Second elephant dies at Chester Zoo in a month

Group of elephants outside at Chester Zoo © Aaron Gekoksi

Last week, Riva Hi Way died while under general anaesthetic after anomalies were detected in her blood test. It is yet to be confirmed what these anomalies were. The news comes just a month after her mother, Sundara Hi Way, died at the zoo at just 20 years old. As a result, Indali Hi Way, one of the three remaining elephants at the zoo, has now lost her mother and younger sister within a month. 

Riva Hi Way as a baby (C) RLB Wilson

Since 2009, 12 elephants have sadly died at Chester Zoo, eight of whom were under the age of five. The zoo’s elephants also sadly have a very high mortality rate from elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), a virus which is a major cause of mortality among young captive Asian elephants but is not associated with the same high mortality in the wild. Research suggests that elephants may be more likely to succumb to the virus following captivity-associated stress, such as changes to the herd.

Despite this, the zoo has continued to breed and transfer elephants to and from multiple facilities. 

Responding to the news, Born Free’s Captivity Research and Policy Manager, Chris Lewis said, “We acknowledge that this must be a very difficult time for anyone who has worked closely with the elephants, but it is time for Chester Zoo and the other nine UK zoos which continue to keep elephants to change. Enough is enough. We are calling for all UK zoos to immediately end their participation in elephant breeding programmes and phase out the keeping of elephants. If possible, the remaining three elephants at Chester Zoo should be rehomed to a sanctuary or a more suitable facility if sanctuary space is unavailable.” 

A minimum elephant enclosure size of 0.02km2 (2ha) has been proposed within the proposed Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain. While this is still completely inadequate for an elephant’s needs and many orders of magnitude smaller than the area elephants have evolved to live in, the majority of elephant enclosures in the UK would not meet this new standard, including Chester Zoo’s. 

As highlighted in our 2022 report, Elephants in Zoos: A Legacy of Shame, elephants in zoos are often subjected to completely unnatural environmental and social conditions and typically suffer shortened life expectancies, poor reproductive success, high calf mortality, numerous physical problems, and a range of behavioural abnormalities as a result. 

It is also important to emphasise the lack of meaningful conservation benefit that breeding Asian elephants in zoos has. Rather than breeding more elephants, who will never be released or focussing scientific research on maintaining captive populations, efforts need to focus on conservation where it matters most – in the wild.