SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 2, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Hogle Zoo is getting out of elephant care, and residents Christie, 36, and daughter Zuri, 13, will be moving to another accredited zoo “to provide them both the best chance to have a calf.”
A Hogle Zoo news release issued Tuesday says that after “a comprehensive evaluation, Utah’s Hogle Zoo has made the decision to pause its continuous care of elephants that spans more than 100 years.”
The move will “help ensure we meet the changing needs of our community and the complex needs of animals in the zoo’s care,” Zoo CEO Doug Lund said in the prepared statement.
“We have talked to many professionals, consultants, community members and our staff as we carefully assessed what is best for all our animals, including elephants Christie and Zuri. The ultimate choice to move Christie and Zuri is to provide them both the best chance to have a calf in the important social dynamic of a multigenerational herd.”
Much has changed since 1916 when Princess Alice became the first elephant to live in Utah, the Hogle Zoo statement says.
“Through scientific research and evolving elephant care practices, the zoo’s professional animal care team has continually adapted to offer elephants choice and opportunities to be physically and emotionally engaged. With public and private support, Utah’s Hogle Zoo has expanded and improved its physical space for elephants, including building Elephant Encounter in 2005.
“The zoo has strived to provide the elephants with offspring and the social dynamic benefit of living in a multigenerational herd. Hogle Zoo’s nationally-recognized elephant care team became the first to successfully train Zuri for voluntary artificial insemination, although pregnancy has been unsuccessful primarily due to few sample options and low motility post-travel. To bring a male (bull) to Utah, the 42-acre zoo would need to invest in indoor and outdoor space. This expansion would take years and significant space, while potentially losing the prime reproductive window for Zuri.”
The world’s African elephant population declined from 1.1 million in the 1970s to approximately 450,000 today, with an estimated 100 elephants killed every day, the statement says. The future return of elephants to Hogle Zoo will be reviewed in the master plan process underway, which includes evaluating what the zoo must do to ensure the wellbeing of complex species like elephants, rhinos, gorillas, polar bears, and orangutans, the Hogle Zoo statement says.
