Plans to relocate Calgary Zoo’s elephants stir up Lucy debate

Calgary Zoo officials have announced plans to relocate their four endangered Asian elephants, one of which is pregnant, to another facility.

Officials say the move, which is due in part to limited expansion space and the importance of keeping the animals in a herd, will happen within four to five years. The proposed time-frame has been selected based around avoiding transport during the window of increased susceptibility for the young calf.

“Their welfare is better served by being part of a large social group; something that can only be achieved at a facility with more year-round space than we can provide given the physical limitations of living on an island in a northern climate,” says Calgary Zoo President Dr. Clément Lanthier, in a news release.

Given the importance of this social structure, all three female elephants, Kamala, Swarna and Maharani, and Maharani’s calf expected to be born in February 2013, will be kept together as a family unit. The bull elephant, Spike, will be relocated to an appropriate facility in cooperation with the Miami zoo that still owns him, and after consultation with the Asian Elephant Species Survival Plan.

The zoo has had the elephants for more than 40 years. Transporting elephants is a stressful experience for them and young animals are particularly susceptible to stress and stress-induced infections.

Despite those issues being some of the reasons officials have been opposed to moving Lucy the elephant from the Edmonton Valley Zoo where she’s lived for 35 years, the Calgary Zoo’s decision has animal welfare groups once again re-igniting the debate.

“I think that it certainly should send a message to the city of Edmonton and the Valley Zoo, that it’s time to stop keeping their head in the sand and do the right thing,” says Director of Zoocheck, Rob Laidlaw, in Toronto.

Dr. Milton Ness maintains a move would put Lucy at risk because of her health condition. Lucy the elephant, who’s been living there for nearly 35 years.

“There are no plans to move Lucy. (She) is in a completely different circumstance,” he says. “Lucy has an obstruction in her upper airways which does not allow her to breathe properly through her trunk. And because of that, when she’s put under duress and there’s an extra oxygen demand, she cannot catch a breath.”

While Laidlaw thinks that’s a “misinformed” opinion, the Edmonton’s mayor says the city will not bow to pressure.

“We don’t dispute that having elephants in a more apropo environment is good. But for Lucy, we’ve been told that she’ll die – and that’s not what our objective is,” Stephen Mandel says.

Dr. Ness adds, “if we maintain Lucy in a calm helpful environment, with this respitory obstruction, she could live for a much longer time.”

With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News