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Valley Zoo elephant takes maternity leave
Samantha will be gone at least five years in attemptat breeding in U.S. zoo -- and may never return
Gordon Kent, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Monday, June 11, 2007

EDMONTON - Samantha, one of the Valley Zoo's two elephants, is being shipped to a North Carolina zoo this summer for breeding, and may never return.

The 19-year-old African elephant will be gone for at least five to seven years so she can settle into her new home, go through a 23-month pregnancy and spend three years with any calf that's born, city spokesman Robert Moyles says.

Over that time, the zoo will look at whether to continue its popular elephant program. The options include eventually shutting it down, bringing back Samantha and possibly her baby if that's best for them, or finding new animals, Moyles says.
While Samantha is away, the Valley Zoo will look at whether to continue its popular elephant program.View Larger Image View Larger Image
While Samantha is away, the Valley Zoo will look at whether to continue its popular elephant program.

Lucy, the aging Asian matriarch of the enclosure, will be alone during her pen-mate's absence, but she'll stay in Edmonton for the rest of her life, he says.

"Experts tell us it's not in Lucy's best interests, from either a mental or physical health context, to be moved at this point," he says.

"She has spent 29 of her 31 years at the zoo. She's highly habituated to the zoo and to her caregivers."

A master plan introduced in 2005 indicated the Valley Zoo had to decide whether to spend the money that would be needed in future to exhibit elephants, particularly with tough new standards being developed.

Officials at the time said they didn't foresee any species leaving, saying the elephants weren't being mistreated and weren't uncomfortable.

Staff will give Lucy extra care and attention once Samantha leaves on her three-day, non-stop truck ride to the 200-hectare North Carolina Zoo, 120 kilometres west of Raleigh, described as the largest walk-through natural-habitat zoo in the United States.

It's one of North America's most respected institutions for breeding elephants as part of an international endangered species survival plan, Moyles says.

The American facility will pay for Samantha's care and the $20,000 approximate cost to ship her south.

In return, they get ownership of her first calf, although the Valley Zoo still owns Samantha and has an option on her second offspring.

Zoo workers will soon begin training Samantha to walk up the ramp into a truck and accept leg restraints in preparation for her trip.

Partly for security reasons, Moyles won't give her departure date.

"People who oppose having elephants in zoos at all may oppose this kind of effort to help the species survive."

Samantha was the centre of attention from well-wishers last August when she lost about 20 centimetres of her trunk, including its finger-like tip, after it became stuck in a gate latch.

Coun. Karen Leibovici, whose ward includes the zoo, says she likes having the elephants there. However, she accepts Samantha is going for a good reason.

"She will become a mom ... but I would like to see her, and hopefully the baby, back."

In the meantime, the public should be consulted when the zoo assesses whether keeping elephants is sustainable, Leibovici says.

The latest project completed under the Valley Zoo master plan is a small island enclosure opening June 21 that will eventually hold four types of lemurs, an endangered Madagascar primate.

The zoo hopes to start construction in September of the marine mammal portion of its Polar Extreme exhibit, which will house sea lions and seals.