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Behind the Scenes

Elephants in Captivity

By Lillie MariaPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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Malee a nine-month-old elephant who died in captivity from disease.

The first elephant to be born in captivity in the western hemisphere went by the name "Packy", he was an Asian elephant who lived until the age of 44, which is premature for this breed of elephant as they normally live up to 60 years. Although Packy was the firstborn in captivity in the US, elephants being subjected to capture and taming started more than 4,000 years ago. Many people assume because an elephant has been tamed that its natural place is with humans, which isn't the case because elephants aren't domesticated animals as it takes generations after generations for an animal to become domesticated. Now there are still over 15,000 elephants in captivity for our own entertainment.

Zoos believe they are helping animals that wouldn't survive in the wild but at the same time, they have breeding programs for their animals in order to keep the population of the zoo up. By breeding these animals they are just increasing the number of captive animals as it's unlikely that the offspring of a captive animal can be set free into the wild even if they are healthy. Not only do zoos breed their own animals, that can never be set free into the wild, but they trade these animals with other zoos. Trading these animals from zoo to zoo is effectively like ripping them from yet another home.

With regards to the elephant population within zoos, it seems that the elephants die young. The average lifespan for an elephant in the wild is 60-70 years, however, in captivity, this declines to around 40-50 years. It has also been proven that elephants born and raised in captivity die prematurely compared to elephants who have been born in the wild then captured and placed in captivity. Elephants have shorter lifespans in captivity because there isn't enough space to keep elephants healthy. Wild elephants live in herds and travel around 30 miles a day and are normally active for 18 hours. They travel so vastly because they need to find fresh food and water but also they stay active through socializing with their herd by playing and bathing in the lakes and rivers.

There are many reoccurring problems with the zoos' population of elephants, such as foot and weight-related diseases, arthritis, still-births, infertility, aggression, unnatural swaying and head bobbing, and other neurotic behaviors. Problems such as still-birth and disease are all too common among captive elephants because only one in three births is successful. This evident in the case of Malee, a calf who died of a contagious disease, which causes internal bleeding, zookeepers knew the other elephants in the zoo carried and the zoo still allowed a transfer for two more elephants with the same disease even though it was probable the calf and her sister could be infected. The misery suffered by the thousands of elephants in these zoos is inexcusable and there finally begins to be an immense pressure for major changes to be adopted in the way that these elephants are kept.

Moreover, wild elephants have strong social structures, female elephants tend to spend their entire lives in the same herd. Therefore they are closely related as they are all siblings, parents of the younger generations, aunts, and grandparents. At times small groups can form in a herd and they can venture out on their own creating an entirely new herd but elephants have strong memories and always remember who has been in their herd so are always friendly toward former members. Due to this zoos can't really recreate what captured elephants had in the wild, unless they take a whole herd, because the elephants captured are placed with a manufactured herd (a mixed bunch of strangers). This can cause serious issues for the elephants psychologically because they can suffer from trauma remembering their herd in the wild and the abuse they endured from being captured. Also, the herd they are placed in may reject them, which can cause heightened aggression among the elephants.

Capturing a wild elephant is no easy task and it's horrific. During a typical capture, the capturers fly over a herd in helicopters. Once they have spotted a young elephant they shoot him or her with tranquilizers. As the baby falls, the other elephants will rush to help the fallen elephant. Because of this, the helicopter will drop bombs to drive the elephants away from the baby. Kidnappers on the ground will drag the baby onto a trailer and take the animal to a holding area, where he or she will wait with other captured babies until being sold. It's normal practice for the kidnappers to hit and kick the elephant in order to keep control of the animal.

Although there has been some progress since 1991 due to some zoos in the US closing their elephant exhibits because they'd admitted that they couldn't provide significant care for the animals, zoos worldwide still need to stop supporting the capture of healthy elephants as well as stop the breeding programs that keep captive elephants in captivity rather than where they belong, the wild.

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