2020-10-14 - Sydney, Australia. Krisinda Merhi
Jai Dee started to show signs of abdominal pain Monday morning and was quickly treated. By midday, Jai Dee was displaying normal behaviour and was monitored closely by keepers and veterinarians, but unfortunately, his condition deteriorated rapidly yesterday morning and despite a full emergency response he devastatingly passed away later that day.
2016-12-12 - Sydney, Australia.
To capture Tukta underwater, photographer Toby Zerna attached his camera to a five metre long pool scoop. “Tukta was interested in the camera, coming up to take a look but then she went off to continue swimming,†Zerna said.
2016-09-24 - Sydney, Australia.
At 5.30am on a Sunday exactly 100 years ago, Jessie, a four-tonne elephant, sauntered through Sydney´s CBD. Starting at the old zoo in Moore Park, she strolled down Macquarie Street to the spot where the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House would eventually be built. As the sun rose, she boarded an open-top barge to make the journey across Sydney Harbour to her new home at Taronga Zoo in Mosman.
2016-04-15 - Sydney, Australia.
Sydney´s Taronga Zoo will hear the thump thump of little feet when expectant mother Pak Boon delivers her baby elephant after a 22-month pregnancy. The new calf, expected this time next year, will be the fourth born as part of the zoo´s conservation breeding program for Asian elephants.
2015-11-20 - Sydney, Australia.
Eerily life-like statues of an elephant and sabre-tooth tiger on the back of a trailer driving along the West Gate Freeway have been revealed as nothing more than a publicity stunt! 3AW Mornings listener Ziggy captured the bizarre photo and sent it into Neil Mitchell. He momentarily thought the elephant was real.
2015-04-12 - Sydney, Australia.
A partnership between the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Kenyan Wildlife Service has led to the creation of a drone protection program targeted at identifying and discouraging poachers. The vehicles allow monitoring and identification of elephant populations, and provide a window in the sky from which to search for poachers.
2014-02-27 - Sydney, Australia.
International comedian and actor John Cleese is coming to Dubbo to put on a show and help open new accommodation at Taronga Western Plains Zoo (TWPZ). The unforgettable star of shows like Fawlty Towers and the cult Monty Python films will travel to the city in late March. The general manager confirmed that the 40-year veteran of stage and screen would perform at TWPZ.
2013-11-20 - Sydney, Australia.
The Taronga Western Plains Zoo is planning to build a multimillion dollar home for three male Asian elephants due to arrive in Dubbo next year. The bulls, Pathi Harn, Luk Chai and Gung, are being moved to the west to free up space at Taronga´s Sydney zoo.
2013-05-10 - Sydney, Australia.
In November 2010, a clinically healthy Asian elephant in an Australian zoo was found to be shedding M. tuberculosis; in September 2011, a sick chimpanzee at the same zoo was diagnosed with tuberculosis caused by an indistinguishable strain of M. tuberculosis. A pathway of transmission between the animals could not be confirmed. Tuberculosis in an elephant can be transmissible to people in close contact and to other animals more remotely. The mechanism for transmission from elephants requires fur...
2013-01-16 - Sydney, Australia.
AN investigation by Taronga Zoo found that they were not at fault over an elephant attack in which one of their keepers was injured last year. Lucy Melo, 40, spent days in intensive care at Royal North Shore Hospital after the October 19 incident, in which two-year-old Asian elephant calf Pathi Harn pinned her against a bollard.
2012-10-31 - Sydney, Australia.
Injured Taronga Zoo elephant keeper Lucy Melo has been released from hospital. Ms Melo, 40, was injured 12 days ago when two-year-old elephant Pathi Harn "challenged´´ her authority and pinned her against a bollard. Her heart stopped beating for five minutes after the incident. A Taronga Zoo spokesman said Ms Melo had made excellent progress in her recovery and went home from Royal North Shore Hospital last night. "She´s in good spirits and will commence a period of rehabilitat...
2012-10-23 - Sydney, Australia.
Northern beaches resident Lucy Melo, 40, is in a stable condition in Royal North Shore Hospital after the two-year-old Asian elephant calf Pathi Harn pinned her against a bollard on Friday morning. While she has been able to write notes to her family, a zoo spokeswoman said she was "alert´´ today and spoke for the first time since Friday. "We’re incredibly pleased to get an update from Lucy’s family that she is alert and making progress in her recovery," Zoo director Ca...
2012-10-21 - Sydney, Australia.
WorkCover investigators have seized surveillance footage of the moments leading up to when two-year-old elephant Pathi Harn nudged Ms Melo against a bollard. Because of the position of the cameras, the whole incident was not captured on tape. It is understood the elephant did not appear aggressive towards Ms Melo, or any other keeper in the pen at the time.
2012-10-20 - Sydney, Australia.
TARONGA Zoo keeper Lucy Melo, seriously injured when a young elephant "challenged" her authority, is in a stable condition in a Sydney hospital. The 40-year-old´s family has asked that their privacy be respected while she recovers in Royal North Shore Hospital after two-year-old Pathi Harn pinned her against a bollard on Friday morning.
2012-10-19 - Sydney, Australia.
Yesterday the senior elephant keeper was left fighting for her life after the youngest male, Pathi Harn, crushed her against a fencepost during morning training. With Ms Melo´s husband, Taronga Zoo´s elephant manager Gary Miller, nearby, the two keepers moved the elephant away and the area went into lockdown at its busiest time, as school groups were turned away and feeding time cancelled.
2012-05-27 - Sydney, Australia.
When Lucy first started at Taronga, she was part of the team that went to Thailand to bring the first five Asian Elephants to Sydney, and has been part of the successful Conservation Breeding Program ever since. Since the herd arrived in 2006, three calves have been born and Lucy has been part of raising the calves and looking after the extended family of four adult females and one adult male.
2011-12-16 - Sydney, Australia.
Taronga Zoo is looking for a number of permanent Keepers to work in our Elephant free contact program within the Exotic Fauna Precinct. The Elephant Unit currently manages eight Asian Elephants on site at Taronga Zoo. Our ideal candidates will have significant experience working free contact with elephants, possess a detailed knowledge of elephant behaviour and biology and will have good team work, communication and mentoring skills.
2011-02-05 - Sydney, Australia.
One of the stars of Sydney´s Taronga Zoo, an 18-year-old Asian elephant, has been diagnosed with Tuberculosis. The Asian elephant, named Pak Boon, has been diagnosed with the illness which keepers believe she bought with her when she came from Thailand four years ago. She was tested for the bug when she came to Australia, but tests at the time came up negative. Pak Boon gave birth three months ago to a female calf, Tuka.
2010-11-02 - Sydney, Australia. Taronga Conservation Society Australia Press release
Taronga third Asian Elephant calf was born at 1.12 am last night. The calf is Taronga’s first female and it is the fifth calf born to the Australian Conservation Management Plan for these endangered elephants. The calf was born in the paddock four years to the day of the arrival of the herd from Thailand in 2006.
2010-03-25 - Sydney, Australia. Lisa Keen, Taronga and Taronga Western Plains Zoos
The new calf has a name as of this morning. He is Pathi Harn, which is Thai for Miracle. Its pronounced Par Tea Harn. Hes doing really well, as is his mum Porntip, who is very attentive. Pathi Harn has been enjoying the water and also the mud wallow. He was blessed this morning by Thai Buddhist monks who came to the zoo especially for the naming ceremony.
2010-03-10 - Sydney, Australia.
An elephant gave birth to a calf at Sydneys main zoo on Wednesday, surprising vets and keepers who two days earlier declared the baby had died in the womb. The Asian elephant mother delivered the male baby in the early hours of Wednesday in what Taronga Park Zoo officials said was "unbelievable good fortune".
2010-03-08 - Sydney, Australia.
The matriarch of the zoos elephant herd, Porntip, showed on March 1 she was ready to give birth to a 100kg calf, after having been artificially inseminated about 22 months before. But by Sunday night ultrasound scans made it clear the calf had rotated inside its mothers womb and was lying upside down.
2009-12-02 - Sydney, Australia. ILIANA STILLITANO
A PAINTING not seen publicly since it was bought by the late Camden doctor Robert Crookston in 1945 sold for $575,000 last week and helped set a sales record for auction house Sotheby's. The painting a powerful image of a country woman confronting the tragedy of the 1944 drought was part of an estate owned by Dr Crookston's daughter Jacqueline which she bequeathed to the Taronga Foundation when she died, aged 96, in July.
2009-08-26 - Sydney, Australia.
The loud pitter patter of baby elephant feet has helped Taronga Zoo claim the title of Sydney's favourite attraction. The zoo won 24 per cent of votes in the Sydney Chamber of Commerce's annual favourite things survey of the city's inhabitants. The birth of Asian elephant calf Luk Chai in July has also boosted zoo visitor numbers, with Sydneysiders and tourists flocking to Taronga since his arrival. Sydney Opera House came second in the survey of most popular attractions, with 22 per cent of vot...
2009-07-05 - Sydney, Australia.
The male calf was born to Asian elephant Thong Dee in Taronga Zoo's Elephant Barn about 3.08am yesterday. After a three-hour labour, Thong Dee, who was a street elephant in Bangkok, was surprised by the calf and took time to calm down. She greeted the new baby by touching his trunk. By morning, he was trying to suckle, which zookeepers say is excellent news. "Although it's very soon since the delivery, the early signs are good and we will monitor mother and calf very closely, providing every pos...
2008-03-19 - Sydney, Australia.
Former Stardust Circus elephant Gigi is putting her best foot forward in the process of becoming a permanent inhabitant of Taronga Western Plains Zoo. On the request of keepers, she regularly presents her feet on fence rails for a zoo-style pedicure. After Gigis toenails are clipped and filed, she enjoys a treat - sometimes raw pumpkin or sweet potato. The zoos senior veterinarian Dr Benn Bryant says “keepers have made great progress with Gigi” in introducing her to the zoo and its sp...
2008-02-26 - Sydney, Australia. Kelly Burke
THONG DEE bypassed several birthdays over the weekend, as Taronga Zoo management revised her age from eight to 12. But yesterday an Australian National University expert emphatically relegated the pregnant elephant back to single digits. Professor Colin Groves, a biological anthropologist specialising in elephant taxonomy (classification) came to the conclusion based on information the zoo released on Friday. Its statement said "Thong Dee's fourth of six sets of teeth she will have during her li...
2008-02-24 - Sydney, Australia.
Throughout 2007, Taronga Zoo stated that Thong Dee was seven years old. This claim was included in a news release dated November 13 about a report to the Government on how the import conditions for the elephants had been met. Last week, the zoo said she was eight. Now, after international controversy around her pregnancy, a keeper has looked at her teeth and declared she is 11 or 12. The same keeper claims elephants can sometimes read his mind. (The Daily Telegraph, Saturday). We are also told T...
2008-02-24 - Sydney, Australia. Kelly Burke
RENEWED doubts over the legality of Taronga Zoo's importation of nine Asian elephants have been raised overseas, with documents from Thailand suggesting that up to half may have been snatched from the wild. Moreover, the registration certificate for one elephant, the now pregnant Thong Dee, shows she is just six years and nine months old - despite an animal welfare requirement that the zoo not use any elephant under the age of 12 for breeding.
2008-02-22 - Sydney, Australia. Garry Linnell
IT began as a sordid tale of steamy and illicit underage sex in a leafy North Shore suburb of Sydney. But yesterday it sounded like a typical encounter in the affluent but ageing suburb of Mosman - just another lustful romp among consenting adults with lots of wrinkled grey skin. Thong Dee is the first elephant to fall pregnant in Australia. But just how old the Taronga Zoo attraction really is remained mired in controversy yesterday amid claims she could be as young as six - or as old as 12.
2008-02-14 - Sydney, Australia.
A row has erupted in Australia after Sydney's zoo announced a nine-year-old Asian elephant was pregnant. Animal rights groups say the elephant, Thong Dee, is too young to fall pregnant, and that the zoo is "irresponsible" in letting it happen. But keepers at Taronga Zoo say they took expert advice and acted on this. "We took our advice from the experts in elephant reproduction," says Lucy Melo, senior keeper at the zoo.
Taronga Zoo has officially announced the pregnancy of one its Asian elephants. Eight-year-old Thong Dee is five months pregnant and expected to give birth in June 2009. There was concern that Thong Dee, one of four female elephants brought to Taronga Zoo from Thailand in 2005, was too young to be sexually active. News of the pregnancy was leaked to the media yesterday, when Greens MP Lee Rhiannon expressed concern the zoo had put the animal at risk by allowing her to get pregnant before reaching...
2008-02-13 - Sydney, Australia. Simon Benson
LOVE is in the air at Taronga Zoo - or at least it was five months ago. More than 15 months after arriving under a cloud of controversy from Thailand, Sydney's Asian elephants have conspired to grow their number by one. An ultrasound image has confirmed that eight-year-old Thong Dee has made history and is now 20 weeks pregnant. A successful birth, expected sometime in mid-2009, would mark the first captive elephant breeding success in Australasia. Tests conducted last week revealed a healthy fo...
2008-02-13 - Sydney, Australia.
The Greens say they have received information that an underage Asian elephant at Sydney's Taronga Zoo has become pregnant, which they say could put the animal's health at risk. The Greens say they have received information that an underage Asian elephant at Sydney's Taronga Zoo has become pregnant, which they say could put the animal's health at risk. Greens MP Lee Rhiannon says she understands the eight-year-old elephant is six months pregnant, which goes against the zoo's captive management pl...
2008-02-12 - Sydney, Australia. Jonathan Dart
Taronga Zoo is keeping mum about whether one of its Thai elephants is pregnant. Rumours about the elephants surfaced yesterday following an effort by the zoo to make Gung - the only male of the group - impregnate one of his companions. It is understood the zoo was considering whether to begin a program of artificial insemination. Either way, it will be the first time an Asian elephant has conceived on Australian soil. Eight Thai elephants were imported in to Australia in November 2006 - of which...
2008-01-11 - Sydney, Australia.
This week a high-level meeting of the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA) decided Arna would undergo a psychiatric-style assessment in a protective enclosure at Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo, in central-west NSW. Arna, aged 53, will be housed there temporarily, along with her companion elephant Gigi, 50, while animal experts assess their behaviour. ARAZPA executive director Kevin Johnson announced Arna and Gigi would initially be accommodated the Western Plain...
2008-01-09 - Sydney, Australia.
The future of two elephants, one of which killed a circus worker, remains up in the air with experts to assess the elephants' behaviour before a final decision is made. Stardust Circus worker Ray Williams, 57, was found dead in the elephant's enclosure at Yamba, in northern NSW, on December 27. An interim post-mortem examination found Mr Williams suffered a broken back and a ruptured aorta and died from "severe blunt trauma" caused by elephant Arna. Following the findings, the circus decided to ...
2008-01-04 - Sydney, Australia. Rhett Watson
ARNA the circus elephant is a killer with forensic evidence showing she crushed a worker to death. Ray Williams had spent up to three years feeding and watering the Asian elephant, which has become synonymous with her owner the Stardust Circus. An interim post-mortem examination report has revealed the 57-year-old's previous heart complaint did not contribute to his death at Yamba, on the North Coast, last week. Instead, it found Mr Williams' injuries - a broken back and a ruptured aorta - were ...
2007-12-27 - Sydney, Australia.
Mystery surrounds the death of a circus worker originally believed to have been crushed by an elephant at Yamba on the NSW north coast. It is not yet known if the elephant's handler, aged in his 60s, died of a heart attack today before suffering an injury to his back, or even if an elephant caused the injury. Early police reports said one of The Stardust Circus elephants fell on the handler as it was being unloaded from a truck at the Angourie Road Sports Reserve about 5.15pm. An ambulance spoke...
2007-12-27 - Sydney, Australia. Rhett Watson and Evelyn Yamine
A CIRCUS handler died - believed to have been crushed by an elephant on the state's North Coast. Authorities are investigating the mysterious death of the Stardust Circus handler at Yamba at 5.15pm. The man, aged in his 60s, was found lying face down in an exercise enclosure with the 50-year-old circus elephant Arna nearby. Paramedics said the man died of a heart attack and had sustained a serious back injury. WorkCover investigators will today try to determine whether the injury contributed to ...
2007-12-25 - Sydney, Australia. Saffron Howden and Kelly Ryan
IF there is any truth to the rumour that weight gain is associated with happiness, Taronga Zoo's Thai elephants are positively ecstatic one year after moving into their new home. Thong Dee has piled on a whopping 1400kg in the three years since being rescued from begging on the streets of Bangkok.
2007-10-10 - Sydney, Australia. Jeremy Drake
Polo is the preferred sport of princes and the Packers, but when you replace the horses with elephants it becomes a whole new ball game. The 26th annual World Elephant Polo Championships will begin in Nepal on November 18. Among the 12 teams will be the first fully Australian contingent. A group of 10 average blokes braving the backs of unusually large mammals in the name of international sport.
2007-09-17 - Sydney, Australia. Andrew Dunkley
Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon is asking that the six Thai elephants at Taronga be relocated to Dubbo's Western Plains Zoo as soon as possible. She sites a situation in Alaska where an elephant is due to be moved from a small environment to an open range zoo and believes the same should apply here. M/S Rhiannon went on to say that evidence gathered by a former Melbourne Zoo employee shows that the Sydney based elephants have only one fifth of a hectare to live in which is hardly adequate.
2007-09-16 - Sydney, Australia. Greg Hassall
How do you masturbate an elephant? Very carefully, you might think. Actually, no - it turns out the kinky devils are best stimulated by repeatedly thrusting an arm up their backside. Best left to the experts, methinks.This BBC documentary follows the efforts of scientists to save animals such as elephants, rhinos and cheetahs from extinction by means of artificial insemination, IVF and even cloning.
2007-09-11 - Sydney, Australia.
THEY were the DNA tests that had onlookers wondering if there had been some monkey business in the elephant enclosure. But, as Taronga Zoo keepers were quick to point out yesterday, there was an innocent explanation for the decision to take cheek swabs from the massive animals. The results will be subjected to DNA analysis and then studied by researchers hoping to establish a genetic map of wild elephant populations in their native Cambodia.
2007-08-15 - Sydney, Australia. Kelly Burke
THE RSPCA has refused to release the results of its investigation into animal deaths at Taronga and Western Plains zoos. The investigation was ordered in June, after the deaths of a greater one-horned rhinoceros and a female African elephant. The RSPCA's chief inspector, David O'Shannessy, said yesterday that no action would be taken against the zoos because no evidence of cruelty had been found in the animals' veterinary records or in keeping standards.
2007-07-18 - Sydney, Australia.
Since Steve Irwins death, Bindi, her younger brother Bob and mum Terri have spent less than half of their time in Australia Zoo. Terri is particularly proud of the enormous elephant quarters called Elephantasia at Australia Zoo, which opened at Christmas. They now house three Asian elephants which can swim completely submerged underwater.
2007-06-19 - Sydney, Australia. Kelly Burke
An American elephant-care specialist head-hunted by the Zoological Parks Board little more than a year ago has resigned, citing animal neglect as the reason. Jason Kauntze-Cockburn has terminated his four-year contract after only one year at Western Plains Zoo, saying inadequate staffing was putting the elephants health and well-being at risk.
2007-06-16 - Sydney, Australia. Michelle Cazzulino
After undergoing a five-month training period, the matriarch of Taronga Zoo's herd of Asian elephants, Pornthip, has delighted her keepers by mastering the art of placing her feet on an X-ray machine, allowing them to record the structure of her foot and toes. Staff are hoping the other four elephants at the zoo will follow her example over the coming months, ensuring they will be able to keep tabs on the animals' health.
2007-05-09 - Sydney, Australia.
IT was girls' playtime at Taronga Zoo and a chance for one-on-one quality time with keepers for our resident Asian elephants in their $38 million enclosure this week. After six months the four females - Pornthip, Pak Boong, Tang Mo and Tong Dee - and male Gung have settled into their daily routine with ease and confidence. Keeper Lucy Melo, who has been with the group since August 2004, said the five elephants had at least eight carers dedicated to their health, quality of life, veterinary requi...
2007-04-24 - Sydney, Australia.
LOCKING trunks in a warm embrace, two of Taronga Zoo's Asian elephants splashed around in Sydney's rain yesterday. Male Gung was spotted with the mystery woman at their bath and the tryst has set trunks wagging. Gung has been spoilt for choice since moving to Sydney with the lady pachyderms Pornthip, Pak Boon, Tang Mo and Thong Dee.
2007-04-01 - Sydney, Australia. Pia Akerman
In the shade of an acacia tree in Kenya 15 years ago, artistic inspiration came to Mario Andreacchio as he watched frolicking baby elephants. "Watching these elephants play, I thought, 'Hang on, there's a film in that'," Andreacchio said. These days, the Emmy Award-winning Australian filmmaker is the king of the baby animal genre after making his name with Napoleon, a 1995 film about a golden retriever puppy lost in the outback.
2007-03-10 - Sydney, Australia.
THEY'RE among Sydney's biggest consumers of water, churning through millions of litres a year for drinking, bathing and swimming. But now animals at Taronga Zoo, including the new Asian elephants, are to become better water savers under plans to increase the amount of recycled water they use. Zoo director and chief executive Guy Cooper said among the biggest users of recycled water would be the Asian elephants. All five of them are in the pool at least three times a day.
2007-02-22 - Sydney, Australia. AAP
SEEKING respite from Sydney's heat, two Asian elephants today played with their keepers under the waterfall in their newly built Taronga Zoo enclosure. Thong Dee and Tang Mo, two of five elephants that arrived in Australia in November last year, spent the morning splashing around in the water as part of their traditional daily routine. The five elephants, including today's absentees Pornthip, Pak Boon and Gung, arrived in Sydney from Thailand last year after a two-year legal battle to bri...
2007-02-21 - Sydney, Australia. Deborah Smith
HIGH on an extinct volcano in Africa the elephants of Kenya, after trekking long distances to a cave on Mount Elgon, begin to mine and eat salt from the rock. The Australian scientist Derek Denton discovered the link between salt and high blood pressure which he outlines in The Primordial Emotions.
2007-02-01 - Sydney, Australia.
A row has broken out between the RSPCA and Sydney's Taronga Zoo over the care of one of its Asian elephants. Six-year-old elephant 'Gung' arrived from Thailand as part of a group three months ago. RSPCA spokeswoman, Jane Speechley, says they believe Gung has been separated from the others.
2006-11-29 - Sydney, Australia.
NSW opposition environment spokesman Michael Richardson claimed figures from the auditor-general showed paid attendance numbers were down almost 30,000 on 2004 figures and running six per cent below budget. But zoo spokesman Mark Williams rejected the claims, saying the enclosure only cost a fraction of the $13 million borrowed for the 12-year master plan refurbishment of the harbourside zoo site.
2006-11-14 - Sydney, Australia. ABC News online
Rebecca McKeough worked as an elephant keeper at the zoo for most of the 1990s, and has told the ABC's 7.30 Report a black rhino died after running into a steel fence and a female Komodo dragon suffered injuries during repeated violent mating sessions. Greens MP Lee Rhiannon says the Government must investigate the allegations. Taronga's media spokesman Mark Williams says Ms McKeough's information is outdated. He says the zoo fully reviewed the incidents and learned from them, and revised its pr...
2006-11-13 - Sydney, Australia. Mark Bannerman, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Until now, zoo insiders have stayed out of the debate but one former Taronga Zoo employee has decided to speak out about the decision to display and breed elephants, pointing out the zoo doesn't have a great track record when it comes to breeding endangered species. Mark Bannerman reports.
2006-11-13 - Sydney, Australia.
IN the middle of the sea of smiles that swamped Taronga Zoo's new elephant enclosure is a story to break your heart. The four Thai mahouts, or elephant handlers, who accompanied the zoo's newest stars every step of the way through their arduous two-year journey to Australia, said goodbye to their charges to return home to Thailand, leaving the elephants to their new life. For 36-year-old Sunthon Sonsok, saying goodbye to female elephant Tong Dee was like losing a member of his family.
2006-11-10 - Sydney, Australia. JANE IGOE
SIGNED, sealed and finally delivered, Taronga Zoo's new Thai elephants have made a triumphant appearance in their new $38 million Asian enclosure. After more than two years of legal wrangling, the five elephants settled effortlessly into their luxurious Mosman abode. The male elephant, Gung, arrived at Taronga about noon on Sunday. Zoo officials said he hopped off the truck and was also out having fun an hour later.
2006-11-05 - Sydney, Australia.
Four more elephants have arrived in Australia today, bound for local zoos after a controversial journey from Thailand. The elephants touched down this morning in Sydney, where one will be transferred to the city's Taronga Zoo, before their chartered Russian plane heads to Avalon Airport near Melbourne, to drop off another three this afternoon for Melbourne Zoo.
2006-11-04 - Sydney, Australia.
THE arrival of four Asian elephants from Thailand has not been a walk in the park, but the animals took to the stage like pros in their first public appearance at Taronga Zoo yesterday. The new enclosure, part of a $25 million project to bring the elephants from Thailand, consists of several paddocks, an elephant barn and two wading pools, one with its own waterfall.
2006-11-03 - Sydney, Australia. Mark Baker
Two of the four new arrivals at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, Asian elephants enjoy a swim in their pool as their keepers look on during their first public appearance at the zoo Friday, Nov. 3, 2006. The Elephants from Thailand are part of the first-ever Cooperative Conservation Program designed to help arrest the rapid decline of wild Asian elephant across their 13 range states in Asia from India to Vietnam. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
2006-11-02 - Sydney, Australia.
The RSPCA says it is disappointed that the first of a group of Thai elephants have arrived in Australia destined for zoos in Sydney and Melbourne. Animal welfare groups took legal action to stop them being imported and delayed their arrival for 18 months. The RSPCA's Jane Speechley says the groups are not taking any further action, but are calling on the public to look for signs of stress when they are visiting the elephants in the zoos.
2006-11-02 - Sydney, Australia. Jano Gibson
Four female Asian elephants flown in from the Cocos Islands today will go on public display at Taronga Zoo tomorrow morning. The four - Pak Boon, Tang Mo, Tong Dee and matriarch Porn Thip - arrived at the zoo this afternoon after a 14-hour flight aboard a giant Russian Illyushin. They arrived at their new harbourside multi-million dollar enclosure after a speedy, police-escorted trip across the city, through the Harbour Tunnel.
2006-11-01 - Sydney, Australia.
Eight Asian elephants destined for zoos in Sydney and Melbourne are expected to arrive in Australia on Thursday. They passed crucial quarantine checks on October 31. News Ltd said the elephants would arrive in Sydney early on Thursday evening. But Taronga Zoo spokesman Mark Williams could not confirm their arrival. "It will be sooner rather than later but their arrival relies on us chartering a big Russian freight plane and until we have that confirmed we can't say when they will be here," Mr Wi...
2006-10-07 - Sydney, Australia.
EIGHT Asian elephants on their way to new homes in Australia have passed crucial quarantine checks, paving the way for their arrival in December. The elephants began their controversial journey from Thailand in June and have been held in quarantine on the Cocos Islands, 2750km north-west of Perth in the Indian Ocean. Four female elephants and one male will be housed at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, while the remaining three elephants will go to Melbourne Zoo.
2006-08-01 - Sydney, Australia.
Eight endangered Asian elephants have left Thailand bound for new homes in Sydney and Melbourne. Animal rights protesters delayed the elephants' departure from Thailand last month. The elephants have arrived in the Cocos Islands where they will spend three months in quarantine before taking part in a regional breeding program in Australia.
2006-07-09 - Sydney, Australia.
ANIMAL rights activists who jeopardised the transfer of eight Asian elephants to Australia are endangering the elephants' lives, experts say. As zookeepers remained hopeful the elephants would be in Australian zoos by Christmas, Environment Minister Ian Campbell labelled the behaviour of a group of protesters who prevented the importation as "outrageous". And he said yesterday the Federal Government was prepared to launch legal action to ensure the elephants come to Australia.
2006-07-06 - Sydney, Australia.
Australian zoos should reconsider their plans to import eight Asian elephants from Thailand, given widespread opposition to the idea, animal welfare groups say. RSPCA Australia, International Fund for Animal Welfare and Humane Society International say they have offered to find a solution that is in the best interests of the elephants.
2006-07-05 - Sydney, Australia.
Sydney and Melbourne zoos say legal action will only be taken as a last resort to prevent animal rights activists blocking the delivery of eight Asian elephants to Australia. About 30 activists prevented the elephants leaving a quarantine station near Bangkok in June, claiming the animals would suffer in their new homes at Sydney's Taronga Zoo and Melbourne Zoo.
2006-07-04 - Sydney, Australia.
OUR Thai elephants face yet another hurdle on their long, slow journey to Taronga Zoo. Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation want proof the eight Australia-bound elephants are domestic-bred and not wild. They submitted a petition to the Australian Ambassador asking that shipment be suspended on the grounds that the doubts over the pachyderms' geographic origin have yet to be resolved.
2006-06-19 - Sydney, Australia.
Sydney's Taronga Zoo is appealing for public donations to help fund the upkeep of five Asian elephants being imported from Thailand. The elephants are still in Bangkok, where they have been in quarantine for 18 months, after protesters blocked their move to Australia on June 6. No date has been confirmed for their flight, with Taronga Zoo spokesman Mark Williams quoted in News Limited newspapers as saying the delay had cost the zoo money.
2006-06-14 - Sydney, Australia. Tanya Plibersek
THE OUTCRY about eight endangered Asian elephants from Thailand being offered brand-new, state-of-the art homes in Australian zoos is bizarre, considering the human rights and environmental challenges Thailand faces. Poverty in parts of Thailand has led to a booming sex trade, exploitative working conditions and the environmental destruction that threatens the survival of elephants in the wild.
2006-02-18 - Sydney, Australia.
Zoos in Sydney and Melbourne have agreed to send 40 Australian native animals to a safari park in Thailand at which it is alleged many animals have died, Fairfax newspapers report. In exchange Melbourne Zoo and Taronga Zoo will import eight Asian elephants. The plan is detailed in a memorandum of agreement between the Thai government and the Victorian and NSW government signed in June 2004, the newspapers are reporting.
2006-02-06 - Sydney, Australia.
EIGHT Asian elephants destined for zoos in Sydney and Melbourne have been cleared to enter the country after a commonwealth tribunal approved their importation from Thailand. However, the licence to import the endangered animals means the zoos will have to meet a number of conditions to ensure their welfare, including appropriate flooring and the installation of closed circuit television.
2006-01-16 - Sydney, Australia.
Actor Jessica Napier today joined Greens MP Lee Rhiannon in calling on the NSW government to turn its $40 million rainforest enclosure at Taronga Zoo into a home for retired circus elephants rather than bring wild elephants from Thailand. Ms Napier, who has starred in The Alice and McLeod's Daughters, said, "Taronga Zoo should use its newly built rainforest elephant enclosure to house Australia's old circus elephants.
2005-12-24 - Sydney, Australia. Andrew Darby
Final approval for the controversial importation of eight Asian elephants to the Melbourne and Sydney zoos is being withheld in a wrangle over the animals' new living conditions. The zoos claimed victory in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal last month against welfare groups that opposed the importation from Thailand.
2005-12-08 - Sydney, Australia.
FIVE Asian elephants could be winging their way to Taronga Zoo as early as Easter after an appeal by animal welfare groups to overturn approval to import the animals from Thailand failed. The long-running saga of the Taronga Five, as the one male and four female elephants have been dubbed, was close to resolution yesterday when the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled, conditional on some improvements to the animals' enclosure, that the elephants could be flown from Thailand, where they have be...
2005-10-12 - Sydney, Australia. John Huxley and Andrew Darby
They have not yet been cleared to come to Australia but the five Asian elephants earmarked for Taronga Zoo have already been signed up to lucrative, exclusive picture deals and assigned special, celebrity profiles. Recent requests to photograph the five - one male and four females - in quarantine at Kanchanaburi, west of Bangkok, were turned down because of a deal struck with a TV documentary maker, a zoo spokesman, Mark Williams, said.
2005-10-05 - Sydney, Australia.
Leading animal welfare and conservation groups Wednesday opposed plans by the Australian government to import eight Asian elephants for its zoos. The groups - International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Humane Society International (HSI) and RSPCA - in a joint statement said that they would appeal against the decision by the Australian Minister for Environment, Ian Campbell, to allow the elephants from Thailand to go to Taronga and Melbourne zoos in the country.
2005-07-29 - Sydney, Australia. Andrew Darby
Eight Asian elephants bound for Sydney and Melbourne zoos will have spent at least a year in quarantine in Thailand before their fate is known. An appeal against the Federal Government's decision to allow them into Australia will be heard from September 26, and the zoos yesterday agreed not to move the animals until it was completed.
2005-07-25 - Sydney, Australia.
A deal to bring eight Thai elephants to two Australian zoos has been met with a stinging rebuke from an English-language Bangkok newspaper. The Nation has slammed the transaction as shabby and corrupt. It says the sale has been condemned by wildlife groups in both countries - who say the animals should remain in their native habitat and not be sent abroad.
2005-07-20 - Sydney, Australia. Mark Bannerman
KERRY O'BRIEN: At nine o'clock this Sydney and Melbourne zoos popped the champagne corks when they got word that they had finally received government approval to import eight Asian elephants. They are, after all, an endangered species. The idea is to take these endangered elephants from Thailand and give them a new home in the hope that, with good treatment and scientific help, they will reproduce.
2005-07-11 - Sydney, Australia. Andrew Darby
Doubts have been raised by animal welfare groups over the origins of some Asian elephants bound for Melbourne and Sydney zoos, with Environment Minister Ian Campbell still to approve their importation. The groups say there is reason for concern over papers showing the eight elephants are all captive-bred, rather than caught in the wild.
2005-05-14 - Sydney, Australia.
The head of Sydney's Taronga Zoo has rejected allegations a new elephant enclosure will not be appropriate for breeding the endangered animal. The $40 million enclosure is almost complete. It contains hot and cold showers and overhead heating for the elephants, which are to be imported from Thailand.
2005-05-04 - Sydney, Australia. Kate Murray
Although the elephants' "visa" application has not yet been approved by the Federal Government, animal rights groups have said they will challenge the application in court if the elephants do get the go-ahead. Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said that could mean an extra slug for taxpayers, who have already forked out $40 million for a new elephants' enclosure.
2005-04-03 - Sydney, Australia. Angela Cuming
Almost everything is ready for the opening of Taronga Zoo's Asian Elephant Rainforest enclosure - except for the elephants themselves. The $40 million enclosure is due to open midyear but the five elephants have not arrived on Australian soil because the Federal Government has not been granted an import licence.
2005-03-25 - Sydney, Australia.
More than $50 million has been spent to import an endangered species but the plan is unravelling, writes Andrew Darby. In the confines of a quarantine station in Thailand, nine Asian elephants are waiting to start new lives in Taronga, Melbourne and Auckland zoos. Their stay was supposed to last only three months but they have been in quarantine for nearly six months.
2005-03-01 - Sydney, Australia. AAP
ANIMAL welfare groups want zoos in Australia and New Zealand to reveal their plans for the importation of nine elephants from Thailand. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), RSPCA Australia and the Humane Society International (HSI) say a consortium of zoos - led by Melbourne Zoo, Sydney's Taronga Zoo and Auckland Zoo - was refusing to reveal information it gave the Australian Government about its permit application. Despite repeated requests and an application made under the Freedom...
2004-11-30 - Sydney, Australia. International Fund for Animal Welfare press release
International experts told a Sydney news conference on Tuesday how demand from zoos and theme parks is driving the illegal trade of endangered Asian elephants from countries such as Thailand. Representatives from Thailand and India have flown to Australia because a request by zoos is currently before the Federal Environment Minister, Senator Ian Campbell, to import nine new Asian elephants for a captive breeding program.
2002-05-17 - Sydney, Australia. AAP
ARNA the elephant will continue her solo journey with the circus, a court has ruled. Magistrate Paul Lyon today ruled against Animal Liberation NSW claims of cruelty to Arna the Asiatic elephant by Stardust Circus. Mr Lyon cut the case short on the grounds there was no deliberate intent to cause pain to the elephant. "There is evidence that the elephant became distressed and suffered pain," Mr Lyon told the Downing Centre Local Court. "But on reading the legislation the court is of the view that...
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
2024-01-11 - Mysore, India.
In response to the escalating threat posed by leopards, elephants and other wild animals in the Mysuru region, specialised task forces have been established to address the situation. A dedicated Leopa...
2024-01-04 - Los Angeles, United States.
The Los Angeles Zoo is grieving the death of 53-year-old Asian elephant Shaunzi. Zoo staff observed that Shaunzi was unable to stand up in her exhibit at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, according t...
