Elephants settle to sounds of Melbourne

[Guest guest]

A happy landing for jumbo jet

The Age

Jordan Chong

November 6, 2006

 

IT WAS a long journey from the Cocos Islands for Dokkoon, Num-Oi and Kulab, and

it must have felt like it would never end.

 

The three Thai female elephants — Melbourne Zoo's newest arrivals — touched

down at Avalon Airport at 2.13pm yesterday after a couple of hours in Sydney,

but it was several hours before they would see their new home.

 

Just after 4pm the trio's wooden crates were loaded on trucks for the trip to

Parkville.

 

And there was one last stop for the convoy of police cars, trucks and the

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. Some flapping plastic wrapping

forced a brief stop near Werribee.

 

Zoos Victoria's chief executive, Laura Mumaw, said it was a " red-letter day " for

the zoo. " I don't think we'll receive such a precious jumbo cargo for years to

come, " she said.

 

The beasts will spend the next day or two in a big barn getting used to their

new home before moving into their $13.5 million " Trail of the Elephants "

enclosure.

 

To keep the elephants calm in the " noisy and scary " plane, they were talked to,

fed and kept entertained with games by three Melbourne Zoo staff members.

 

It is hoped the three females, aged five to 13, will warm to the fellow

elephants and long-time zoo residents, Mek Kapah and Bong Su.

 

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Elephants settle to sounds of Melbourne

AAP

November 6, 2006

 

Even when you're the size of an elephant, something as small as a possum can

prove unnerving.

 

So it was for the three newly-arrived Thai elephants at Melbourne Zoo, as they

spent their first night in the $13.5 million enclosure that will be their

permanent home.

 

The three females - Num-Oi, five, Kulab, seven, and Dokkoon, 13 - flew into

Melbourne on Sunday after a 20-hour journey from the Cocos Islands, where they

spent months in quarantine following a controversial journey from Thailand.

 

Zoo program development manager Laurie Pond spent the night with the pachyderms

and told of the trio's nervous introduction to the sounds of Melbourne.

 

" I slept in the barn overnight and they were a little bit scared - we had a

possum which terrorised us all a little bit over the night, " he said.

 

Passing trams and other city sounds also took some getting used to.

 

" It's a little bit noisy but they'll get used to all these noises, " said Mr

Pond.

 

" But they've settled in really well, they're eating really well, they're

drinking really well and that's a sign of animals being happy and healthy. "

 

On Monday, the three elephants frolicked in dust as they settled into their

enclosure, which includes mud wallows, pools, heated barns and scratching posts.

 

In time, the group will be introduced to Melbourne Zoo's other elephants - a

female, Mek Kapah, and Bong Su, a male, as part of a zoo conservation breeding

program.

 

For Mek Kapah it will be her first contact with other female elephants in 25

years.

 

" We need to first establish the female group and we need them to feel very

secure and establish very strong bonds, " Mr Pond said.

 

" Letting the group grow and develop and become nice and secure here ... would

lead on to a nice breeding situation down the track in a few years. "

 

The three elephants were part of a group of eight that finally left Thailand in

June after court battles and protests involving animal rights protesters in

Australia and overseas delayed their journey.

 

The other five - four females and a male - this week began a new life in

Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

 

The RSPCA lashed out at the decision to bring the elephants to Australia because

of concerns for their welfare in captivity.

 

Zoos Victoria chief Laura Mumaw defended the breeding program and the zoo's

facilities.

 

" We welcome critics to come and see the elephants in their new home. We think

the results do stack up. "

 

Ms Mumaw said the animals were carefully chosen from tourism camps and had

already been separated from their families.

 

" We're expecting they're not going to have any problems at all. "

 

The exercise has cost the zoo about $2 million.

 

The elephants will form Australasia's first breeding program for endangered

Asian elephants, whose numbers have dwindled to about 34,000.

 

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