Annabelle, 45 years old, had fallen in a deep gutter on one side of the elephant stay in Emmen Zoo. The dry canal, in which she fell, was about two meters deep. She probably fell into the gutter, because two other elephants near her were playing around wildly.
"As I stated earlier, there are very few photos of Annabelle available that do not show her standing by the edge of the moat usually as far away from the others as possible. I still interpret "playing around wildly" as fighting. Herd dynamics is one of the most intriguing, fascinating aspects of the animal world. With the last herd I was involved with, we had to built two pens, for two groups of 4. There were two, Debbie and Minnie that fought terribly, and the option was to isolate alone from each other. A better solution was to give Minnie her herd, and Debbie her herd and two build two different hot pens. The oldest elephant in the group was Liz, and Joy the African in Debbie's head had occasional issues with her, and Liz would "run" through the hot fence to get away from Joy, so the solution was to just turn Liz loose and let her wander around the enclosures. That solved the problem without having to isolate one animal." You do not dictate to a herd, you understand it, work with it, and arrive at the best solution for all involved.
The video's below are disturbing to me, as myself, my staff and Scott Blas and the TES staff were involved with the same horrendous situation that took 10 days and nights of our lives. For any person to suggest that we(myself, my people, Scott Blas, and the TES people) are bad people, and they somehow are more caring, is deplorable and strongly suggests they really have no clue, just a personal ax to grind.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Moats as a containment barrier. State of the art in Hagenbecks day, problems/issues today.
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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7 comments:
wade
I just looked at the Tv Drenthe repport, and at 0.33 in the clip the guy wearing a red helmet and is standing on the left side of Annabel,is holding what looks like a stick or a bullhook, if you look closeley at the clip at 0.40 that same item appears again being held by a man sitting next to her head.
Bjorn
Bjorn,
Unless they were protected contact animals, I would expect them to have elephant hooks. There is nothing wrong with them, if used in the way in which they were intended/invented. Only an idiot, a dreamer, or someone very, very, lucky to have one or two animals required to do absolutely nothing, regardless of how long it takes, or if you are involved with a protected contact herd, should be without a bull hook.
Don't let the fact that she was hurt fool you. That is when an animal is at their most dangerous. They are trying to kill you, while you are trying to save them. Been there, done that dozens of time.
Wade
This was terrible to watch. Heartbreaking. Sympathies to the staff of Emmen.
Ryan,
There is no more daunting task in the world, then trying to lift an elephant back onto their feet. It is something I will be forever grateful for, if I never have to be involved with it again.
Wade
wade
thanks for that info. The herd is kept in PC for a number of years now, i think sinds the late 90's, before that they were kept in free contact. all the adult elephants whit the exception of Radza came to Emmen Zoo in the summer of 1988
Bjorn
wade
thanks for that info. The herd is kept in PC for a number of years now, i think sinds the late 90's, before that they were kept in free contact. all the adult elephants whit the exception of Radza came to Emmen Zoo in the summer of 1988
Bjorn
Bjorn,
Actually the item you were seeing in the video was too long for a traditional bull hook, ankus, guide, etc. They are normally 2 1/2ft. to 3 foot long. A longer one up to 7ft. is called a herd hook, and was traditionally used for working with a larger group of animals in tight quarters, where there wasn't room for a whip. The length of the object you saw, would have had to have been a herd hook, which was very unlikely given that a majority of zoo's world wide have got to PC in some shape or form.
Wade
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