Pack your trunks: Calgary Zoo decides to relocate all its elephants

CALGARY – The Calgary Zoo says it plans to relocate its endangered Asian elephants to another animal facility within four or five years.

CEO Clement Lanthier said the zoo has come to understand that elephants do better in a large social group.

He said the zoo can’t provide that because it has limited space.

“This decision is all about animal welfare,” Lanthier said in a release Thursday. “It was based on a growing acceptance and understanding of the importance of the social structure in elephant herds,” he said.

“The reality is that the Calgary Zoo has limited areas for expansion due to our location on an island within the city centre.”

Lanthier said the zoo will identify possible accredited facilities and officials will visit each one to assess suitability.

Kamala, Swarna and Maharani – Calgary’s three female pachyderms – are to be kept together as a family unit, along with the calf Maharani is expecting next year.

Bull elephant Spike is to be relocated to an appropriate facility in co-operation with the Miami Zoo which still owns him.

The animals will continue to be part of a program that supports survival of the species.

Lanthier said the relocation decision “was terribly difficult.”

“We have had elephants here for more than 40 years. Our team of dedicated professional elephant keepers have literally devoted their careers to care for these inspiring animals.”

The Toronto Zoo lost its accreditation this week in part over its decision to ship three of its African elephants to an unaccredited facility in the United States.

Some groups had voiced concern about the animals’ welfare and Toronto city council voted last October to send them to California where they would have a warmer climate and more space.

Retired game show host Bob Barker, also a longtime animal activist, offered to pay for the $880,000 plane flight after learning one of the elephants had a foot problem and wasn’t well enough to withstand a long trip by truck.

The Edmonton Valley Zoo has resisted pressure from animal rights activists and celebrities, including Barker, to move its lone elephant Lucy to a warmer climate.

On Thursday, Tove Reece of Voice For Animals, said she hoped the Calgary decision would help change the minds of officials at the Edmonton zoo.

“It’s a good day for elephants I think and maybe it will translate into a better future for Lucy, we’re hoping,” said Reece.

But the Edmonton zoo’s director, Denise Prefontaine, released a statement Thursday reiterating what officials have said many times: Lucy has a respiratory condition which could be fatal if she were put under the stress of moving or placed in unfamiliar surroundings.

Prefontaine said the zoo’s long-term goal is not to house elephants. But “the current priority is Lucy’s health and overall well-being.”

“She will remain in Edmonton where we are committed to ensuring she will receive the most appropriate and best care possible.”

(The Canadian Press, CHED)