Zoos told they are not fit for elephants
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/zoos-told-they-are-not-fit-for-elepha
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Zoos told they are not fit for elephants
By Andrew Darby
December 24, 2005
FINAL approval for the controversial importation of eight Asian elephants to
the Melbourne and Sydney zoos is being withheld in a wrangle over the
animals' new living conditions.
The zoos claimed victory in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last month
against welfare groups that opposed the importation from Thailand.
But despite the building of costly new enclosures, the tribunal is yet to be
satisfied that its demands for improvements in the elephants' living
conditions have been met.
It called for changes at both zoos, including better sleeping arrangements
and softer flooring to prevent skin and foot diseases that animals can
contract on hard surfaces in zoos.
The tribunal also cast doubt on a plan to walk elephant cows along public
paths at Sydney's Taronga Zoo to socialise with a lone bull after it is
separated from them on reaching maturity.
The eight elephants, aged from five to 13, are still being held in
pre-export quarantine in Thailand a year after the zoos hoped to fly them to
the Cocos Islands to spend another three months in isolation before they can
come to mainland Australia.
They are intended to form the nucleus of a new herd held by six zoos around
Australia and New Zealand as elephants currently held in captivity age and
decline.
The tribunal, chaired by Justice Garry Downes, last month rejected the
welfare groups' appeal against the importation, which had been approved by
Environment Minister Ian Campbell.
Taronga Zoo chief executive Guy Cooper said that a misinformation campaign
had stranded the elephants and their carers in Thailand.
Taronga is completing a $40 million Asian rainforest exhibit with the
elephants as the centrepiece, and Melbourne Zoo has a $14 million Trail of
the Elephants exhibit waiting.
Despite this, the tribunal said the zoos seemed to accept that their more
spacious facilities - the Werribee Open Range Zoo west of Melbourne and the
Western Plains Zoo near Dubbo, NSW - were preferable to confinement in city
zoos.
It also said programs designed to reduce boredom and avoid undesirable
behaviour in the animals such as repetitive swaying fell a long way short of
"enriching" for an elephant in captivity and instead supplied a basic need.
The tribunal queried whether mud wallows and banks at the Melbourne Zoo were
enough for the three new animals, which will join an existing pair, and it
sought improvement in barn floors that did not provide substantial
cushioning.
More queries were raised about Taronga Zoo, where there was only a thin
rubber surface painted on concrete floors and no sleeping mound such as the
one in Melbourne, which the tribunal said was essential.
The zoos responded to the requests at a hearing last week and the tribunal
was satisfied with the responses, a Taronga spokesman said.
The RSPCA, Humane Society International and International Fund for Animal
Welfare were given time to respond to the tribunal on the adequacy of the
changes and a final decision is expected on January 17.
"If these animals are ultimately to come, we will be aiming to make sure
that their lives are as comfortable as possible and their welfare hasn't
been compromised," said the society's campaigns manager Nicola Beynon.