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Six
Flags Surrenders Permits to Import Asian Elephant Babies |
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In the wild A typical female elephant is in her prime reproductive age from her mid-20's to mid-40's (Schilfarth, J., JEMA, Volume 8, Number 2 p 57-58) and gives birth every four to six years, thereby producing approximately seven offspring in her approximate 70 year life span. Elephants have no problems reproducing in the wild.
The North American Region Studbook for African Elephants (2000) shows there are 30 males and 206 female African elephants. The Studbook also shows that only 8 males and 15 females who are living have reproduced, meaning only 7% of all females in captivity have reproduced. In captivity, young elephants are forced to reproduce much earlier than they would in the wild under normal circumstances. It is "reported that surprisingly young females between 8-10 years of age are giving birth to their first calf, which means that they are being bred at the age of 6-8 years. There have been isolated cases of even earlier breeding…" (Schilfarth, J., JEMA). Zoos are breeding elephants earlier in order to impregnate them before they "flatline" (stop cycling due to captivity). These young elephants, are juveniles, who have not been mothered enough to know how to pass on proper skills to a newborn. This early breeding is irresponsible and not in the best interest of the animals. There have been only 38 African elephant births since 1978. Of those 22 offspring are known to have died; four more are completely unaccounted for, and, as of April 30, 2003, only 12 are still alive. In addition, of the 22 who are either known to be dead, 15 were still born; 1 20-day old elephant was gored to death by its mother; 1 died at 11 months; 1 died at 1 month; and 4 died between 7-15 years of age, i.e before they were themselves able to produce offspring. Artificial Insemination (AI) Zoos now tout artificial insemination (AI) as an improved technology for captive breeding programs. But this method is highly invasive and has had tragic results. After over 50 attempts, only 12 pregnancies have resulted from artificial insemination. Of the 6 known AI births, 4 of the animals were stillborn and in June 2003 Amali, the first AI baby, died at the Indianapolis Zoo. In one of the most tragic incidents, Tika, a 24-year old Asian elephant at the Six Flags Marine World amusement park in Northern California, was impregnated through artificial means. In October 2002, her baby died in utero. Tika was euthanized less than two months later, after suffering from a severe infection when she failed to expel the dead fetus from her body. Four months later, Misha, another artificially impregnated Asian elephant at Marine World, delivered a stillborn calf. Elephants Make Money for Zoos Elephants are one of the main attractions at zoos. As such zoos want to have elephants in order to increase their sales. The failure to create a self-sustaining group of elephants in captivity in the U.S. has led to escalating efforts by zoos to capture and import wild elephants to restock their elephant "collections." Zoos often claim a conservation purpose to such efforts. But captive breeding has nothing to do with saving elephants. Elephants in the wild are not threatened because of breeding problems; they are being driven to the brink of extinction by habitat destruction and poaching.
The physically
and psychologically deficient conditions of captivity have rendered captive
breeding programs a dismal failure. The majority females of reproductive
age, African and Asian, do not have normal reproductive cycles (termed
"flatliners"). It is speculated that flatliners may be the result
of the stress caused by captivity. |
By
contrast, elephants in captivity in the U.S.: