Hermann the bull elephant from Taronga zoo has just been moved to Dubbo. Burma will join him later this year. They must be very confident that they are going to get approval for the importation Jason
heman to dubbo... clearly, the comments taronga has publically stated (including on it's website) regarding a decision to move burma and heman only being made based on their compatibility with the new animals, was absloute rubbish. this has been obvious for some time as despite having not aquired the new animals the zoo went ahead building a new facility at dubbo and never built permanent accomodations for heman in the new exhibit (if comments posted by others are accurate). my major issues with this decision is that particually in the case of burma - the cow will never have the opportunity to be intergrated into a natural social environment. i'm sure the facilities in dubbo are much better than those the elephants currently live in at taronga, indeed it they may even be better than the new exhibit at the sydney zoo, however considering that there will ot be any other asian cow's joining burma at dubbo, i think it's a shame she has not even the opportunity to meet the other animals. still, you can't always trust the media - they have consistently been innaccurate in their reports on the elephat issue. maybe burma's move to dubbo is not yet set in concrete.
elephants at Western Plains My reliable source ( which cannot be divulged by much at this point ) hints that the new enclosure for elephants at Dubbo certainly takes in consideration the fact that alot of space is required , and while it may not be perfect , it certainly would be a lot better than an enlarged enclosure at Taronga Zoo ( which would still be noticably smaller than Aucklands enclosure ) If any zoo cannot provide sufficient space and/or behavioural enrichment ( daily walkabouts , construction workouts , etc ) they should not attempt to try to breed elephants . If they have elephants , they should consider having a group of them for display/education purposes rather than breeding . All going well , there should be ( at least ) 2 bulls and multiple cows at Dubbo Australia Zoo , Monarto Zoo .... Which is the better option ; having a few elephants in a large enclosure at Dubbo , and try to encourage breeding ;; or having ( too )many elephants in a small enclosure at Taronga Park for breeding My personal opinion would be for the Dubbo Zoo , if the issue was put between a rock and a hard place ..... It is a shame that the powers that be ( Zoo management ) did not plan an integrated and cooperative elephant import and breeding scheme . I am not exactly excited about the response that I posted here from the Auckland zoo -- I think they put the horse before the cart somehow .
for a long time now i have suggested that if the city zoo's really must continue to display elephants - well then there are plenty of non-breeders in the region, living in sub-standard conditions (this includes many of the elephants currently within our zoos and circus'), that could benifit from a very actively enriched life in a new exhibit at the zoo. however the lack of space makes the new facilities, no matter how great they are, less than ideal if the aim is to display elephants in a natural herd structure and encourage breeding. dubbo, werribee and other open range zoo's are the ideal place for this and no doubt as the breeding program developed further (if sucessful) the future would bring elephants that might be good candidates to move to the smaller city zoos. what if melbourne zoo displayed just 3 bull elephants? they certainly have the facilities to manage them seperately and the group could constantly change as bulls are loaned to other open range zoo's for breeding with the main herds. other elephants might prove to be anti-social as they get older or maybe they require intensive specialist medical care that a smaller zoo could better provide? certainly for the time being almost every elephant in the region will not be able to be an active participent in the breeding program - the current tally of breedable animals has dropped to 2 bulls and 1, maybe 2 cows! i can only hope that if the import goes ahead and the zoo's do breed elephants, that they will eventually realise the need for more space and go ahead with building bigger enclosures at the open range zoos. should we aim to eventually have a self sustaining program then our region, with so few zoo's, will no doubt need elephants displayed at every open-range zoo to accomodate the growing numbers.
