The future of elephants

Auckland Zoo's Asian Elephant Programme

To find out about the zoo's elephant programme and requirements to establish a sustainable herd of Asian elephants at the zoo, download this FACT SHEET.

Quick Links

Supporting elephant conservation in the wild
Report to Council
Funding for elephants at Auckland Zoo
Why Auckland Zoo cannot take elephant Jumbo

Kashin

40-year-old female Asian elephant Kashin, a much-loved member of the zoo family, arrived at Auckland Zoo as a four-year-old in 1972.

Date of birth: Late 1968 (Birthday celebrated in November)

Date of passing: 24 August 2009

Country of origin: Thailand

Arrival at Auckland Zoo: 8 December, 1972

Current weight: 3, 636kg

Medical conditions: Arthritis in knees, hips and shoulders, and recurring foot abscesses, particularly in winter. Kashin was monitored closely and was on a range of treatments. In addition to medical treatments, this included equissage (a treatment that takes pressure off joints and improves mobility), daily scrub-downs/massage, and water therapy.

Personality: Kashin was the matriarch, a gentle giant and very people-orientated. She was particularly fond of males! She loved praise and attention, and could become very vocal when excited – with chirps, squeaks, rumbles and roars.

Favourite things: Food! Kashin would do almost anything for food. She thrived on lots of attention and praise from her keepers. A real water-baby, she also loved swimming, and her daily-scrub downs.

Burma

While not able to breed, 26-year-old female Asian elephant Burma is healthy and still relatively young. Elephants are highly social animals, and need to live within a herd structure. It would be inappropriate to keep Burma on her own for an extended period. The zoo would need to either move Burma to another zoo outside New Zealand that has suitable animals, or acquire additional elephants.

Date of birth: Late 1982 (birthday celebrated in November)

Country of origin: Myanmar (formerly known as Burma)

Arrival at Auckland Zoo: May 1990

Current weight: 3, 374kg

Personality: Burma is much like the cheeky teenager – very mischievous and energetic. She likes to test her boundaries with Kashin, gets easily excited, and like Kashin is very vocal.

Favourite things: Loves banana palm and sugar cane, and sweet fruits like watermelon. Burma loves exploring new environments, and enjoys her daily walks around the zoo. These are varied, and can involve going into other animal enclosures.

While Kashin and Burma had very different personalities, they did very much rely on each other for security and comfort.

Supporting elephant conservation in the wild

Elephants at Auckland Zoo play an important role in connecting our visitors with wildlife, and inspiring them to care about wildlife and wild habitats, and enable us to advocate the greater conservation needs of the South East Asian region. The zoo is also actively involved in supporting conservation projects in the wild in South East Asia. To find out more about the conservation projects we support, CLICK HERE. 

Report to Council

At the request of the Zoo Board, Auckland Zoo prepared the ATTACHED REPORT – outlining all the requirements for establishing a sustainable breeding herd of elephants at Auckland Zoo for Auckland City Council's Combined Committee's meeting on 4 March the zoo.

Funding for elephants at Auckland Zoo

At this Combined Committees on 4 March, Auckland City Council said it would like to see a herd of elephants at the zoo, but it resolved that funding for this should come from a combination of sources rather than just Auckland city ratepayers.

The Council said this would possibly include national, regional and local government, local authorities and private and commercial sectors.

Zoo Board Chairman, Councillor Graeme Mulholland says an estimated $13 million over a six-year period is needed to expand the herd and obtain additional land.

The 4 March meeting saw the Council pass the following resolution:

That the following be agreed to in relation to elephants at Auckland Zoo:

(i) That council confirm its desire to have a herd of elephants at Auckland Zoo; and

(ii) That this will require substantial establishment funding totalling some $13 million over a number of years (with ongoing OPEX) and that this should be funded from national, regional and local government, local authorities, and private and commercial sources; and

(iii) That provision be made in the 2009/10 year to conceptualise the campaign, noting that the council will be contributing and that the outcome of the Royal Commission will determine the future governance and related responsibilities of the Zoo; and that the Chief Executive report to the June Combined Committees meeting on an appropriate provision.

In this resolution, the council recognises establishing a breeding herd will cost $13 million, however this funding has not been allocated in the draft 10-year plan 2009-2019.

The resolution stated that funding should come from a combination of national, regional and local government, local authorities, and private and commercial sources.

Why Auckland Zoo cannot take elephant Jumbo

The only other elephant in New Zealand besides Auckland Zoo's female Asian elephant Burma, is Loritz Circus elephant Jumbo.

Jumbo is an African elephant and a different species to Burma. Jumbo would not be a suitable companion animal for Burma because African elephants carry a particular disease that could impact seriously on the health of Burma and any other Asian elephants that come to Auckland Zoo in the future.

African elephants are carriers of the endotheliotrophic herpes virus. This herpes virus can remain latent in African elephants (the elephant carries the virus but has no observable illness) while the virus can cause severe illness, with high mortality rates in Asian elephants. There are also no medications that can be used to ensure that carrier animals are cleared of the disease.

Over the next six years, Auckland Zoo will progress its plans to expand our elephant enclosure and establish a sustainable breeding herd of up to 10 Asian elephants.

If the zoo were to take Jumbo, these plans would not be possible.