By JOSE HERRERA
Two months after the Los Angeles Zoo quietly — and controversially — transferred its last two Asian elephants to their new home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the elephants’ new caretakers today say the animals are acclimating well, though an animal-rights group continues to describe the facility as inadequate and is urging for the pair to be sent to a much larger preserve.
“Billy and Tina are acclimating well in their new home,” Ellen Averill, vice president of communications and strategy for Tulsa Zoo Management, Inc., wrote in an email to City News Service.
“Billy and Tina’s care team will continue the acclimation process with larger groupings and, as always, focus on the individual needs of each elephant in our care.”
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Since the pair arrived at the Tulsa Zoo May 21, the elephants progressed from “initial howdies” — or safe and controlled introductions that allow elephants to interact through a barrier — to direct contact in planned groupings with the facility’s other elephants, according to Averill.
“This is the time their care team learns about interpersonal dynamics — who will be best friends, who wants to take charge, who wants to hang out on the sidelines. Learning about their personalities is all part of the process of building a strong herd,” Averill wrote in the email to CNS.
Last Chance for Animals, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the end of animal exploitation, contended the Tulsa Zoo’s space for the elephants was inadequate and fell short for the animals’ long-term health.
The Tulsa Zoo’s Elephant Experience and Preserve covers 17 acres, including a 36,650-square-foot elephant barn and a 10-plus-acre wooded elephant preserve.
LCA described the 17 acres as noncontiguous, as it is divided into three sections. The group raised concerns about the older area of the facility being considerably smaller, with lack of access to shade and limited enrichment.
Additionally, the group said the Tulsa Zoo’s 10-acre preserve is not open for use as well.
LCA hired elephant expert Chris Draper as a consultant as the group worked to free Billy and Tina before their relocation.
Draper visited the Tulsa Zoo on May 10 to assess the site.
“In all honesty, some parts of the elephant area at Tulsa Zoo left me very underwhelmed,” Draper told CNS in a telephone interview. “I think, it’s fair to say that the older areas are definitely, in my opinion, insufficient for elephants to have adequate welfare.”
“Not terrible, but again, fairly featureless, and really, you know, the overwhelming sense I had is it was really hard to see how it would be a step up from the site in Los Angeles,” Draper added.
While he agreed that there will be greater opportunities for social interaction for Billy and Tina with their housemates, Draper raised concerns about complications that could arise.
“This is not a herd. It’s something I’m very keen for everybody to get their head around. When we’re talking about elephants in captivity, more often than not, it’s a group of strangers that happen to just about rub along,” Draper told CNS.
Wild herds of either African or Asian elephants is a group of related females that have multiple generations such as grandmothers, mothers, aunts, and sisters, who all have lived alongside each other for their whole lives in the same group, according to Draper.
The elephants at the Tulsa Zoo may bond, but there’s also the risk that the animals may become aggressive or attack one another.
Draper noted that Tulsa Zoo’s preserve had dirt — a key element in elephant care as it relates to the animals’ feet, joints and weight. Naturally, elephants will maintain their weight through daily exercise usually consisting of miles and miles of walking, and maintain their feet health by digging and rooting around in the ground.
Zoo keepers will assist by trimming soles and nails of the elephant, but Draper encouraged Tulsa officials to maintain the dirt.
“Quite often, what happens, if it’s the wrong type of dirt and it’s not maintained, it can pass down almost to the texture of the consistency of concrete, and then it becomes really problematic,” Draper told CNS.
Draper previously served as the chief operating officer of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, as well as the head of Animal Welfare and Captivity at the Born Free Foundation. He studied zoology and primatology at University College London and earned a doctorate at the University of Bristol.
Averill in her email described the Tulsa Zoo’s elephant preserve as having multiple yards to provide elephants with “various, complex spaces and experiences.” Sand makes up the majority of the indoor spaces, and the outdoor yards are predominantly grass and dirt.
She also noted that the 10-acre preserve is being prepared for the elephants.
“There are many considerations that will determine timing, including diet — over indulging in new browse growth can cause colic,” Averill wrote in her email to CNS.
Browse refers to leaves, branches and other vegetation that elephants eat.
“Each elephant has an individualized diet. Geriatric elephants, like Tina, require shredded hay. Overall, it is better for the elephants’ individual dietary needs to wait until the new growth begins to die back in the summer heat. Our zoo team is using this time to inspect the acreage and prepare it for the elephants to make it their own,” Averill added.
Lisa Beal, campaign manager for LCA, told CNS in a telephone interview that the organization continues to attempt to raise support for its belief that elephants shouldn’t be in zoos. The organization estimated that more than 300 elephants remain in captivity in the United States.
As part of its mission, LCA is urging Los Angeles residents to join their protests, or actions led by animal rights groups, against zoos and to free animals in captivity.
“Just spread the word to not visit a zoo — to see it clearly as a prison for animals,” Beal told CNS. “I know it’s hard to pull that veil — but if you can, just step back and think about those animals that are living in there.”
According to Beal, LCA hopes to introduce legislation in the future with help from federal policymakers to transition away from keeping elephants in captivity.
In 2019, the British Parliament approved a law banning circus operators in England from using wild animals in their shows. Draper and his organization at the time, Born Free Foundation, campaigned in support of the bill.
According to Draper, it’s been a challenge to change public perception of such institutions that continue the use of animal captivity.
“It’s not a simple task, because you’re dealing with a lot of people, the general public, who are being told by zoos that zoos are doing conservation work, or that zoos are educating their kids,” Draper told CNS.
“There’s no reason for people not to believe that. The trouble is that, in my opinion, they’re being fed some half-truths and some downright lies.”
Elephants are just animals that are not compatible with whatever scale to try and keep them in captivity, Draper argued.
“What motivates me is the capacity that animals have for suffering: These miserable lives that they get to lead in zoos and other captive environments,” Draper told CNS. “The source of that is kind of all consuming, and it does drive you to keep going.”
Draper emphasized that victories do happen. He pointed to England’s regulation on circuses, which happened around the same time as Ireland, Scotland, Wales and other European nations approved similar legislation.
“Victories like that are rare, but they are enormously gratifying,” Draper told CNS. “It also shows that change can happen.”