Aalborg Zoo writes this in a press release.
– Our matriarch, Tanja, has been getting worse and worse for a long time. We have examined her thoroughly with the help of experts from home and abroad and tried a number of treatments, but unfortunately to no avail. Parting with Tanja was therefore a necessary decision, where consideration for the elephant’s welfare weighed heavily in a situation where there was no prospect of recovery, says Anette Sofie Warncke Nutzhorn, zoologist at Aalborg Zoo.
Tanja, as the matriarch, was the leader of the two elephants. With the killing of Tanja, the question of what would be best for the garden’s other elephant also naturally arose.
In this connection, Aalborg Zoo has, among other things, consulted the European zoological organization EAZA, which with more than 400 members is the world’s largest regional association of zoos and aquariums. EAZA’s guidelines for elephants state that female elephants should always have contact with other elephants, due to their strong social needs, and that zoos are therefore advised against leaving female elephants alone.
– The animals’ well-being is our responsibility, and there are always thorough considerations behind it before we euthanize an animal. Elephants are herd animals and very social, and in our case there were even two females. Therefore, we have always been aware that when one of them was no longer here, we would also have to say goodbye to the other. For several years, we have paid extra attention to Mai, who, among other things, had arthritic changes in the ankle joint. So a combination of her health problems and the concern that she should not be left alone in the facility meant that we also chose to euthanize Mai, explains Anette Sofie Warncke Nutzhorn.
– It was not a real possibility to move the second of our elephants to a new zoo. Partly because of Mai’s health problems, and partly because it would be far too stressful and traumatizing for her to be moved and then have to integrate into a new herd, says Anette Sofie Warncke Nutzhorn.
Director Henrik Vesterskov Johansen is also affected by the farewell to the last two giants.
– It touches us all that we no longer have elephants, because they have been an important part of the garden’s history. We are sorry that we have had to make the decision to euthanize. But personal feelings must not stand in the way of us having a responsibility for our animals – both when they are alive and when they have to leave here in a dignified way, he says in the press release.
In November last year, the zoo had to euthanize the elephant Bibi, who came to Aalborg Zoo together with Tanja and Mai in 1985 from South Africa when they were two or three years old.
Elephants have been a big part of Aalborg Zoo’s history since the garden got its first actual elephant facility in the late 1950s, but there are no plans to have elephants in the garden again.
In 1991, the garden inaugurated a reconstruction of the original facility. But the facility is no longer up-to-date. Instead, the considerations are on what the elephants’ area should be used for instead.
2024-10-29 10:51:00
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