Australia Zoo Riding elephants

Does everyone remember the years of Elephants rides in Zoos and who it is frowned upon now, is it back in fashion again?

p.s. I dont acctually remeber it just know about it :P
 
ZooYouthBen said:
Does everyone remember the years of Elephants rides in Zoos and who it is frowned upon now, is it back in fashion again?

p.s. I dont acctually remeber it just know about it :P
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When Taronga were starting to plan for the new elephant enclosure, there was mention of elephant rides coming back. The 'thought' (possibly PR machine, rather than animal dept) was that the older generation remembered fondly of riding elephants when they visited the zoo, so why deny this generation. Madness.
 
I don't think elephant rides are bad in and of themselves. After all iot is used in India as a safe way for tourists to view tigers in the wild and to experience elephants. However in zoos it has too strong connotations of the 'bad old days' when zoos were primarily about entertainment. To bring back elephant rides would be taking away from the idea of zoos as conservation and education areas. I think this is why many of us opposed the take over of Werribee because the focus would have been on a funfair.
Elephant rides would be a slippery slope to take and give opponents another weopon to use. However where do you draw the line. What about Seal shows and bird shows ?
 
Likewise the public feeding of the big cats, which was once a major attraction, but is now politically incorrect and frowned on as sensationalist entertainment.
 
Ara said:
Likewise the public feeding of the big cats, which was once a major attraction, but is now politically incorrect and frowned on as sensationalist entertainment.
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Unless the public PAY to feed the big cats which is deemed zoopolitically correct!
 
I just don't feel this is even needed, there is just no point, elephant's back (asian and African) aren't actually designed for weight to be put on top of them, if we start with this who knows what others will base this upon and create,
 
Sim said:
Exactly why is there a problem with riding elephants?

Is it any different to riding camels?
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Actually Sim my point was that it was madness to consider riding elephants again in zoos. Even if you take away the political correctness about being on the back of a 'majestic beast' or sending mixed messages about conservation, the sheer fact is that they are bloody big and dangerous. They are the number one fatal mix in zoos and I have known of too many keepers that have been injured in daily contact. Mind you camels have a nasty bite too...
 
Elephants are probably more friendly but more sophisticated that Camels, though the wedge between the camels hump is very sturdy and so it could take a quite good deal of stress,
 
tetrapod said:
the sheer fact is that they are bloody big and dangerous. They are the number one fatal mix in zoos and I have known of too many keepers that have been injured in daily contact.
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That argument I can live with - visitor safety is rather important ... all it takes is for one of the normally placid elephants to get spooked one day and a visitor gets hurt. Then the zoo is facing all sorts of legal issues as well as attacks from the animal libbers.
 
Not to mention there would be some issues with there zoo permitting regarding riding elephants, but i spose cash will always get around that.
 
As a kid I had a lot of elephant rides at Taronga - it was one of the highlights of a visit. (Had a few at Melbourne zoo too.) On busy days Taronga had two elephants going at once.

When I look back now at the old photos it makes my blood run cold; there wasn't so much as a hand-rail between the public (in large numbers) and the elephant walk/track. At times the elephants had to slow down or stop while people got out of the way. In modern times it would be a nightmare insurance situation, and yet I can't recall an accident ever occurring.

The only drawback was that I always seemed to be the last kid to get on and so I was at the back of the howdah. As she plodded along, the old ele. would flick her tail up. If she got you across the head it was like being whipped with wire! :D
 
Sim said:
... Then the zoo is facing all sorts of legal issues as well as attacks from the animal libbers.
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One would have thought there had been enough ammunition with importing the elephants in the first place...
 
tetrapod said:
One would have thought there had been enough ammunition with importing the elephants in the first place...
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That's an great point to put out there, munipulation and misuse of the animals, can spark obviously even more protests then aquiring the animals,
 
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