(AU) The Taronga Zoo elephants

[Guest guest]

Unpacking the pachyderms

Sydney Morning Herald

Jano Gibson

November 2, 2006 - 5:07PM

 

Four female Asian elephants flown in from the Cocos Islands today will go on

public display at Taronga Zoo tomorrow morning.

 

The four - Pak Boon, Tang Mo, Tong Dee and matriarch Porn Thip - arrived at the

zoo this afternoon after a 14-hour flight aboard a giant Russian Illyushin.

 

They arrived at their new harbourside multi-million dollar enclosure after a

speedy, police-escorted trip across the city, through the Harbour Tunnel.

 

Their future suitor, six-year-old male elephant Gung, will arrive this weekend,

along with three other female elephants destined for a life at Melbourne Zoo.

 

Taronga Zoo director Guy Cooper said he was thrilled his VIPs - Very Important

Pachyderms - had arrived safely after a long legal battle to bring them to

Australia from their homeland in Thailand.

 

" We are absolutely thrilled at the condition they are in now that they are here.

 

" In fact, I think they pulled up a lot better than the staff that were with

them, " said Mr Cooper, one of six zoo staff aboard the plane, which was also

loaded down with half a tonne of kitty litter.

 

The four seasoned travellers, who had taken a flight from Thailand to the Cocos

Islands three months ago, had a trouble-free journey but were keen to get off

the plane when it touched down, he said.

 

" You could tell after they had been in there for about 14 hours, once they

landed on the tarmac out here, they were saying, 'Hey, let's get out of here.' "

 

He said people who came to see the elephants, which were collected from various

areas across Thailand, would be amazed by the way they had bonded.

 

" I do hope that you will be able to come along tomorrow or any other time and

just look at the way this group interact.

 

" I was watching them the night before last on Cocos Island and from about 4

o'clock they were out there, they were playing. They literally are talking to

each other.

 

" I know of no other species where the engagement between a family grouping is

ever like it is with elephants.

 

" I think people will be absolutely astounded with what they see. I think they

will revel in it. "

 

Mr Cooper said he had full confidence is the zoo's ability to help the elephants

breed but added it could take up to five years before Sydneysiders glimpsed a

zoo-bred baby elephant.

 

" I am very comfortable the elephants are going to have a superb life. And the

proof of that will be the breeding.

 

" When you've got your exhibit right, when you've got your animal selection

right, when you've got your staff and staff managers right, the outcome of that

will be breeding. "

 

The zoo is open from 9am to 5pm every day except Christmas.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/unpacking-the-pachyderms/2006/11/02/11623399\

58509.html

 

[Poster's note: The above article is incorrect about the zoo being closed on

Christmas day. Taronga Zoo is open every day of the year including Christmas

Day]

 

-Slideshow: 'Sydney, you're in for a big surprise'

 

http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2006/11/02/1162339970846.html

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Elephants go on show at Taronga Zoo

AAP

Thursday November 2, 05:40 PM

 

Four Asian elephants will go on show at Sydney's Taronga Zoo for the first time

on Friday after a two-year battle with animal rights activists.

 

Campaigners launched a series of protests and legal challenges in a bid to stop

the elephants coming from Thailand to Australia, arguing it was cruel to keep

them in zoos.

 

But, after months of delays, the four female elephants were flown into Sydney

Airport on Thursday morning from Cocos Islands, in the Indian Ocean, where they

had been quarantined.

 

The zoo's director, Guy Cooper, said the animals had coped with their 14-hour

flight and road trip extremely well and already were settling in.

 

Another four elephants - a male also destined for Taronga and three females

bound for Melbourne Zoo - will arrive in Australia this weekend.

 

The eight animals will form Australasia's first breeding program for endangered

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

 

The four new arrivals, named Pornthip, Pak Boon, Tang Mo and Tong Dee, will go

on display on Friday morning as part of Taronga's new Wild Asia rainforest

exhibit.

 

Jokingly referring to Taronga's VIPs - Very Important Pachyderms - Mr Cooper

said the long-lived elephants would be with the zoo until the second half of the

century.

 

Asked about the animal rights criticism, he " truly " believed the elephants would

be happy at Taronga, but the proof of this would be if they bred.

 

This could take as long as five years because of the animals' gestation and the

immaturity of the male elephant, Gung.

 

" I can assure you, we want to have an elephant calf as soon as we possibly can, "

Mr Cooper said.

 

" Gung would say he's ready now. I would think he probably needs another three

years. "

 

The zoo is consulting experts in elephant artificial insemination to speed up

the breeding process.

 

Taronga has invested about $25 million in bringing the elephants from Thailand

and building the new enclosure. On top of this, the delays cost the two zoos an

extra $2.5 million, Mr Cooper said.

 

Three animal welfare groups appealed to zoo visitors to watch for signs of

stress in the elephants in their new home.

 

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), RSPCA Australia and Humane

Society International (HSI) said people should alert keepers if the elephants

make repetitive unnatural movements like swaying and head bobbing.

 

" We are calling on the public to be vigilant and to keep the zoos and our groups

informed of what they see, " the groups said in a joint statement.

 

NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said keeping the elephants at Taronga would breach

the state's animal cruelty laws.

 

" The government should admit that the elephants have been imported for

commercial not conservation purposes, " she added.

 

http://au.news./061007/2/10to9.html

 

-Related Video: Taronga Zoo welcomes 4 Asian elephants:

 

http://cosmos.bcst./up/yaustralia/news?ch=248153 & cl=1092469 & lang=en

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Taronga and Western Plains Zoos

 

http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/