Major news article on elephants in zoos

Thanks we had heard for 6 months we were getting the young bull that killed somebody from Germany. Then we ended up with Bulwagi's son.

Who is going to be the main breeder out of Birmingham? With Bulwagi and his son there and Jackson being over represented in the SSP I assume that leaves Ajani when he gets old enough.

BTW anything you know cool or behind the scenes (you seem very well connected) with Birmingham and the SSP in general drop me a PM if you don't mind.
 
loxodontaafrica said:
Disobedience of the SSP/TAG recommendations can result in the temporary withdrawal of AZA membership. As demonstrated by the Toronto zoo situation, in which the city council voted to send the elephants to PAWS when the SSP/TAG had advised they be moved to Disney's Animal Kingdom and later the National elephant center.
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The biggest problem when it comes to elephant breeding in the USA since decades is to bring suitable bulls and females together so that they can breed naturally. Until today suitable females are wasted because the zoo where they live doesn`t have a bull, and bulls are wasted because the zoo doesn`t have a young female. Why is Chai - a proven breeding female - still in a zoo which has no space for a bull??; why has LA zoo with Billy - a bull in prime age for breeding - no young females? why is Renee - a proven breeding female - still in Toledo with no unrelated mature bull?? why is Shanti - a proven breeding female - still at the National Zooo?? - the list goes on and on.. there are many more examples. The answer to this is that zoos are too selfish to send their beloved bull/female to other zoos because they are too attached to a certain animal or feel this animal is too important for the community. And the SSP avoids all trouble by never even making a recommendation to transfer. No recommendation, no problem, right?! But as a result, the number of births is still far too low and the asian species may be well beyond recovery. The same thing is happening in Europe in regard to the African ele population while the Asian elephant breeding program in Europe is, thankfully, going much better with many zoos cooperating well and, in consequence, around a dozend sucessful births every year.

AI is no substitute for natural breeding. Look at the number of calves produced through natural breeding at San Diego Park and - in the past - Oregon Zoo - and the "sucess" with AI, and you`ll see that AI is a very poor choice. It just doesn`t produce enough calves because its sucess is lower and it is so invasive and expensive. AI just allows zoos to selfishly keep their beloved females even if they have no facilities for a bull. But instead of adressing that problem, the AZA/SSP harass zoos that want a better life for their old, non-breeding females....

(Leipzig had a SINGLE bulll born to the pure Vietnam elephants in 2002 and none since. They have no another bull for breeding who is from Myanmar, but the one calf he sired with a female from Vietnam has not survived).
 
loxodontaafrica said:
Disobedience of the SSP/TAG recommendations can result in the temporary withdrawal of AZA membership. As demonstrated by the Toronto zoo situation, in which the city council voted to send the elephants to PAWS when the SSP/TAG had advised they be moved to Disney's Animal Kingdom and later the National elephant center.
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The situation has received wide publicity and it is still not over. It will be interesting to see if the animals go to PAWS and whether any withdrawal of AZA membership is effective and not just an empty gesture.

loxodontaafrica said:
Your comment about zoo Leipzig continuing a vietnamese elephant lineage is false, because although they have three cows from the Saigon zoo, their bulls are from India and Myanmar (and they are actively breeding).
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That just shows how easy it is to be mislead by enthusiasm among keepers.

loxodontaafrica said:
I have mapped the diversity of North America's African elephant population by country of origin. In the U.S. we have animals with the following lineage:
1.) Zimbabwe (the most common due to the imports carried out by Arthur Jones, the animals were prime breeding age when the first evaluation and reconfiguration of the breeding program took place)
2.) South Africa (primarily attributed to the 2003 import collaboration by the San Diego Safari Park and Lowry Park zoo, and added to by the import of three breeding cows by the Pittsburgh zoo)
3.) Namibia (nine elephants were imported from Namibia to Africam Safari, in addition to breeding elephants Ellie (LPZ) and Maclean (DAK)
4.)Mozambique (Kubwa (Indianapolis) is the only breeding specimen in the U.S.)
5.)Kenya (Bulwagi (Birmingham) is the only breeding animal representing Kenya and that being said he is only half)
6.) Tanzania (Osh (Oakland) is a pure Tanzanian animal imported in 2004 from Howletts)
7.) Zambia (Thabo Umsai (Pittsburgh) is half Zambian and was imported in 2011 from Zoo Dresden)
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Very interesting. Perhaps you would contact me privately about publishing this elsewhere.
 
Keeping elephants in captivity is certainly a controversy. As my screen name suggests, that is my favorite animal to see in zoos. However, knowing what I know now (and not based on this one article but on lots of research), I do think that there are many zoos that should not exhibit these animals due to insufficient space and incompatible climate. I do think there is a future for elephants in zoos but it is in southern zoos and only if they have spacious enclosures.

The other issue I didn't see in the article, and maybe I just missed it entirely, is the issue of splitting up females. With such a social animal it seems cruel to split up herds of these animals.
 
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