No trunk call: Herd of wildlife experts scorns Auckland's elephant park | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

Some of the most powerful voices in world wildlife welfare have banded together with leading zoo professionals to stop Auckland Zoo forming a herd of elephants living in inner-city Western Springs Park, writes John Landrigan.

They also want the zoo's one remaining elephant, Burma, sent overseas to live with other elephants in an open-range zoo or sanctuary.

The draft letter, obtained exclusively by The Aucklander, is understood to have been sent to the new Auckland Council, signed by 20 wildlife lobbyists.

It includes the head of the UK's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wildlife division, Dr Robert Atkinson, and the head of the globally recognised Born Free Foundation.

Influential groups across the US, Kenya, Norway, Australia and New Zealand have aligned themselves with the draft letter.

They ask the new Auckland Council to reconsider the defunct Auckland City Council's decision to allow the zoo to expand into neighbouring Western Springs Park and buy more Asian elephants.

In an estimated $13 million project, the zoo plans to expand into 22000 sq m of the park to cater for a herd, built up over time, of 10 elephants. The wildlife professionals say that figure is grossly underestimated, citing recent US and Australian experience.

In the strongly-worded nine-point draft, the signatories say:

• No urban zoo in the world can adequately cater to the needs of elephants
• Removing the herd from Asia is unethical
• Keeping 10 elephants is not a sound investment - to maintain a herd will cost ratepayers $1 million a year.

"The good name of the city of Auckland, and of New Zealand as a country, will be damaged," they write.

The Aucklander's October 28 cover story - There's An Elephant in my Garden - reported growing international scorn for the idea.

Melbourne-based independent zoological consultant, Peter Stroud, said scientists and curators were "watching the developments closely". Mr Stroud's name appears on the document obtained by The Aucklander, but he could not be contacted before this story was posted.

The Auckland Council could not confirm whether it had received the draft letter, or provide a response, at the time of posting.

What they say:

The draft letter to the Auckland Council, as received by The Aucklander:

"We the under-signed are writing to you about the recent decision of the Auckland City Council to support the expansion of the Auckland Zoo to allow the acquisition of additional Asian elephants. We urge you to reconsider this decision in light of the following information:

1 No urban zoo in the world can adequately cater to the needs of elephants. Sound science tells us that elephants are social animals that spend their lives in and around families of closely related individuals, moving across vast areas. Family life cannot be created in a zoo and there is growing evidence that simply placing unrelated elephants together does not simulate natural social life. Urban zoos can neither provide sufficient space for elephants, nor sufficient environmental complexity.

2 Importation is highly expensive and logistically complex. Auckland Zoo could only acquire additional elephants by importing them from overseas. The only sources are existing zoo breeding programs or populations of elephants in the Asian countries in which elephants live naturally.

3 Removing elephants from existing zoo programs will neither assist the sustainability of zoo elephant populations nor assist the welfare of the elephants involved. Existing zoo populations of Asian elephants, internationally, are not self-sustaining because of a combination of insufficient genetic diversity and skewed age structure.

4 Removing elephants from Asian countries is unethical. The recent importation of elephants from Thailand to Australia revealed a range of issues including the current impossibility of proving that imported elephants are actually captive born and not plundered from the wild.

5 The attempted importation of elephants to New Zealand would generate great international controversy. The good name of both the City of Auckland, and of New Zealand as a country, will be damaged.

6 Building for urban elephants is always more expensive than initially estimated. Even attempting to create basic living conditions for a "herd" of elephants in Auckland Zoo will be extremely expensive. The estimate of $NZ13 million is almost certainly an under-estimate. The National Zoo in Washington has recently spent an astonishing $US50 million ($NZ65.85 million) on basic and inadequate facilities for a proposed total of nine elephants. In Australia, the Melbourne Zoo and Sydney's Taronga Zoo each spent in excess of $A15 million ($19.5 million).

7 Elephants are very expensive to keep. The ongoing maintenance of elephants in urban zoos has been estimated to cost not less than $NZ100,000 per specimen per year, not including the maintenance of facilities and capital depreciation. To maintain a "herd" of 10 elephants, not less than $NZ1 million per annum should be allocated.

8 Urban elephants are NOT a sound investment. It has been demonstrated that elephants in an urban zoo are not a permanent draw-card sustaining high zoo visitation over time. The birth of elephant calves can result in peaks in visitor numbers but over time such attractions fade and in the long-term they are not cost-effective.

9 Elephants do not fit the Auckland City "brand". Elephants can be readily experienced in many places around the world and their presence in Auckland Zoo would not enhance Auckland or New Zealand as a destination for visitors. We urge you to reconsider the Council's decision to support the acquisition of Asian elephants by Auckland Zoo. The elephant Burma should be sent to live with other elephants in an open-range zoo or sanctuary.

Mr Will Travers, Chief Executive Officer, Born Free Foundation, UK
Mr Adam Roberts, Executive Vice President, Born Free Foundation USA
Dr Cynthia Moss, Director, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, Kenya
Dr Keith Lindsay, Amboseli Trust for Elephants, UK
Dr Joyce Poole, Director, Elephant Voices, Norway and Kenya
Dr Robert Atkinson, Head of Wildlife, RSPCA, UK
Ms Carol Buckley, Elephant Aid International, USA
Ms Catherine Doyle, Director, Elephant Campaign, In Defense of Animals, USA
Mr Don Elroy, Stop Animal Exploitation Now, USA 
Ms Glenys Oogjes, Executive Director, Animals Australia
Mr Jorge Basave, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Australia
Ms Verna Simpson, Humane Society International, Australia
Mr Hans Kriek, SAFE, New Zealand
Mr Bob Kerridge, National President, RNZSPCA, New Zealand
Ms Bridget Vercoe, Country Manager, WSPA, New Zealand
Dr Mel Richardson, Consultant Wildlife Veterinarian, USA
Mr David Hancocks, Architect and Design Consultant, Australia
Ms Lisa Kane, Coalition for Captive Elephant Wellbeing, USA
Ms Amy Mayers, Vision Communications, USA
Mr Peter Stroud, Zoological Consultant, Australia