Chester Zoo Elephants????

Due to work commitments i have been unable to visit the zoo for a couple of weeks which is unusual for me. Does anyone have any news on when the baby elephant is due to be born?

When Nayan was born the keepers suggested that they were expecting the other baby to be born anytime and obviously that was nearly 3 months ago and still no new baby.

Hope someone has some news/updates.

 

Originally it was thought to be due September/October but this has now been put back to December.

 

What's the news on the other pregnancy?? Still any chance of another baby elephant sometime soon??

 

Thi is still keeping everyone waiting as to when she is going to give birth the last I heard was that it could be anytime between now and Feburary!!

 

let mother elephants keep their babies

I think that captive elephant births are very exciting and important but I hope that the Chester Zoo is different than so many zoos in the United States. By that I mean that I hope they let the mother keep and raise her baby as elephants are supposed to do. Elephants keep their female young all their lives and the males until around puberty. The zoos and circus breeding program, here in the US, take the babies away at one to two years of age to train or fill other zoo slots. This is an unbelievable cruelty and it is not done for the sake of the elephant.... Building captive herds where they can live happily and in some state of normalcy is great, hurting them by taking their babies is unconscionable.

 

Does that happen in Zoos all over the USA, or only in certain ones? In the UK and Europe it is nowadays routinely accepted that mothers and young should stay together longterm, and females with their daughters throughout their lives(usually).

 

As far as I`m aware, only the unfortunate baby elephants born with US circusses (mainly Ringling)are seperated from their mothers at age 2. The few US zoos that are breeding elephants seem to keep the female calves with their mothers indefinately nowaways too and the bull calves often until they are 8+ years. However, most US zoos are using a terribly invasive hands-on approach during births, with the mother chained and the baby taken away from her directly after the birth for the oh-so-important vet exam and then keepers using slings to get the calf to its feet and so on. All rubbish which is in far most cases completely unnecessary.

As far as I know Chester is letting the females give birth in the group in the normal indoor yard and the keepers don`t interfer during or after the birth, letting the mother and the other females doing the "first exam" and helping the baby to its feet, just as it should be.

 

You are quite correct in saying that Chester do not interfer,infact since they have built the new house the zoo has found that the young Elephants get to their feet alot quicker on sand in the new house,than they did on the concrete in the old house.

 

Yes, wild elephants don't have Vets and slings on hand, and somehow they manage okay...

I imagine in Chester's case they are pretty close now to approximating a wild matriarchal unit- at least with Thi's family, so such intervention isn't necessary.

 

This sounds wonderful

I am so happy to hear that the elephants in the Chester Zoo are allowed to keep their calves with them. We can be such a cruel species in our quest for domination and money. I do believe that those are the two most motivating factors in what we do to elephants and all other animals as well. I used to think that the Portland Zoo was really special because of their pioneering work in breeding Asian elephants and that they let their females give birth among the other elephants without that horrible "chaining birth protocol" that so many other institutions use. When I learned that they, too, took the calves from their mothers at a very young age, I lost my respect for them. I believe that chaining during birth began in Canada and then was replicated in the US. I know that there were cows that were antagonistic to their calves, but that generally did not happen where things were kept in a more "nomal" atmosphere. I know they take the calves at a very young age at the Ringling Breeding Center, as one of you stated. I am not sure which zoos are continuing to do that now. I know that Dickerson Park did it in Missouri and several others as well. Perhaps the situation has changed. I hope so for the sake of the elephants. Syracuse, in NYS, seems to have gotten better. They are supposed to be bringing back a mother, daughter and the daughters calf to that Zoo from Roxton, Canada, where the mother was bred.....Hope that really happens and they let them live as a family like they should.

 

Thi looked enormous yesterday - her belly looked low and she had very prominent teats, so hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.

Nayan is a little powerhouse so having a little playmate will make for a great elephant exhibit for visitors and elephants alike!

The chained births are very distressing to see. I didn't even realise it happened until I saw the whipsnade programme. I'm glad Chester don't have that approach, I'm sure it's a much better experience for the mum.

 

Whipsnades bull is from Syracuse NY, which is one of the zoos that, I believe, has that protocol. If they do, it is awful because the cows at that zoo have given birth several times and are excellent mothers.

 

The female at Whipsnade that was chained for the televised birth was Karishma from Twycross. She was a first time mother and also had no relatives in the Whipsnade group.

It would be interesting to know if the other females at Whipsnade were also chained for their (subsequent) births or whether Karishma was an exception.

 

elephant birth

I don't know much about the Whipsnade Zoo, other than I was there many, many years ago. I understand the motivation behind the chaining ie to stop any aggressive behavior by the mother on the new baby, but I think that it is an awful thing to do. I believe there would be ways to alleviate that behavior too, perhaps by more normalized elephant living conditions.... Not sure, but I think it might work.

 

I understand what you are saying but Whipsnade didn't want to take any risks as they have had 5 baby Elephants and i think only 2 have survived watching the Zoo and that Karishma was a first time mother.

 

Ooo, that is sad. I supposed certain captive situations create anomalous behaviors in otherwise normal animals. Hopefully, it is all for the best and things will work out ok.

 

The cause of the Calves death is a virus im not sure what it is but Karishma's calf George was certainly fit and healthy from my visit a week ago.

 

You might be referring to the herpes virus that kills captive elephant calves, mostly in Asian elephants. No amount of chaining or restraining the mothers is going to stop that. It is a virus that kills many calves born in captivity and, I believe, there is much research going on to cure it or prevent it. The chaining protocol of the mother elephants has nothing to do with that.

 

I was disgusted when I saw the chaining on that programme, it was obvious that she was really distressed. I had thought that most zoos had realised that the best thing to do is leave them to it. Even Longleat didn't interfere when the camels started shoving the baby around, it turned out to be their way of toughening it up.

From what I remember of the programme, it was the virus that killed the calves, not any members of the herd.

I lost all respect for London and Whipsnade after that series

 

for the elephants

It is a horrible way to treat a mother animal...It is the protocol for being safe. Many places in the US do it, but not all. I believe that they have the fewest problems in the venues where things are kept as "natural" as possible. We must learn to be a kinder species.