Red tape means new elephant years away

Four-year-old Leigh Cornwell (top L) puts flowers with other tributes saddened Aucklanders have left outside the zoo in memory of Kashin. Photos / Martin Sykes, Brett Phibbs

Any replacement for Auckland Zoo favourite Kashin will come from established Asian elephant breeding programmes under way in Europe.

But a new addition to the zoo's elephant colony - which since Kashin's death on Monday stands at one - is likely to be at least two years away.

Zoo director Jonathan Wilcken yesterday said regulations did not allow for the importing of new elephants, and the zoo would have to wait for Biosecurity New Zealand to approve new quarantine standards.

He said a female would be the ideal partner for Burma in the short term, with more breeding stock imported in the next four to five years.

Forty-year-old Kashin - who arrived at the zoo in 1972 - was put to sleep in her compound on Monday evening, after vets decided long-term arthritis and a weakened immune system had caused her enough suffering.

Her death has left long-time partner Burma alone, and there are no other suitable elephants in New Zealand to keep her company.

Mr Wilcken said that although the zoo had been told the new standards were on Biosecurity NZ's "work plan", under current regulations it could take up to two years and it was possible Burma could have to be moved to another zoo before then. He said Auckland Zoo approached Biosecurity NZ earlier in the year when Kashin's health began to fail, and was told yesterday action would be taken.

However, a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry spokeswoman yesterday confirmed that any changes to import health standards took two years.

Loritz Circus said yesterday it would approach Auckland Zoo to see if its African elephant, Jumbo, could retire to the zoo now Kashin was gone.

Marketing manager Paul Johnson said that while it was "an unknown" how the two elephants might get along, "it may be nice to put them over the fence from each other and see what reception we get".

But Mr Wilcken yesterday rejected any suggestion Jumbo - who has been entertaining audiences for more than 30 years - could be an addition to Auckland Zoo.

He said African elephants carried diseases and parasites that could harm Asian elephants and ultimately "undermine" the zoo's breeding plans.

Kashin was last night buried in a five-metre by four-metre grave on a hillside where she and Burma used to forage. A digger had to be hired to excavate the hole, and a crane used to lower the 3.4 tonne animal into it.

The burial followed an autopsy predicted to last up to eight hours.

Although the gravesite is in a private area of the zoo, a memorial is likely to be built for the public.

Staff yesterday gave details of Kashin's death.

After a last meal of pellets and bran, zoo workers took her outside into her paddock late on Monday afternoon.

She was told to lie down, and some food was put near her trunk while the lethal drugs were administered.

Staff were with her when she died, and Burma - who had been kept away from her before her death - was let in to spend some time with her afterwards.

Burma - who at one point tried to move her dead friend's trunk - stayed "relatively calm", but showed a few signs of anxiety, Mr Wilcken said.

"She was aware that Kashin was there, but that things were different."