MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Oakland Zoo in California closed its elephant exhibit last month. It's the latest of an estimated 40 zoos in the U.S. that have closed elephant exhibits since the 1990s. From member station KQED in San Francisco, Danielle Venton asked why.
DANIELLE VENTON, BYLINE: This is Osh the elephant, enjoying a snack of beet pulp.
(ELEPHANT PURRING)
VENTON: The purr is a signal - all is well. Few people know Osh, the 30-year-old, 11-foot African elephant, like Gina Kinzley, elephant manager at the Oakland Zoo.
GINA KINZLEY: I used to call him Tiny. It was his nickname, for many years until he wasn't tiny anymore.
(LAUGHTER)
VENTON: He was 11 when they first met and about half the size.
KINZLEY: But, yeah, he's very sweet. He's very gentle. He's very happy to kind of see us and work with us.
VENTON: She recently helped prepare him for his one-way road trip to a wildlife refuge in Tennessee.
KINZLEY: It's very bittersweet 'cause we love him dearly, but we know that it's the best decision for him.
VENTON: He arrived in October, in a move that was applauded by animal rights activists who oppose keeping elephants in zoos. The refuge is 3,000 acres and holds 12 other elephants. Kinzley says Osh is moving because he needs companionship. He used to live with two females here, but one passed away. And the other, named Donna, moved to the same elephant sanctuary so she could have more company. Females have greater social needs, but males need buddies, too. In the wild, Kinzley says...
KINZLEY: They'll spend some time with the herds, and then they'll spend time with older males.
VENTON: Zoos are increasingly recognizing elephants' social and mental needs. That leaves them the choice of either getting more elephants - which is difficult and can require lots of expensive new space - or sending them to other zoos or wildlife parks where there is more room and more elephants. There's been a lot of consolidation, and that's good, says wildlife behavior expert Jake Veasey.
JAKE VEASEY: I do think it's right and appropriate the number of zoos holding elephants has been reduced.
VENTON: Veasey is the founder and CEO of Care for the Rare, which advises zoos on animal welfare.
VEASEY: Elephants are highly social species and multigenerational herds. And just with the way elephants have been managed over the past decades, that herd structure is absent.
VENTON: So if captive elephants are to be well cared for in the future, Veasey says rebuilding social ties is key. Not all zoos are closing their exhibits, though. Dan Ashe, the president of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, says some are investing millions in creating large new habitats to accommodate more elephants.
DAN ASHE: We see some members deciding that elephants are no longer in their future and some facilities investing heavily in elephants.
VENTON: Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, for example, is planning to bring elephants back in the 2030s. Meanwhile, folks at the Tennessee sanctuary say Osh is settling in nicely. On his first day, he knocked down a tree, a natural elephant behavior and something he loved to do back in Oakland. In the future, his tenders hope to integrate him into the same herd as his friend Donna.
For NPR News, I'm Danielle Venton in Oakland.
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