Toronto Zoo moving elephants

It’s not unusual for someone getting on in years to leave their day job behind and head south to live out their golden years, in the sun. But elephants are not people. And so the efforts underway at the Toronto Zoo to prepare three aging elephants for a trans-continental trip are a little unusual.

Scot Urquhart was at the zoo and has more about the preparations underway.

Thika, Toka, and Iringa have been a fixture at the Toronto Zoo for decades. but in just a few weeks, the female African elephants will be leaving Toronto behind for good and heading for a new home, in the sun.

Moving, they say is one of the most stressful experiences in life. And in these eyes. Old and sensitive the weight of worry seems almost palpable. You might think it would be easy to move an elephant, after all their trunks are always packed. But there’s a little more to it, than that.

Chris Dulong is a Wildlife Care Supervisor at the Toronto Zoo: “These are Iringa’s and Toka’s crates. We have been training them for their crates for well over a year now.”

Iringa, Thika, and Toka are moving to California. Retiring to the PAWS animal sanctuary. But the trip will be gruelling.

Dulong: “On the day of the move… To California.”

A 60 hour road trip that these elephants will spend entirely within these steel crates. Chained, on three feet

Dulong: “They will be standing in one spot for the whole trip.”

And yet the Zoo, the PAWS sanctuary, and the animal welfare organization ZOOCheck, all agree that in the end, the move will be the best thing for these elephants. Old for zoo standards, they would be middle-aged in the wild. And the warmer climate, and extensive open space of the sanctuary may actually extend their lives. But for Chris Dulong and his staff it will be like losing members of their own families: “we have pictures… Tough emotional times.”

Not just for Dulong, but also, for his beloved pachyderms.

Now zoo staff have been working with the elephants for more than a year, preparing them to accept their crates, luring them in with their favourite treats and getting them accustomed to the bars, chains, and straps that will be used to secure and support them during the long drive to California.

And while there is a risk on such a long journey Zoocheck says the risk is higher in leaving them at the zoo than it is to move them and “PAWS”, the Performing Animal Welfare Society, which is handling the move, has never had an animal die during transport, in its 30 year history.