Little Rock Zoo welcomes two retired elephants to Little Rock Zoo
Written byJessica DuffJun 8, 2011
Little Rock, Ark. (KTHV) -- The Little Rock Zoo welcomed two new guests Wednesday morning to join Ellen the elephant after the passing of Mary the elephant in May.
Ringling Brothers Circus donated the pair of Asian elephants to the zoo, 60-year-old Jewell and 50-year-old Zina. The same circus originally donated Mary to the zoo in 2001.
Jewell has been retired from Ringling Bros. since 2006 and Zina since 2003.
Zoo Curator Joseph Darcangelo says the zoo is excited about the new arrivals.
"We're very excited. We actually loaded them off the truck. We walked them into their new exhibit. We showed them their new barn area. As soon as we brought them in, obviously they were very thirsty, we gave them some water. We actually gave them a bath. We gave them a little bit of a thorough look through [to] see how they were doing, making sure their travel went well," Darcangelo says.
Zoo guests had a chance to see the two interact with their new environment for a few hours Wednesday morning. However, both elephants will not be on full public display until they fully acclimate to their new surroundings.
Jewell has been with Ringling Bros. since 1954, and Zina joined Ringling Bros. after having come from England in 1972. Both elephants were part of the Ringling Bros. Blue Unit until Zina's retirement in 2003 and Jewell's in 2006.
Ringling Brothers Circus donated the pair of Asian elephants to the zoo, 60-year-old Jewell and 50-year-old Zina. The same circus originally donated Mary to the zoo in 2001.
Jewell has been retired from Ringling Bros. since 2006 and Zina since 2003.
Zoo Curator Joseph Darcangelo says the zoo is excited about the new arrivals.
"We're very excited. We actually loaded them off the truck. We walked them into their new exhibit. We showed them their new barn area. As soon as we brought them in, obviously they were very thirsty, we gave them some water. We actually gave them a bath. We gave them a little bit of a thorough look through [to] see how they were doing, making sure their travel went well," Darcangelo says.
Zoo guests had a chance to see the two interact with their new environment for a few hours Wednesday morning. However, both elephants will not be on full public display until they fully acclimate to their new surroundings.
Jewell has been with Ringling Bros. since 1954, and Zina joined Ringling Bros. after having come from England in 1972. Both elephants were part of the Ringling Bros. Blue Unit until Zina's retirement in 2003 and Jewell's in 2006.
No comments:
Post a Comment