The Future of Elephants in American Zoos

The Horse Boy

The Horse Boy

Well-Known Member
In the old days, visitors would expect at every zoo to house 1 to two elephants at least because they are one of the most beloved beasts. Now as AZA care standards continue to grow, some zoos have planned to flat-out ditch them entirely on one hand; on the other, there are places that have constructed colossal habitats capable of holding large herds very similar to how it's done the wild, esp. in the USA as births and imports increase. Some of these places have even brought back the great critters to new impressive habitats some years after ending their exhibits what I've read. Since no other user seemed to make a thread specifically pertaining to the subject, I'll compile an alphabetical list of American facilities that should keep pachyderms for the long haul and phase out ones. Keep in mind that some of the places I listed might be based on my personal assumptions at face value so correct me if I'm wrong.

Most likely long-term holders -
  1. ABQ
  2. Atlanta
  3. Audubon
  4. Birmingham
  5. Brookfield
  6. Caldwell
  7. Cheyenne Mountain
  8. Cincinnati
  9. Cleveland
  10. Columbus
  11. Dallas
  12. Denver
  13. Dickerson Park
  14. Disney's Animal Kingdom
  15. Ft Worth
  16. Fresno
  17. Houston
  18. Indianapolis
  19. Jacksonville
  20. Kansas City
  21. Los Angeles
  22. Maryland
  23. Memphis
  24. Miami
  25. Milwaukee
  26. North Carolina
  27. Oklahoma City
  28. Omaha
  29. Oregon
  30. Pittsburgh
  31. Reid Park
  32. Rosamond Gifford
  33. St Louis
  34. San Antonio
  35. San Diego
  36. San Diego Safari Park
  37. Sedgwick County
  38. Smithsonian
  39. Toledo
  40. Tulsa
  41. White Oak (not really a zoo)
  42. Zootampa (Lowry Park)

Planned or past phase outs with no definite returns -
  1. Buffalo
  2. Buttownwood Park
  3. Bronx
  4. Detroit
  5. El Paso
  6. Gladys Porter
  7. Hogle
  8. Knoxville
  9. Louisville
  10. Nashville
  11. Norfolk
  12. Oakland
  13. Phoenix
  14. Point Defiance
  15. Riverbanks
  16. San Francisco
  17. Santa Barbara
  18. Topeka (it's been discussed here already)
  19. Woodland Park

Either way for the future -
  1. Busch Gardens
  2. Cameron Park
  3. Honolulu
  4. Little Rock
  5. Montgomery
  6. Rodger Williams
  7. Wildlife Safari Oregon

I think it's safe to say that the country will probably have more African zoos than Asians in the future. We have seen an explosive number of African births over the past 2 years, which could mean an imminent herd split, and a lot of these new facilities made from scratch stemmed from that.
 
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tigris115 said:
Honolulu should go in phase-out according to people there. Their exhibit isn't suited for a herd and moving new elephants there is a logistical nightmare
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Ye we had a chat about that in the speculation 2025 continuation thread. I just wasn't entirely sure.
 
Great Argus said:
Quite safe I'd think. Considering the general statistics of the Asian Elephant population, it's a bit risky to say more than 12 to 15 facilities will hold them by the time another 10 to 15 years have gone by.
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A lot of the facilities that have tentative or surefire plans to bring back elephants to brand new habitats after phase out periods would prob be Africans (eg. Knoxville, Louisville, Phoenix and Oakland), as what happened with lowry park, fresno, birmingham, and reid park sorta, after closing outdated asian enclosures. The only zoos that I realistically see having Indians return after a phase out gap would be san antonio and Bronx if they do decide commit to them.
 
I know topeka had plans to make a large african habitat last decade. But they seem to have scrapped it now. It looks like they will abandon their elephant programs for good after their 1 asian and 1 african pass. I am not sure the zoo even has enough physical room for multi-acre elephant spaces.
 
The Horse Boy said:
I know topeka had plans to make a large african habitat last decade. But they seem to have scrapped it now. It looks like they will abandon their elephant programs for good after their 1 asian and 1 african pass. I am not sure the zoo even has enough physical room for multi-acre elephant spaces.
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Last I heard, once Tembo and Cora pass, they plan to transfer out their hippo and turn the large mammal house into a rhinoceros exhibit.
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
Last I heard, once Tembo and Cora pass, they plan to transfer out their hippo and turn the large mammal house into a rhinoceros exhibit.
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That makes a lot of sense. I guess their nee savannah area with the giraffes and antelope was initially going to be for elephants. I feel the place isn't suitable for hippos too.
 
tschandler71 said:
Birmingham is adding four acres to the Elephant exhibit. They are using dirt excavated from outside roundabout project as the base layer.
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Bham's expanding the elephant enclosure twice it's current size? It's great if they do but the current enclosures does not need improving in my opinion. @tschandler71 did you maybe mean cameron park as a typo?
 
Back to the topic of the waco zoo I know they currently have one old cow african named tembo, but their enclosure is just under an acre. Although the enclosure's more naturalistic to my standards, I'm positive they'd have to develop a much bigger and esp. bull-proof enclosure if they were to continue housing elephants with a proper herd structure. They haven't made any public announcements about their future of elephants.
 
I just discovered the rodger Williams girls will move in a couple years. They have not announced which facility and if the will continue to keep elephants ir not. I personally hope it can become a bachelor facility.
 
RWPZ won't get them back. The "consolidation" I was told about is getting in full swing. I was even told LA was phasing out a while back and had a hard time believing it but here we are. There will be more coming including some big zoos (which now I have a hard time not believing). In the end, only maybe a dozen holders per species
 
PSO said:
RWPZ won't get them back. The "consolidation" I was told about is getting in full swing. I was even told LA was phasing out a while back and had a hard time believing it but here we are. There will be more coming including some big zoos (which now I have a hard time not believing). In the end, only maybe a dozen holders per species
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I thibk the reason LA might not be able to take in new elephants in the immediate future is because of the lack of available matrilines or bachelors available at this moment. But we are however starting to see a lot of successful Asian births and (assuming they all get to successfully grow into teens and adults) there will be loads of new individuals for facilities to import in the next few years at least. The exhibit is by no means bad. It has perfect space a breeding herd. I'm even surprised white oak and Houston aren't ready to export a matriline as they have multples
 
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White Oak is an interesting situation. It took them years to integrate elephants into actual herds. As most know, elephants don't always get along and a lot of the elephants at CEC were at most tripled housed and the herds on the road always had a handler present. So after that effort, doesn't surprise me they are in no rush to break herds up.

Also, White Oak has the luxury to hold lots of elephants. Even with nearly 40, they have tons of room and have a great financial backing, meaning an new barns needed to be built will be.
 
I think there are more American African holders in need of a matriline split in the next few years than Asian. San Diego WAP, Omaha (assuming they get a new bull soon), Sedgwick and even Disney, as they hpuse a mother daughter pair unrelated to the rest pf the herd, are all examples to come to mind.
 
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