Zookeeper's Lounge

July 20, 2005 — Australia gave the go-ahead Wednesday for a controversial plan to import eight endangered Asian elephants for the country's zoos, prompting wildlife activists to launch legal action to block the "cruel" move.

Environment Minister Ian Campbell said the young pachyderms from Thailand would be part of a new breeding program, with Taronga Zoo in Sydney taking five and Melbourne's zoo three.

"The zoos' breeding program is a significant and exciting attempt to breed a species that is endangered and for which the long-term survival is under continued threat," Campbell said in a statement.

But a group of animal activist organizations immediately lodged an appeal against the decision with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, saying it was illegal and "keeping elephants in zoos is simply cruel."

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society International are also seeking a court injunction blocking the shipment of the elephants ahead of the appeal.

The elephants, which were raised and worked in logging camps, have been held in quarantine in Thailand for the past nine months, pending the government's decision.

"The importation does not meet the requirements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999," Humane Society International spokeswoman Nicola Beynon said in the statement.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said that despite more than 100 years of keeping elephants in captivity, Australian zoos have been unable to breed a single one.

"Scientific evidence has clearly demonstrated that elephants in zoos breed poorly, suffer myriad health problems (including serious foot and joint complaints) and die at a younger age than even those in camps," said Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia president Hugh Wirth.

"Keeping elephants in zoos is simply cruel. This plan places the welfare of these precious animals at risk and we will fight it to the very end," he said.

"It is inconceivable that the zoos are sticking with a 19th century notion that all zoos must have an elephant," said Beynon from Humane Society International. "It is not appropriate in this day and age when we know how much elephants suffer in captivity."

The group said that in addition to protests from scientists and conservationists, the minister had also been sent more than 65,000 E-mails and letters of objection by the public.

Fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild and habitat loss and poaching threaten the existence of the species, particularly in Southeast Asia, Campbell said in justifying the import plan.

Legal action would only prolong the amount of time the elephants spend in detention in Thailand, he said, adding: "It's not in the interest of the conservation of elephants for this to become a feast for lawyers."

Taronga Zoo's director and CEO Guy Cooper said that although the elephants were bound to become star attractions, the interest in them wasn't commercial.

"Our key focus and concern is to do something for Asian elephants which really are staring at oblivion in the second half of this century," he said.

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So what do you guys think? Should we keep elephants in zoos or not?

i totally suport this motion

Keeping elephants in zoos isn't a major concern of mine, but the current standards they are required to be kept under aren't nearly enough. The Columbus Zoo's facilities were renovated a few years back and now an AZA standard sized exhibit could fit inside the indoor viewing yard. The zoo also has a few smaller holding areas indoors as well as an almost standard size outdoor yard for a solitary bull and a huge outdoor yard (over 3 acres I believe) that their mother and calf and father and other cow rotate in and out of. If all zoos kept enclosures at least this size, elephants would have little problem in captivity, but it is cruel to keep them in many current zoo habitats

The Greater Vancouver Zoo had to get rid of their elephants because of poor quality exhibit. They had no trees and the ground caused problems with their feet. So they got rid of them to another zoo and putting different animals in the renovated exhibit. I thought it was good of the zoo not to fight it and do the best for the animals.

It was good of them not to contest that and give the elephants to another facility.

Another factor for the exhibits besides size is the amount of stimulation the animals recieve in them. There should at least be trees and things to mimic the elephants natural habitat. That's another reason I like Columbus' elephant exhibit. The old yard is fairly boring, but they just enlarged it and it does have plants, logs, and a small swimming pool for the bull that is currently using it. The new yard on the other hand is large and has hills and trees (both fake and real), a couple mud pits, logs for the elephants to play with, and a much larger swimming pool. The indoor viewing area also has fake rocks and a huge fake tree (as well as other fake foliage and a waterfall right outside the elephant fence) and the coolest part is probably the elephant shower. The elephants actually learned to turn it on themselves by punching a big orange button with their trunks. The elephants also get balls and other toys.