Yahoo News Dozens of retired circus elephants to be moved to Florida conservation centre
Dozens of retired circus elephants are set to be moved to a spacious new home at a conservation centre in Florida.
The group of 30 Asian elephants will form the largest community of their kind in the Western Hemisphere, according to White Oak Conservation, which has started constructing a 2,500-acre habitat for the animals that is scheduled to be completed in 2021.
The move comes after White Oak Conservation on Wednesday announced it had purchased 35 elephants from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus' parent company, Feld Entertainment.
Feld Entertainment announced in 2015 that it would be phasing out its use of the animals as performers.
The animals' new home will feature different landscapes - including wetlands, grasslands, and woodlands - and will be dotted with 11 waterholes, each big enough for the elephants to wade in, National Geographic reported.
“It is a chance for us to let them return to just being elephants in a situation that is as close to the wild as we can make,” the magazine quoted Michelle Gadd, who leads global conservation efforts for Walter Conservation, of which White Oak Conservation is a part, as saying.
Dan Ashe, President and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) added: "AZA strongly supports White Oak Conservation’s efforts on behalf of elephants.
"By providing these elephants the space to explore, to interact with one another, and to engage in natural behaviours, they are being given a key element in animal welfare and wellness — choice."
All but one of the 35 animals purchased by White Oak Conservation are currently housed at a 200-acre plot of land called Ringling’s Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC). The other is on loan to the Fort Worth Zoo.
The elephants - whose average lifespan in captivity runs to about 45 years - range in age from a few years to more than 70 years.
Asian elephants are an endangered species, with their population having declined by at least half in the past 75 years. The fall has predominantly been caused by habitat destruction linked to deforestation, agricultural development, and industrial expansion.
An estimated 20,000 to 40,000 now remain in the wild, with the population also affected by smaller-scale threats, such as poaching for skin and tusks.
About a third of all Asian elephants live in captivity, where they are used for agricultural purposes, logging, and tourist attractions, mostly in India, Thailand, and Myanmar.
Several hundred of the animals, which are smaller than their African cousins, also live in the United States, the majority of them in zoos.
Most of the rest live in refuges or sanctuaries, while a handful are still owned by circuses and are used in performances in states and communities where that use of wild animals remains legal.
