I don’t know much about the Belfast Zoo but I don’t think a zoo is the best place for an elephant to retire. Granted, it is a much better life than the circus and the elephants will have company.

BBC NEWS

Little Rock, Arkansas is question whether their zoo should be upgraded or if they should even have a zoo at all. Two elephants currently live at this zoo and are briefly mentioned in the article.

Arkansas Times

So the ex-guitarist from Guns and Roses supports the pachyderm forest, which is currently experiencing a lot of controversy, at the LA Zoo. Do we really care what a pseduo-celebrity thinks about this issue? I sure don’t. I’m much rather hear the opinions of those working with the elephants. NBC Los Angeles

“Nearly one million people walked through the turnstiles at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in 2008 — and if a little baby elephant has anything to do with it, 2009 will see the zoo surpass its attendance mark for the first time in its 78-year history. ” – Salt Lake Tribune

“Tina is being joined by other non-breeding female elephants to enjoy ‘retirement’ and the Zoo has confirmed that some of the elephants arriving in Belfast will be from a ‘circus background’.” – Northern Ireland News

“A baby elephant at Amsterdam’s Artis zoo has died at just one day-old. The calf was born two months prematurely, which is a rare event in elephants. The 17-year-old mother, Thong Tai, is recovering well from the birth. The exact cause of the death of the calf, which didn’t have a name yet, is being investigated.” – Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Personally, I get tired of the argument that “most people will never be able to see an elephant except in a zoo”. Is it a right to see an elephant in person? I don’t think so.

– Los Angeles Times

“Posting of two elephants from Bondla zoo to help forest department staff patrolling Goa’s border areas around Chandel and Hassapur has
helped keep two pachyderms, which had destroyed crops in Mopa and Anconem, at bay for some time. ” – The Times of India

“A City Council committee voted 3-2 Monday to recommend that the city stop work on the $42 million Pachyderm Forest at the Los Angeles Zoo, with one councilman saying he does not want to build an “elephant exhibit to nowhere.” – cbs2.com

“Now Councilman Tony Cardenas wants the City Council to halt construction and build a more appropriate-sized sanctuary for Billy, or relocate him to an existing sanctuary that can give him the space, companionship and stimulation elephants need to live happy lives.” – L.A. Pet Rescue Examiner

“Melbourne Zoo’s big ticket attraction, its five Asian elephants, would soon move to the Werribee Open Range Zoo under a new vision in animal care by zoo chief John Wills.” – theage.com.au

“Now, Councilman Tony Cardenas has asked that the project be scrapped. Cardenas said that after talking to experts and reviewing veterinary medical records that came to light during a recent, unsuccessful citizen lawsuit to stop elephant-keeping at the zoo, he believes the council made the wrong decision. (He voted for it too.)” – Los Angeles Times

“Over the years WWF in collaboration with the North Carolina Zoo has been deploying satellite collars on elephants in the Southeast and other parts of Cameroon. The collars provide information via satellite on the movement pattern of elephants essential for the conservation of this charismatic mega vertebrate.” – AfricaNews

“Memphis Zoo curator Matt Thompson says his tourist site is the new home of a 25-year-old African elephant and soon will welcome a newborn elephant. ” – UPI.com

“Playing Elgar, Puccini and Beethoven to the animals reduces abnormal behaviours such as swaying, pacing and trunk tossing” – guardian.co.uk

“Already under construction is a 6-acre elephant exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo. But tomorrow, the city council will take up a motion to stop the project. Animal friendly Councilman Tony Cardenas wants the city to develop a 60-acre elephant preserve instead. Joyce Poole, a pachyderm expert, said the zoo’s elephant–Billy–is bobbing and swaying his head.” – LAist

“One of the things we have in our stores is journals and note cards and other paper products made from real giant panda and Asian elephant poop,” says Matt Olear, spokesman for the Friends of the National Zoo. ” – WTOPnews.com

“Thirteen elephants have died at the LA Zoo over the past 30 or so years. There have been calls for the city to follow San Francisco and the famed Bronx Zoo and close down the La Zoo’s pachyderm enclosure. ” – NBC Los Angeles