Twycross Zoo, UK, Tonzi, Minbu, Noor Jahan, Tara

Having been unable to access Twycross Zoo's website for the past few months, and having lost the information originally posted when the previous TEC discussion board collapsed - I discovered this morning that the zoo has an updated website, with an elephant webcam. My posts of today relate to past events at Twycross in respect of the elephant exhibit.

There are 4 female Asian elephants at Twycross Zoo.

Tonzi (27) and Minbu/Mimbu (26) were wildborn, Noor Jahan (16) was captive-born at Jaldapara WS in India and Tara (13) was captive-born at Twycross.
http://www.elephant.se/location2.php?location_id=227

38 photos (2002-2010) of the elephants and their exhibit on this link:
http://www.asianelephant.net/twycross/twycross.htm

Elephant webcam on this link:
http://www.twycrosszoo.org/elephant-enclosure-webcam.aspx

From July 2010:

Asian elephant walkway Uda Walawe now open

Twycross Zoo will be the first in the world to theme a Sri Lankan elephant habitat. Sri Lanka is a country which has produced the world's first and the largest elephant orphanage at Pinnawela and made the conservation of the largest mammal on land and planet earth a priority, creating many protected areas for animals. We have drawn on the knowledge and skills of our zoological consultant Vasantha Nugegoda, from Design for Life to help design this exhibit.

http://www.twycrosszoo.org/asian-elephant-...e-now-open.aspx

£1 million ($1.6 million) on a walkway for the visitors, nothing for the elephants. Just think what this sum of money could have achieved if spent on "front-line" conservation in Sri Lanka.


Update from 21 September 2011:

Celebration of Uda Walawe

Sri Lankan Event to celebrate 1 year anniversary of Uda Walawe, our fantastic elephant walkway ...

This year in celebration of the one year anniversary the Kandyan dancers will once again be performing for us from 12pm till 4pm at the cockatoo cafe area and there will also be Sri Lankan tea sampling.

http://www.twycrosszoo.org/celebration-of-uda-walawe.aspx

In April 2011, Ganesh Vijay, a male calf under 2 years old, died at the zoo.

More info about Ganesh Vijay can be found on his topic on the "Elephant Deaths" Forum:
http://z13.invisionfree.com/Elephant_Comme...p?showtopic=390

TARA (13) is pregnant and due to give birth in spring 2012 - AI from Rajah at Woburn SP.
Tara's mother Tonzi was in labour for 42 hours ...

http://www.elephant.se/database2.php?elephant_id=1613

Video uploaded 16 October 2009.

Elephants at Twycross Zoo

Twycross Zoo keepers take the elephants through their daily training routine. The calf is seven weeks old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBWGyhFuWg


The 7-week old calf is Ganesh Vijay, who was conceived with AI, and who died of EEHV/heart condition on 13 April 2011.

Twycross Zoo prepares for the arrival of a baby elephant!

Staff and visitors at Twycross Zoo in North Warwickshire are expecting a rather large new arrival – a new baby elephant.

One of the four female Asian elephants at the zoo, thirteen-year-old Tara, is expected to give birth to her first calf in March.

http://www.thisistamworth.co.uk/Twycross-Z...tail/story.html

From the zoo's PR department:

Twycross Zoo prepares for the arrival of a baby elephant!

We predict Tara's mum, Tonzi, will be close by during the birth and support Tara in looking after her first baby. We expect the other elephants in the herd will be very excited with the new arrival and we're sure there'll be sounds of trumpeting and rumbling echoing throughout the elephant house.

http://www.twycrosszoo.org/twycross-zoo-pr...y-elephant.aspx

On a pro-zoo discussion board re Twycross' use of AI on its Asian females, this is part of a comment posted yesterday:

... the cost of elephant A.I. £20,000 a shot I understand.

That's the first time I have seen a sum put on this invasive procedure - that's $30,000 "a shot".

Twycross Zoo prepares to welcome baby elephant

Twycross Zoo is preparing to welcome its newest addition with one of its elephants nearly ready to give birth.

First-time mother Tara, a 13-year-old Asian elephant at the zoo, is being monitored with video cameras around the clock and being kept extra warm at night, ready for the special delivery.

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/elep...tail/story.html

Thanks for posting, Cora.

Twycross is a loathsome zoo for elephants.
Poor Tara, surrounded by spin even before her calf is born.

" ... every calf born being crucial for the future survival of this species." That's pretty misleading.
What it should say is " ... every WILD calf born being crucial for the future survival of this species."
Alternatively, " ... every CAPTIVE calf born being crucial for the future survival of this species IN ZOOS."

Tara's calf was stillborn (info from another discussion site)

From Twycross Zoo Facebook this afternoon:

It is with great sadness that we have to tell you our elephant calf was born stillborn on Sunday morning at 3am, after a lovely normal family herd birth. As you can imagine the elephants and the staff here at the zoo are all grieving today, so please bear with us over this sad time and we will let you know more information as soon as possible.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=165...33;/TwycrossZoo

Twycross Zoo Mourns the Loss of Baby Elephant

Keepers and staff at Twycross Zoo are incredibly saddened to announce the death of a newborn Asian elephant calf. In the early hours of Sunday 25th March 2012 Tara went into labour and delivered a stillborn female calf at 3.00am.

http://www.twycrosszoo.org/twycross-zoo-mo...y-elephant.aspx

Hopefully zoo people will start putting two and two together.

"Could it be infanticide and lower rates of fecundity are nature’s ways of saying it is not good to reproduce because you are living in a “dangerous world”? Could it be that those young that do survive are compromised especially if they continue to grow up in a stressed/traumatic environment?" --t&tt

"Cynthia Moss writes in her book Elephant Memories that the females discourage mating during seasons of drought. They know they will lose their calves. The un-natural setting in a zoo and circus is also not conducive to breeding. They are forced to breed by AI or put into an enclosure with a bull they cannot get away from. They know captivity is not a good life for their calves or for themselves." --spiritedlulu

Science and more comments here:
http://z13.invisionfree.com/Elephant_Comme...p?showtopic=543

t&tt - I had a feeling all along that this calf would not survive.

I agree completely with your view re bringing a calf into a "dangerous world".
Even though they are in close captivity, elephants are still elephants and retain, albeit in a diluted form, their natural instincts, and I believe that Tara had transmitted to her unborn calf that his/her future was not what she [Tara] would have wished - that is, it was a "dangerous environment".

Twycross Zoo comes in for a lot of criticism on several levels - even from members of a pro-zoo discussion board.

I see the zoo is now advertising a vacancy:

We are seeking a high performing individual with a proven track record in zoo animal management. You will have a minimum of 5 years experience as an elephant keeper and demonstrate a substantial working knowledge of the natural history and management of elephants ... .

Actually, the right course of action for Twycross, with its appalling "track record" of 2 elephant deaths within a year, would be to abandon its breeding policy altogether, and spend the money instead on improving conditions for the 4 Asian elephants.

Stillborn elephant is new tragedy for zoo

Tara, a first-time mum, gave birth surrounded by the zoo's other elephants – known as a herd birth – while veterinary staff watched anxiously on CCTV.

Head vet Sarah Chapman said: "Immediately after the birth, we could see the calf wasn't moving.

"It's common for elephants to nudge a newborn to help it rise to its feet to suckle. However, when all three elephants backed away we knew something was wrong."

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Stil...tail/story.html

Protest plan at zoo over animal welfare

ANIMAL rights protesters say they will be outside Twycross Zoo this Saturday to highlight concerns over captive animals.

Local activists and Derby Animal Rights will be at the family attraction as part of Zoo Awareness Weekend.

Organisers say it raises awareness of the plight of animals held in captivity.

"Zoos are about public entertainment and raising profits for the owners," a spokesman said. "If they really cared about the animals they would be supporting them where they belong – and that's in the savannahs of Africa and the tropical rainforests of America and Asia.''

http://www.thisistamworth.co.uk/Protest-pl...tail/story.html

Elephant training and scatter-feed at Twycross Zoo (video, 8:41, uploaded 10 April 2012):

Elephant Training

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNbIivER8f8

For the record, 3 more videos:

Video 3:39 uploaded 11 October 2011:
Elephant feeding time @ Twycross Zoo 11th October 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W63lLDaByE

Video 2:55 uploaded 21 June 2010:
Twycross Zoo - Elephant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUKQg8J3-9U

Video 8:15 uploaded 16 October 2009:
Elephants at Twycross Zoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBWGyhFuWg

Twycross Zoo’s Elephants Receive a 30-tonne Shipment of Sand!

The sand will form a comfy soft surface for Noorjahan, Minbu, Tonzi and Tara to nestle in to when the three tonne mammals bed down each night.

Elephant Team Leader, Anna Westbury, commented: "We receive a shipment of sand for the elephant's indoor enclosure roughly twice a year. The sand provides a nice soft surface for their feet and acts as a good exfoliator keeping their nails and the pads of their feet in good condition."

http://www.twycrosszoo.org/Elephants-recei...nt-of-sand.aspx


Similar article on this link:
Elephants in element with new sand
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Elep...tail/story.html

This info was posted by Twycross Zoo on its Facebook this week:

The main sand paddock is 2491 square metres, while the extra grass paddock is 3621 square metres.

It was followed by this comment [in part]:

Thank you, TZ. If my calculations are correct, the maximum area available for the 4 elephants to stretch their legs on a 365-basis (ie. the sand + grass areas) = 1.511 acres ...

I'm loath to post any info here from a pro-zoo discussion board but, since the Twycross Zoo elephants cause me great concern, I notice today that there is a post that reads, in part:
They have now moved into protected contact with the elephant training shows stopped. The indoors has had an update (due to the pc) ... Also Noorjahan has recently been AI, although its still to early to tell if it has worked, so in a couple of months we'll know if its worked.

Three zoo keepers held for beating elephant

The men are said to have been caught on CCTV whipping kiddies’ favourite Tonzi, 28, with bamboo canes in her pen.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/...l#ixzz2AHGl96Bl

From Twycross Zoo Facebook this morning:

Twycross Zoo has dismissed three staff and reported them to the police for the mistreatment of elephants. Because the matter is with the police we cannot give you more details at this time. The good news is that the elephants are fine and behaving normally and continue to be on full public show.

Twycross Zoo keepers sacked and arrested 'for beating star elephant Tonzi and two other with canes'

A spokesman for Leicestershire Police said that there was an ongoing investigation.

She said: 'We can confirm that there is an ongoing investigation in connection with the unnecessary suffering of an elephant at Twycross Zoo.

'The beating happened in September this year.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-22...o=feeds-newsxml

Zoo workers arrested on suspicion of causing suffering to elephant

Three men questioned and released on police bail after elephant was allegedly beaten at Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/2...picion-elephant

Twycross Zoo arrests: Elephant abuse police hold staff

The zoo said the incident involved two elephants but police said they were only aware of one animal suffering unnecessarily.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-20080453

So many questions to be asked.
Where did the "bamboo canes" come from? Surely they are not standard equipment in the elephant barn? Were they brought into the barn from elsewhere in the zoo? If so, surely the men were seen doing this, and why were they not questioned at that point?
On 15 October, this snippet was posted on a pro-zoo discussion board re Twycross Zoo elephants, and I posted it above:

If that info is correct, and the beatings took place in September, then is the introduction of pc one of the results of the beatings? Or, if pc was already in place in September, why did the beatings happen at all?

*Twycross Zoo facebook has now blocked me ...

This post has been edited by Space4Eles on Oct 25 2012, 12:31 PM

Thanks to a member of TEC Facebook for drawing attention to this latest report:

Twycross Zoo arrests: Elephant abuse police hold staff

The zoo said the incident involved two elephants called Tonzi, aged 28, and Noorjahan, 16.

"The zoo responded to the situation immediately by telling Leicestershire Police of the issue, who are investigating the matter," said a spokesperson.

"The animals involved are being regularly checked by veterinary experts who report they are well and behaving normally.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-20080453

Twycross Zoo praised for swift action after three staff accused of abusing elephants

A police spokeswoman said the alleged offences, which centre on the care of the female elephants called Noorjahan and Tonzi, happened last month. She said one man was arrested on October 3, one on October 4 and another on October 16.

A spokeswoman for Twycross Zoo said: "The zoo was gathering information relating to the elephants as part of an animal behaviour research project.

"During a review of these video logs the inappropriate behaviour came to light and triggered an investigation."

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Twyc...tail/story.html

Not quite how I would describe it ...