World Elephant Day: Trunk call to help save wild animals

Burma in playful mood at Auckland Zoo. Burma is set to move to Australia later this year. Photo / Michael Craig

Anjalee and Burma enjoyed playing in the sunshine at Auckland Zoo yesterday ahead of World Elephant Day, first celebrated in 2012 to draw attention to the threats to pachyderms in their natural habitats of Africa and Asia through poaching, "pest control" and habitat loss.

In Sri Lanka, the birthplace of Anjalee (Burma was born in Myanmar 38 years ago), wild elephant populations dwindled to less than 2500 animals by 1969. Through conservation efforts and the establishment of the Pinnawala orphanage for young and injured elephants, numbers had increased to over 5000 by 2011.

Auckland Zoo supports conservation efforts through direct funding, such as GPS collars for the Centre of Conservation and Research in Sri Lanka and with the very successful Schools Awareness Programme that educates children in the value of elephants and the threats they face in their natural environments.

Photo / Michael Craig

Auckland Zoo has been supporting Asian elephant conservation projects for many years, and will continue to do so when Burma and Anjalee move to their new homes in Australia later this year. Visitors to the zoo are supporting and helping conserve elephants and many other threatened wildlife species and their wild homes, prompting elephant team leader Andrew Coers to give a big shout out: "You save elephants. You save so many other species as well."

Auckland Zoo announced the move to Australia last December. "Over the past five years, changing circumstances beyond our control mean we are no longer in a position to give them the long-term future they need," Auckland Zoo director Kevin Burley said.

Photo / Michael Craig