaps they would move indali and Anjan on once nature takes it course with maya and go it to African elephants to put there rotten luck with the Asians behind them
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The best option for Africans in the UK (given that there's only one potentially breeding herd - WMSP) would be for someone to "start from scratch" as it were - and that would require finding a zoo in Europe, probably, willing to send them an entire herd.
 
Nathano said:
With Maya's age, moving her is probably going to come with a lot of risks - I also can't think of a collection that has the space to take her and Indali.

Whilst, obviously, we'll have to wait and see, the best option at this point is to get a couple of older, non-breeding females and integrate them - Blackpool and WMSP have shown the way in that regard.



The best option for Africans in the UK (given that there's only one potentially breeding herd - WMSP) would be for someone to "start from scratch" as it were - and that would require finding a zoo in Europe, probably, willing to send them an entire herd.
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i highly doubt either cow will be moved. The zoo has too much invested in them. The bull has to be moved to a bachelor herd to mature and can not breed his sister.
 
ZCChip said:
i highly doubt either cow will be moved. The zoo has too much invested in them. The bull has to be moved to a bachelor herd to mature and can not breed his sister.
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Very much agree. In addition to Maya's age, transferring Indali to a completely new facility without the support of her mother and sister is asking for her to catch EEHV or have issues integrating. Additionally, elephants are one of Chester's biggest draws, and I can't see them shipping off their animals because of this. Transferring a few cows feels like the best-case scenario here. I can recall a few mother-daughter pairs in discussions regarding potential US-transfers that could make the move, and an experienced mother will be the key here in helping support Indali. The move wouldn't have to be permenant (the two matrilines could naturally split some years down the line), and it could give Chester the much needed numbers that they've been lacking for over half a decade.
 
I always used to think Whipsnade had the bad luck with its elephants (not for some time now thankfully) but this is in a league of its own. Absolutely horrific. My condolences to all involved
 
Whipsnade I wonder if they would take 2, in that they have a breeding bull for Indali and a more mature herd for Maya. Luca, Karishma and Kaylee all non breeding and give Indali the support she need from Donna. Nang Phai and Beth!
 
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