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The Auckland Zoo has announced that it will relocate its two female elephants.
The Asian elephants, Burma and Anjalee, will be moved to a new home to give them the “family herd” they need for their long-term well-being, the zoo said Wednesday.
Zoo director Kevin Buley said he has been committed to creating a sustainable elephant herd since 2011, but the challenges of the past five years have made it difficult.
He had been in zoos for more than 25 years and it was by far the hardest animal decision he had to make, Buley said.
Another Sri Lankan elephant, Nandi, was expected to join Burma and Anjalee about five years ago, but that has not happened.
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Nandi, then a 6-year-old female elephant from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka, was gifted to New Zealand by the country’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, in February 2016.
His arrival at Auckland Zoo was halted in 2017 following protests by animal rights activists and a hearing at the Sri Lanka Court of Appeal.
Shabnam Dastgheib / Things
The two elephants will leave the Auckland Zoo.
Around the same time, the Auckland Council finance and performance committee approved the $ 1.6 million relocation costs of the elephant to the city.
Nandi continues to live in the elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka and the Auckland Zoo said it had informed authorities that it will discontinue the relocation program.
Buley said there have also been five attempts at artificial insemination between 2017 and 2019 with Anjalee, but none have been successful.
“A series of insurmountable challenges means that no further attempts are currently possible here in New Zealand.”
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In this episode of KEA Kids News, we meet some cute animals born at the Auckland Zoo. Also, we hear from a scientist who discovered a coral skyscraper under the sea.
Now 14, Anjalee needs to get pregnant soon to avoid any long-term reproductive health problems that female elephants may face if they don’t reproduce.
“Having exhausted all current possibilities to raise her here at Auckland Zoo, we will now work to move her to another accredited zoo program where she can live in a multi-generational family herd,” said Buley.
Moving elephants abroad will be a challenge, he said, but with a good level of planning and some teamwork with the host organization, they will settle in and have a comfortable and happy life.
“There you will be able to mate naturally with a bull elephant and have the best possible chance of finally having your own baby elephant.”
Buley said the Auckland Zoo staff were heartbroken and “absolutely heartbroken” by the decision that had been made.
He said the team is proud of the elephant program and the “happy lives” that Burma and Anjalee had at Auckland Zoo.
“Our team of elephants is truly exceptional in the level of skill, dedication and care they provide, which is why this decision has been so much more difficult to make.
“Our two elephants are such an important part of our whānau zoo and we know how much they also mean to the millions of people who have found a connection with them and followed their lives with us over the past few years.”
The keepers desperately wanted to see a future for themselves here as part of a herd, and realizing that they cannot achieve that here has been devastating for them, Buley said.
Buley said team members know that for the elephants’ welfare they must put aside their own feelings and do the right thing for them.
