So i was wrong, as usual! Since there's only 1 'herd' in the UK which could lose that number & still exist, i think i have an idea where you mean!
wait wait wait....zoos are evil and all animals should be in the wild but we are sending elephants to Noah's Ark Zoo Farm?!
Noah's Ark... I have no evidence for this, just articulating what others appear to be hinting at. This may actually be a very good place for elephants [although I have resevatins about mixing the species]. It's worth remembering that the zoo world had no time for Aspinall [because his ideas were 'different'] until he started producing lots of gorillas. Admittedly the non-science attached to Noah's ark gives me the whatsits, but if they look after their animals well..... There are worse crimes than having funny ideas.
Rather ironic if it did happen, i have to agree! But if any zoo in the UK was prepared to 'do business' with Noahs then it would probably be quite likely to be somewhere with equally oddball & unorthodox views like the Aspinall zoos!
Howletts/PL have traditionally always been 'mavericks' in the Zoo World as far as organisation is concerned. In the past they refused to co-operate with EEP programmes and just did their own thing. Nowadays they seem to be more in line with the mainstream Zoo world at least as far as being involved with some species EEP programmes etc, because it sometimes benefits them to do so. But they still very much do their own thing when they want to, and of course they are constantly publicly decrying all other Zoos anyway. Their main criteria in rehoming animals seems to be whether they think the enclosure to receive them is suitable or not, rather than whether the Zoo itself is a laudable institution or not. They have sent Gorillas to zoos in South East Asia and Brazil. On the other hand, rather oddly, they vetoed the transfer of another male 'Boulas' from Belfast to a male holding zoo in Europe because they didn't approve the enclosure he would live in. So I think if the Noah's Ark Elephant set-up is good quality, as it obviously is, and there will be trained staff as they have said, then Howletts/PL would look at that, rather than the ethos of the place itself, in deciding whether to place their surplus Elephants there. Of course, it may not be them....
I am not sure if they really intend to do that. It could be just a flight of fancy. I believe zoos are nowdays actively discouraged from keeping both because of the danger of transfer of the Herpes virus- from African to Asian,-but presumably that's only applicable if breeding is being planned/operated and Asian calves are involved. I think their new Elephant complex has to be up to a much higher standard than some of their original exhibits, to be able to get elephants from virtually anywhere.
IZN issue 393 March/April 2012 It might be of interest to read Noah's Ark Zoo Farm's own view on the Elephant Eden which I published in the March/April 2012 issue of International Zoo News. I'm afraid I have a backlog of issues I should put on the web, but because of this discussion I have uploaded the relevant issue to International Zoo News I might point out that despite the usefulness of the web in obtaining information about zoos, there is still a lot of value in referencing the printed word. I look forward to seeing which elephants turn up in August.
An Elephant update from NAZF's website: Still no confirmation on the source, but it does explain that one of the delays is down to the fact that the Elephants are now being trained individually to enter a specially made crate that is designed for Protective contact Introducing Elephant Eden, Paradise for Elephants | Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
Well, if they are still coming from within UK, one needs to just look out for somewhere that currently has crates in their Elephant enclosure. Howletts?
According to their facebook site, the elephants are not coming from the Aspinall collection, but they will confirm shortly where they are coming from!
Maybe from Zoo Fasano/Italy? They want to get rid of their Asians (older cows with circus backround).
Just read the update. Didn't know that you can get specialist PC crates....can anyone tell me what is different to a normal crate? Also just reading between the lines, if they have only had 1 crate built, would that not suggest that the elephants aren't coming from very far away as otherwise they would have to split the group with them travelling over several dasy wouldn't they?
I haven’t actually seen the transport crate but the main difference is that it has doors at both ends so that the elephants can be trained to walk through until closed in for transport, as opposed to being pushed and pulled in. Don’t ask where or when, nobody knows for certain. I do know they are now overdue with regard of the completion of the housing. Good job from my point of view, we have had a lot of hold ups during the build, weather mostly. Half-filled the pond last week and it leaked so had to re do that … and with the reservoir not finished yet it take forever to fill. Most of the staff managed a swim though. And the sand yard is presently being used for lunch time volleyball. From an operational point of view they could move in tomorrow but we will be doing stuff somewhere on the site for months, roads, car parks, loos, observation platforms, landscaping and so on.
How the hell did this only cost £1.6 million, while just twycross' trail cost £1 million. I also wonder if the dismissed elephant keepers are being hired for elephant eden?
