Elephants are dying out in America's zoos
Zoos' efforts to preserve and propagate elephants have largely failed, both in Seattle and nationally. The infant-mortality rate for elephants in zoos is almost triple the rate in the wild.
BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Hansa, who in 2000 became the only elephant born at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, plays with her mom, Chai, in October 2001. Hansa died at 6½ years old, the victim of a virus that had been killing young elephants at U.S. zoos.
from: seattletimes.com
By Michael J. Berens,Seattle Times staff reporter
December 1, 2012
First of two parts
As the 1960s dawned, few Americans had ever seen a baby elephant. It had been more than 40 years since an elephant had been born in North America, and then only at a circus — never in a zoo.
But in a ramshackle exhibit yard at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, in the summer of 1960, the extraordinary occurred: A 15,000-pound male, Thonglaw, mated with a much smaller female, Belle, and Belle became pregnant. Zookeepers didn't know that elephant gestation takes 22 months, though, and they missed the pregnancy altogether. Unaware, they transferred the pachyderm pair to a zoo in Portland, under a sharing agreement.
Zoos' efforts to preserve and propagate elephants have largely failed, both in Seattle and nationally. The infant-mortality rate for elephants in zoos is almost triple the rate in the wild.
BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Hansa, who in 2000 became the only elephant born at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, plays with her mom, Chai, in October 2001. Hansa died at 6½ years old, the victim of a virus that had been killing young elephants at U.S. zoos.
from: seattletimes.com
By Michael J. Berens,Seattle Times staff reporter
December 1, 2012
First of two parts
As the 1960s dawned, few Americans had ever seen a baby elephant. It had been more than 40 years since an elephant had been born in North America, and then only at a circus — never in a zoo.
But in a ramshackle exhibit yard at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, in the summer of 1960, the extraordinary occurred: A 15,000-pound male, Thonglaw, mated with a much smaller female, Belle, and Belle became pregnant. Zookeepers didn't know that elephant gestation takes 22 months, though, and they missed the pregnancy altogether. Unaware, they transferred the pachyderm pair to a zoo in Portland, under a sharing agreement.
HITCHING A RIDE: Children enjoy the first ride of the elephant-ride concession, which opened in 1956 at Woodland Park Zoo. Concessionaire Morgan Berry leads Thonglaw, a male Indian elephant. The rides cost 25 cents each.
In April 1962, at the Portland zoo, Belle gave birth to a male named Packy, and an international sensation was ignited. Life magazine devoted an 11-page spread to the birth. The country got caught up in a Packy craze, with toys, clothes and books bearing the cute baby's image flying off the shelves.
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