This thread addresses two things about elephants (one is way shorter and simpler to answer): 1. I think the articles about how zoos decide to euthanize elephants whenever it happens are so weird. Take the recent example of Ranchipur at SDZ. One random morning Ranchipur woke up and was having a hard time standing and was leaning on the utilitree. Why was he having a hard time standing at that morning in particular? Why was it unanticipated? Why didn't they see signs of it coming for the months leading up? Like, doesn’t it make more sense for an animal like that to have trouble moving around for days leading up to it, and it culminates with him leaning on the utilitree? Or does that never happen with elephants, and it actually is always sudden, on a random morning. Especially for Ranchipur, who was really open to a lot of the training, way more than for most bulls, which would have probably led the keepers to notice something like that? Wouldn't it make sense that for a few days leading up to that fateful morning, it is already getting harder for him to move when he is training with the keepers, and they could notice and take action early on? Its just random and makes me think and throws me off. (And by the way I know that by the time the elephant actually is immobile its too late and it must be euthanized but the point is why can't it's immobility be predicted?) What do YOU think about it and why things happen when they do and how unanticipated they seem to be? Or do YOU think they are anticipated by the staff and we (the common public) don't hear the whole story? This may be a bad counterexample because its about a different species, but when Nola the NoWR died, she had been sick for a bit already, and they kinda had a feeling she would die soon. This is different, from my perspective. (Im not saying this in like an accusatory way against the SDZ, I know they try their best and love their animals there and the elephants there are in good hands. ). But I want to know peoples opinions on elephant healthcare and why these sudden deaths where euthanizing is necessary seem to be so frequent (or at least they seem frequent from my opinion at least). 2. Is the average life expectancy for elephants in AZA or EAZA [or whatever the europe version is called] zoos going up?
they said his heath was going down hill a little. but as far as struggling to walk its like if we wake up and feel sick. sometimes it just happens. the average life of a zoo elephant now it about 45 to 70 its a little up from the old 40 to late 60s. Animal activists are so under minded to think the life of elephants in captivity is just 17. I really wish they would actually focus on real animal abuse and/or conservation.
