Zoocheck Canada
For Immediate Release
June 18, 2009
Industry leaders
recommend minimum 3 elephants
Elephants like
Lucy, the lone Asian elephant at the Edmonton Valley Zoo, should be in the
company of other elephants, according to recommendations from a recent meeting
by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s Elephant Taxon Advisory Group
(TAG) in Pittsburgh.
Twenty-four
elephant experts from across North America met at the Pittsburgh Zoo in May to
discuss elephants in captivity and the wild. They highlighted the Pittsburgh
Zoo’s decision to keep a 7-member, mixed age herd and said that the zoo’s
family-style unit was a model that all other zoos should strive for.
The Elephant TAG
suggested that elephants have evolved to be highly social animals and that they
should be kept in a minimum group size of three. “It’s how they live in the
wild”, says Rob Laidlaw, a captive wildlife expert and spokesperson for
Zoocheck Canada.
The Valley Zoo has
been under intense criticism for their decision to keep Lucy alone in their
bleak elephant facility. “Now, yet another group is saying that elephants
should not be kept alone. We hope this recent recommendation by the Elephant
TAG will convince the Valley Zoo that Lucy’s current situation is not the
best one for her”, says Woodyer. “Lucy should be allowed to go to a facility
where she can enjoy room to roam and interact with other elephants.”
Currently, two
world-class sanctuaries have offered Lucy a permanent home in their huge,
naturalistic enclosures with other elephants and they are willing to cover the
costs of her transfer. The Valley Zoo has so far refused both offers.
The Elephant TAG
recommendation follows those of other groups:
- The American
Zoo and Aquarium Association recommends that zoos should make every effort to
maintain elephants in social groupings and allow opportunities for
appropriate social interaction. They state that it is inappropriate to
keep highly social female elephants singly and that institutions should
strive to hold no less than three female elephants whenever possible
- The Canadian
Association of Zoos and Aquariums recommends that zoos should make every effort possible
to keep elephants in social groupings
- The Coalition
for Captive Elephant Well-Being suggests that in captivity, Asian elephants should be
kept in a minimum grouping of five
- The British
and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Management Guidelines for the Welfare of
Elephants says that elephants are one of the most social mammals and that
zoos MUST maintain elephants in as appropriate a social group as
possible. In addition, they specify that zoos MUST establish stable female
groups, and they MUST strive to keep a minimum group size of four compatible
cows older than two years
- The Elephant
Mangers Association says that elephants should have access to other elephants and
females should not be housed alone
Zoocheck Canada is
a national animal protection charity (#13150 2072 RR 0001) established in 1984
to promote and protect the interests and well-being of wild animals.
For further information: Zoocheck
Canada 416.285.1744
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