What are your views on the new tougher regulations? - I think that it will make a better breeding program for elephants but will force smaller zoos out of keeping elephants. http://www.aza.org/uploadedFiles/Conservation/Commitments_and_Impacts/Elephant_Conservation/ElephantStandards.pdf
I am pretty sure our new facility at Birmingham excels at all those standards. The all bull herd is pretty cool, I suggest any Zoochatter with a chance to see it takes the opportunity to.
Right now currently there's 70 Aza accredited zoos with Elephants. 23 of them only have 2 elephants at the zoo. does anyone know the status of atlanta zoo,audubon zoo,baton rouge zoo,buffalo zoo,buttonwood park zoo,cameron park zoo,chaffee zoo,el paso zoo,greenville zoo, honolulu zoo,lee richardson zoo,little rock zoo,louisville zoo,milwaukee county zoo,niabi zoo,point defiance oo, san antonio zoo,santa barbara zoo,sedgewick county zoo,seneca park zoo,topeka zoo,virginia zoo and wildlife safari as these are the zoos that have 2 elephants?
Fresno Chaffee Zoo is bringing in African Elephants for their African expansion, and will then ship out their Asian Elephants. I think Honolulu is looking into getting a bull. Niabi lost their AZA accreditation. That's all I know. Perhaps one of the elephant enthusiasts on this forum can answer for those other zoos?
Point Defiance and Santa Barbara Zoos have announced that they will no longer have elephants once their current residents die or are transferred elsewhere (e.g., when one of the two eles die the other may go to another zoo to be with others). My guess would be based on the history of other zoos that several of these zoos will stop exhibiting elephants. I can't imagine that a major zoo like Zoo Atlanta would go elephantless, but then Philadelphia, San Francisco, and sometime soon Bronx Zoo all have (or will). Topeka is currently debating what to do if you read some of the recent articles that pop up in the newsfeed. Does Wildlife Safari in Oregon really only have 2 elephants? I thought that they had a whole herd. Don't Virginia Zoo and Honolulu Zoo have new elephant exhibits? I assume that they will want to get more elephants. Audubon Zoo has announced a new elephant exhibit, but hasn't started building it yet as far as I can tell.
Indian Rhinos will replace Point Defiance's elephants, according to snowleopard. One of the major reasons the Bronx is getting rid of their elephants eventually is because even though they have 3, two of the elephants don't get along (Patty and Happy?), so 1 must be kept alone (Happy), and the other 2 are out on exhibit daily (Patty and Maxine). When one elephant dies, if it's Maxine, then the zoo will have no choice but to send Happy and Patty away as they won't get along and they can't keep two solitary elephants. If it's Happy or Patty that dies, then the zoo will keep elephants a little longer as Maxine gets along with both Patty and Happy. So it really depends on which elephant passes first.
zoo atlanta currently has 2 female african elephants. one at 30 yrs of age and the other at 29 yrs of age. Maryland zoo in Baltimore has a bull named tuffy whos 29 and cant breed with the 3 females at the zoo. They could always send him to zoo atlanta with these females or jacksonville zoo which is close to zoo atlanta, they could send them there to expand the herd in jacksonville to 6. Wildlife Safari has a bull whos 31 and a female whos 42. Virginia zoo has 2 females african bush elephants. one whos 43 and the other at 39. I think there exhibit is celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year. Honolulu zoo like BZF said, there looking to get a bull probably for there cow vaigai whos 27. they have a older cow whos 37.Im wondering if that bull might come from Portland zoo they have 4 bulls including the oldest on in captivity Packy. He was born at the Portland zoo back in 1962.
Milwaukee County Zoo recently announced plans for a new African elephant habitat. Fundraising will begin next year hopefully.
Zoo Atlanta was looking at expanding its elephant program in 2008 with the breeding of one of their cows, Dottie. Unfortunately both passed away due to Dottie contracting pneumonia. I see Zoo Atlanta being a bull holding facility long term. Virginia recently expanded its holding yard, and I think they are simply seeking a third elephant to join their collection. Same story with Seneca park.
Glad to hear Santa Barbara is getting out of it (if they are unwilling to build a better exhibit). Really not enough room. San Antonio needs to get out. But when I was there several months ago, I asked one of the keepers after an elephant presentation they did what they are going to do now that AZA wants at least three. She was basically in denial and said something like "well that doesn't go into effect for a couple years." Since their recently announced major plans for the next two years are for a cafe and carousel and meeting area, I assume they will be get out of the elephant business (even though they have not announced anything yet). El Paso, which I have been to, is a big question mark.
I have a question. When the year comes when these regulations are in place, what happen to the zoos that don't have AZA inspections that year? Do they get off the hook until their next inspection or will AZA stop by just to inspect that particular exhibit?
Reading the standards again, I do not like the clause "or the space to hold three elephants." I'm afraid places like the Buffalo Zoo will say, "Oh we used to have three elephants so we're good." Although they did, the exhibit is not big enough for three elephants in this day in age.
The new standards are a bit confusing to me in some parts. If I'm reading it correctly...ALL zoos that choose to exhibit elephants MUST have at least one bull? What if the zoo isn't participating in the SSP for elephants? The Phoenix Zoo houses 3 African females that are past breeding age. Reba has to be kept separate from Indu because both are dominant elephants so she is out in the yard by herself and Indu goes out with the other female Shena. Where their elephants are concerned, they are a sanctuary because 2 of them are former Ringling Brothers performers and one of them has a violent history and all 3 were likely going to be destroyed if a home wasn't found for them. So, right there, they'd be 'violating' the new standards if they were in place right now. For safety reasons, Reba and Indu must be kept separately. I know they've tried in the past to have all 3 in the yard at the same time, and it's worked for brief intervals, but not any great length. I believe the new elephant exhibit they want to have room for a bull, but who knows when they'll raise enough money to even break ground on it. The shade requirement concerns me, too. The only actual shade structure in the yard are the tall canopies they hang puzzle feeders from. I don't spend much time at the zoo during the heat of the summer so I don't know if the keepers allow barn access during the day when it gets to be 113 degrees. I am glad, though, that they're saying NEW herds can't be mixed species. I had to read that part a couple of times to finally grasp they don't plan to require separation of current mixed herds. I don't know how many there are, but know of at least one at the San Diego Zoo. They have 2 African cows and the rest are Asian. One of the cows, Shaba, grew up with an Asian cow and I think it was stressful enough for her to have to move to San Diego from Tucson, only to lose her longtime companion Connie a few months later. I don't think it would be a good idea for her to be forced to move to another zoo so she'd be with only Africans when she's only used to being around Asians. The new standards will be interesting. How many zoos will be 'forced' to give up their elephants or risk losing AZA? And where will all these 'surplus' animals go? There's only so many available zoos who can accommodate additional elephants.
@blospz: The AZA's only enforcement of their elephant standards is through accreditation. Only in the most severe and rare cases, would the AZA inspect a zoo outside of the accreditation cycle. @azcheetah2: The standards do not say that every zoo must have a bull elephant, but that every zoo has the space to house a bull elephant. There is a shortage of elephants in this country. Several zoos still have space to take on additional elephants if necessary. @jusko88: bull elephants can't really be move around to places that can't house a bull elephant. @DavidBrown: Audubon's new elephant barn has been under construction for almost a year. I haven't seen Philly's new masterplan, but last I heard they still have an elephant exhibit in mind. For all of you: Don't forget that 9 elephants were just added to the SSP from Africa. There are pending imports from Europe yet to occur. And don't rule out the Bronx Zoo quite yet...
Thank you for clarifying that. I probably realized that when I was reading it but somewhere between the time I read it and when I posted my response it went from "room to house" to "must house". hehehe.
