Here at Blackpool Zoo, we are happy to answer questions and provide information concerning the environmental enrichment and training protocols which we implement in order to enhance the physical and mental well-being of our elephants.
All UK zoos are obliged to comply with appropriate legislation as defined and administered by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice and Licensing Act (1981) can be accessed at www.defra.goc.uk. Blackpool Zoo is a member of the UK Federation of Zoos and abides by its codes of conduct and strict standards of animal care. Details of these can be viewed on the Zoo Federation website, www.biaza.org.uk.
A report entitled 'Live Hard, Die Young' was published by the RSPCA in 2002, which examined the keeping of captive elephants in the UK. This was based on research conducted by members of the Zoology Department at Oxford University. The UK Zoo Federation published a report entitled 'In Safe Hands' which provides point-by-point responses to each issue raised in the RSPCA report, and this can be viewed at the Zoo Federation website.
The Federation report is now widely and internationally recognised as an authoritative and ethical policy document. All the training and maintenance procedures we adhere to at Blackpool have been proven to either meet, or exceed, those stipulated in the original RSPCA report, and the Oxford University authors themselves state that "... captive elephants breed well, have life spans approaching those in the wild and show levels of stereotypy. This suggests that at least some welfare problems can be overcome with appropriate management."
The elephants at Blackpool Zoo are amongst only a few in the UK that have access to their house and paddock throughout the day and night. They also take regular walks around the zoo's 32-acre grounds and in local woodland, where they are free to socialise and walk around at their leisure. This variation in environments also provides mental stimulation to complement their existing physical exercise.
Environmental enrichment devices have been a common feature of our elephant enclosure for many years now, and are constantly revised and updated. We facilitate diverse projects undertaken by research students in association with our staff, which are, fundamentally, important in realising our commitment to animal welfare and education. Many of these projects result in the provision of devices that are constructed to complement existing methods for the mental and physical stimulation of our elephants.
The four female Asian elephants at Blackpool are aged between 30 and 40. Kate and Crumple were accepted here in the 1970s from an Asian elephant orphanage, having been abandoned as infants. Indra and Marcella belonged to a German circus that went into liquidation in Holland in 1999, and they would have been put down had we not given them a home here at Blackpool at very short notice. All four elephants have spent their entire lives under the supervision of human carers, and would be unable to survive in the wild.
The re-introduction of captive-bred, endangered species back to the wild is rarely, if ever, successful. Captive-bred animals have not learned to avoid threats from predators or poachers in the wild. Any animal raised in captivity may be more prone to disease when introduced to their unfamiliar "natural" habitat. They could expose an indigenous animal population to potentially fatal, imported diseases to which the captive-bred animals themselves have developed immunity. Moreover, as social animals, there would be no guaranteeing that the animal being re-introduced would be accepted by existing indigenous social groups. In fact, this is highly unlikely to occur.
Wild elephant herds consist of a lead female known as the matriarch, and the rest of the group is made up of mothers, sisters, daughters, and juveniles. Adult bulls are solitary animals and usually only seen with the females during courtship and mating, an annual period known as being "in musth". The natural composition of a long-term social group is, therefore, reflected by the fact that all four elephants at Blackpool are female.
Blackpool was the first zoo in the UK to ultrasound its elephants, and we discovered that both Kate and Crumple have cysts on their ovaries which prevents them from breeding. Indra and Marcella are both well over the recommended age (25 years) at which a female Asian elephant should conceive for the first time.
We believe our animals need much more than a good diet to keep them in good condition, We implement training protocols which allow the elephants far greater freedom then if they were not trained at all, and this includes the daily exercise programme mentioned previously. Another major benefit of our training programme includes dealing with medical problems. If an elephant requires medical attention, the training that we do with them allows us to treat the elephants without having to sedate them. Untrained elephants would in all probability have to be sedated to undergo certain medical procedures, and sedation can be immensely risky for an elephant.
We provide an important and popular facility for the wider understanding of elephants to large numbers of research students as well as the general public. Many people experience and regard zoos as recreational facilities i.e . a day out, and may not be aware of the research and other scientific projects that occur throughout the year in any given institution. We host daily talks and teaching sessions to promote ecological and conservation awareness and information. The Zoo Federation report, "In Safe Hands", states that a large amount of objectively assessed data exists to suggest that the educational impact of zoo-based elephants is not only significant but it is also increasing.
We of course share the abhorrence of the cruel treatment of any animal. This should never be allowed to go unchallenged and, if deliberately inflicted or knowingly tolerated, may rightly constitute a serious offence under the law. The UK Zoo Federation has a clearly stated "zero tolerance" policy on the cruel treatment of animals. If you have evidence of any UK zoo animals being subjected to cruel treatment, you should make this known immediately to the institution where you witnessed such treatment, to the Zoo Federation and to the RSPCA.
It is a sad fact that the future survival of the world's wild animal kingdom may very well depend on the understanding and care for those that are in captivity. The Arabian oryx, for example, numbered only a few wild individuals in the early 1970s due to excessive hunting and habitat destruction. Thanks to a captive breeding programme begun with just nine animals, there is now a sustainable wild population that has been saved from extinction.
A good example of innovative zoo-based elephant research is the work done by the American biologist, Katherine Payne. She discovered the ability of elephants to communicate using infrasonic frequencies inaudible to humans, whilst studying a group of female Asian elephants at an American Zoo in 1984.
We encourage awareness amongst our visitors about the need to conserve wild elephant populations in Asia, and support the work of the Asian Elephant Foundation of Thailand. Staff from Blackpool Zoo have also travelled to India in the past and contributed their expert knowledge and skills to establish important conservation projects in situ. These continue today in association with the Indian Government and Project Elephant India, and include, for example, micro-chipping of wild elephants so that their movements and well-being can be monitored. We have also initiated a new fundraising campaign here at Blackpool to aid a prominent elephant conservation project in Sri Lanka.
We hope that this information has helped to answer some of your concerns surrounding the elephants at Blackpool Zoo. We should, of course, very much welcome any enquiries you may have, and, should you choose to visit the zoo, our education and keeping staff would be more than happy to answer your questions in person.
