Thailand elephants to Australia

[Guest guest]

Jumbos stuck in holding pattern

 

Sydney Morning Herald

 

March 25, 2005

 

WWW.smh.com.au

 

 

 

More than $50 million has been spent to import an endangered species but the

plan is unravelling, writes Andrew Darby.

 

 

 

In the confines of a quarantine station in Thailand, nine Asian elephants

are waiting to start new lives in Taronga, Melbourne and Auckland zoos.

Their stay was supposed to last only three months but they have been in

quarantine for nearly six months.

 

 

 

The zoos' plan to import the animals, and begin an ambitious breeding

program, are threatening to unravel amid legal queries and claims of animal

suffering.

 

 

 

Together, Taronga and Melbourne have spent more than $50 million in

preparation for the elephants, building new enclosures for which elephants

will be the centrepiece. And the nine elephants are just the

 

beginning: the zoos plan to import more to establish a sustainable

population in Australia. But they have yet to convince the federal

Environment Minister, Ian Campbell, to grant them an import licence. His

department said in November that the zoos had fallen well short of legal

requirements for importing endangered species.

 

 

 

The zoos confirmed animal groups' claims that they had put the elephants in

quarantine before securing approval for the import. Bidda Jones, of the

RSPCA,

 

said: " The idea is to keep them confined for the shortest time possible. All

along the zoos have acted without due regard for the process. "

 

 

 

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AdvertisementAnimal groups have promised to appeal against any permit for

the import, claiming the zoos just want the elephants to attract more

customers. The RSPCA, Humane Society International, and International Fund

for Animal Welfare said elephants in zoos suffered psychologically and

physically, and were hard to breed.

 

 

 

Both the zoos and the animal groups claim strong public backing. Taronga is

running a web page of anonymous messages of support, and the Government said

it had received many letters opposing the import and describing elephants in

city zoos as depressing and disturbing.

 

 

 

Taronga and Melbourne zoos have been working since

 

1998 to import Asian elephants for breeding. As part of a consortium that

includes Perth, Auckland and Monarto zoo, east of Adelaide, they have

prepared a captive management plan for a population of about 40 elephants.

 

 

 

Speaking on behalf of the consortium, the chief executive of Melbourne Zoo,

Laura Mumaw, said the import and breeding program would be self-sustaining,

but would not return any elephants to their native habitat. " We are not

breeding for a return to the wild, " she said.

 

 

 

She said the elephants were important to the zoos because they were a

charismatic, keystone animal that drew attention to the plight of many

rainforest species. As part of the plan, Taronga is completing a $40 million

Asian Elephant Rainforest exhibit, and Melbourne a $14 million Trail of the

Elephants exhibit.

 

 

 

The project has become increasingly troubled since the elephants were

selected from Thai tourist camps last year.

 

 

 

According to Environment Department letters released under the Freedom of

Information Act, the zoos have already lost two proven breeders from the

group - one died of snakebite and another was rejected after being found to

be aged 40 instead of 20. The zoos are exempt from the usual public scrutiny

under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act and have

refused to provide details of their application, or even say where Thai

authorities are holding the nine elephants they eventually chose.

 

 

 

But a Federal Government website says the elephants are in a quarantine camp

on the rural campus of Thailand's Mahidol University. Animal welfare groups

and Thai sources said the elephants were taken there in October and were due

to stay only 90 days before being taken to the Cocos Islands, where they

would spend a further three months. However, the eight females and one male

have been confined in Thailand for nearly six months.

 

 

 

Ms Mumaw said the consortium had put the elephants into quarantine before

securing an import permit because, going on previous experience, it felt the

Government would issue a permit by the end of last year. " At no stage did we

receive any indications that we should abandon our proposals. "

 

 

 

However, Mick Trimmer, the head of sustainable wildlife industries at the

Environment Department, told the consortium in November it had failed to

show it could approach the goals of its ambitious breeding plan. He said in

a letter that no Asian elephant had ever been bred in Australia, and the

consortium's aim of a self-sustaining population had not been achieved by

any of the world's regional zoo populations.

 

" Overall it falls well short of enabling us to be satisfied that the

requirements of the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act ..

will be met. "

 

 

 

Ms Mumaw said the consortium had since then provided further information.

" On all issues we are confident that we have provided the level of detail

that would satisfy the Department of Environment. "

 

 

 

Animal groups argue that without a viable breeding program it would be

illegal to import an endangered species. They cite an RSPCA report in 2002

that found endemic health problems in many zoo elephants, including obesity,

foot diseases, poor breeding and psychological problems.

 

 

 

Ms Mumaw was confident the nine elephants in quarantine would be happier in

the Australian zoos than in Thailand. But a U-turn by Auckland Zoo on plans

to take two of the elephants, a male and female, will complicate the

consortium's task.

 

 

 

Senator Campbell is due to meet animal groups next week to discuss the

issue, but has not received advice from his department on the application,

his spokeswoman said.

 

 

 

Nicola Beynon, of Humane Society International, said:

 

" There will not be a direct conservation benefit from perpetuating a captive

population of elephants in Australian zoos. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edwin Wiek

- Wildlife Friends of Thailand

 

www.wfft.org

 

Thailand Representative - Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation

 

www.savetheorangutans.info