Last elephants depart from Belfast Zoo

Asian elephants at Belfast Zoo in 2019 © Born Free

On the 24th July, Asian elephants Dhunja (51) and Yhetto (47) departed Belfast Zoo for Royal Burgers’ Zoo, in the Netherlands, where they will join Pinky (58) and Saba (56). The Dutch zoo is described as a ‘retirement home’ for elderly elephants that were once part of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria’s (EAZA) breeding programme.  

Both elephants arrived in Northern Ireland in 2009 from German zoos. Both were originally born in the wild before Dhunja was captured for use in the circus industry and Yhetto was exploited in a timber camp.

The move was prompted by previous inspections of Belfast Zoo identifying that the facility failed to meet the necessary standards for keeping elephants in UK zoos. The shortcomings included the lack of a pool in which the elephants could bathe and fully submerge themselves, and the need for general modernisation of the facilities. It was also uncertain whether their enclosure met the minimum size requirement of 3,000m2.

In 2022, a spokesperson for Belfast City Council, which operates the zoo, said: “The very difficult decision has been made to phase out elephants from the zoo’s future animal collection plan.”

Reacting to the news, Born Free’s Captivity Research & Policy Manager, Chris Lewis said: “We welcome Belfast Zoo and City Council’s decision to phase out elephants from their current collection. While we would prefer, wherever possible, that elephants from zoos are rehomed to genuine sanctuaries, we hope that Burgers’ Zoo, which is described as being designed for ‘elderly elephants’, can provide the specialised care that Dhunja and Yhetto need. Belfast joins a growing list of zoos that have phased out elephants from their facilities. However, collection plans can change, and we would urge Belfast City Council to commit to Belfast Zoo being elephant-free in perpetuity.”

We hope that Dhunja and Yhetto arrived safely, and they can soon settle into their forever home.

This step in the right direction comes at a time when another UK facility, Chester Zoo, announced the death of Sundara Hi Way at the age of just 20 years old due to ‘twisted intestines’, a condition commonly linked to diet and stress in other animals.

Seven elephants have died at Chester Zoo in the last ten years. All died at a far younger age than their average life expectancy in the wild; the oldest was just 38. Across the Irish Sea, Dublin Zoo has recently seen two of its youngest Asian elephants die from the fatal haemorrhagic disease caused by Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV). The deaths occurred just weeks after a male elephant arrived from Chester Zoo, where several elephants have also succumbed to the same disease over the years.

Chris added: “The keeping of elephants in captivity is increasingly impossible for zoo officials to defend. The tragic consequences of their keeping play out time and again to the physical and psychological detriment of these highly intelligent, socially complex, sentient beings. The practice is a disaster with little or no meaningful benefits for the conservation of elephants in the wild. If the zoo industry is incapable of making the right decision, it is time governments and policy makers make the decision for them.”

Released in 2022 and backed by a number of prominent and highly respected conservationists and elephant experts, Born Free’s groundbreaking report, Elephants in Zoos: A Legacy of Shame, highlights how elephants in European zoos are confined in enclosures that are sometimes only a little larger than a football pitch, with an average ‘herd’ size of just three, and are, at times, housed on their own.

As a result, they often suffer dramatically shortened life expectancies, high infant mortality, a multitude of health problems, develop and display abnormal stereotypic behaviours, and cannot participate in the rich social and behavioural norms of their species.

There are still 49 elephants kept in 10 zoos across the UK. Elephants do not belong in zoos. Enough is enough. Born Free is calling for a phase out. We want an elephant-free UK.