sorry she is african. i hope ALL the circus elephants in australia end up at dubbo (or australia zoo) but the african cow obviously has potential friends of her own kind across the tasman.
yea it is silly, but often with circus elephants, they are moving so much they have many diseases, some of which they would be immune to over the many years of travelling, mayb thts y they aint in oz yet
jumbo.. i was only talking about one elephant - an 27ish year old african cow called "jumbo" that performs with the whirling circus in auckland. she is the only elephant in a circus in new zealand and she is one of only 3 elephants in the whole country. the circus is coming under alot of pressure and essentially, since she is not an asian elephant should she be "retired" her nearest potential companions are at dubbo. i have never read any articles that state their have ever been any plans for jumbo to move to australia - i was only commenting on it because, quite simply, unless she spends the rest of her life with the circus, where else is an african elephant in australasia going to go?!! as for any potential virus' - i'm not sure if herpes or tuberculosis have ever been detected in elephants in australasia. unlike the US where its a constant cause of elephant deaths..
well i was talkin about all the elephants in oz and nz circus' well theres still chances of picking up diseses from bovines, and still it would be difficul through quarintine
yeah could be difficult. because NZ has even stricter quarrintine laws than us though the australian government is usually okay with live imports from there. its not gonna happen anytime in the immediate future, but id'e really like to see australasia become circus elephant free. between dubbo and maybe australia zoo we could actually accomodate all of the animals now in our zoos.
well yea it would be great, its just the money side, i mean for dubbo to support 6 more eles would be hard, making 11, and the possibility of 5 coming from taronga if tht dont play out well. i reakon a sepate zoo effort to buy property to support all circus aniomals, like tiger and lions aswell
is that how many elephants are in circus in oz - six? look i don't really think money is the issue here, or at least it shouldn't be! elephants are big, costly animals to keep but thats a responsibility the zoos have decided to take. they want to breed more elephants, expand the population - dubbo (in reality the zoo board of NSW) should be able to afford the upkeep of more elephants, because thats their long-range plan and the reason that was given to us when they asked for support of their elephant import plan. personally i have been somewhat dissapointed with the lack of interest that the major zoos have shown in providing homes for needy, often abused, circus elephants in australia. anyhow enough on elephants in this thread...
kk i more thin on the eles, there are 6 circus eles in nsw, the rest not sure, technically burma at dubbo is still owned by bullens, and steves are still owned by a circus, and i no its in the long range plan to have many eles, but the money thing is the inital imapct of getting more elephanst, 6 fully grown can be coslty, were as a baby or 2 will grow and funds can be dispursed as needs be
the australia zoo elephants are owned by bullens (now defunct) circus. are you saying burma came from there originally too?
yes she is still owned by the comapny bullens animal world, i no this so as i have seen documentation fromn the nsw zoo board animal cllection etc, and i have spent some time with her keepers and her of cousre
Circus elephant in NZ There has been recent news clippings about the African elephant in NZ . Basically they are pondering how to "retire" her , as they are wanting to move out of the preforming animal line of circus . Unfortunately , both her , and her keeper have grown very attached to each other . They were trying to find some place that could be a sanctuary in NZ ( I personally dont think their chances are that great ) It will be good if someone in Australia could take her . It is highly unlikely that she has TB or any other disease . If she has , she would be shot by Agricultural officials . Patrick is not kidding about NZs biosecurity standards -- they would be the most stringent in the world . I dont agree with everything that is written in the newspapers , but I thought you may be interested in the above .
thats good to hear nigel. obviously the issue of sending her to dubbo has not arisen in the NZ papers. maybe one of us should send a email to someone at dubbo and see if the issue has been brought to their attention.
i will bring it up wen i go, im goin wif a mate who used to be a keeper qat taronga, so i will be talking to all the zookeepers there
Forward not backwar with OR without PETA There is an argument for elephant maintenance, but it need better adversaries than PETA. PETA is solely of the judgement no animals in captivity. What that implies for the welfare of wild populations is simply never discussed nor raised (are they safe in the wild???, I ONLY see increasing pressures on wild populations, thus more endangered species, hence more extinctions on the cards). PETA should stick to domestic animals on this and leave the serious wild animal matters with competent in-country authorities (CITES et al ....) and the TRAFFIC office. They have more than enough racket to take action when needed. I rest my case on this. And I sincerely hope this lone female may join the other cows at Dubbo before long. Jelle
Breeding Africans at Dubbo? Guys, What are the prospects for breeding African elephants at Dubbo? Is it perhaps better to relocate them to f.i. Monarto Open Range Zoo and try to breed from them? Or is Monarto slated to become involved in the Asian elephant breeding programme also? Do they have any plans on this? Also, what about this rumour of Monarto going into black rhinos? Cheers, Jelle
Two comments PETA, (mt favourite PET hate) want a complete ban on all contact between humans and animals. No domestic animals, pets etc. Re the elephants. Monarto has stated that they would not be involved in elephants for a long time if ever, they are just too expensive to keep, and don't forget David Hancocks is the director at Monarto. Jai
jelle, u are very confused about alot of programs, dubbo has 3 female africans, all over 35, there has been a totalo of 6 africans at dubbo, and 1 at taronga about 40 years ago. there was 2 males at dubbo, both died, last in 2000, and a 4th female who died some years ago. dubbo will more than likely never get more africans, nor any other oz zoo. there is also no need to relocate any animals of large size from dubbo, as dubbo is australia's largest (as in most developed ) zoo in oz, its on about 800 ha or 2000 acres. the elephants there (2 asians 3 africans) have the area of all australias other ele exhibits put together, plus more.
David Hancocks is not the director at Monarto. He was Director at Werrribee for a few years, some time ago, but has not worked in any zoos in this region since leaving Werribee. A recent resturcture in the Zoological Society of South Australia now has Kevin Evans as director of both Adelaide and Monarto Zoos.
