‘Life that they deserve': why Australia's elephants are moving out of city zoos

The Guardian

07-06-2025

After Tricia died, Perth Zoo's last remaining female elephant, Permai, became withdrawn. 'She lost her matriarch … that was her whole world,' says Jack Lemon, the zoo's acting director of life sciences, of the once cheeky and affectionate elephant.
'Elephants need the company of other elephants, and we just don't have the space here to accommodate a herd structure.'
Earlier this year, Permai made the 2,700km trip across the Nullarbor plain to join a makeshift herd at Monarto Safari Park, in regional South Australia. There, she joined Burma from Auckland, and two female elephants from Taronga Zoo Sydney who arrived in April. Perth's male, Putra Mas, will arrive later in the year.
This year, Australia's captive elephants have been on the move, as long-term plans to build communities who can roam come to fruition. In February, Melbourne Zoo's herd of nine were also transported to a new 21-hectare habitat at Werribee Open Range Zoo.
Soon, of Australia's 27 elephants, only two adult males will remain in the city, at the privately owned Sydney Zoo.
Elephants are social animals, particularly females. In the wild, they live in multigenerational family groups – grandmothers, mothers, aunts, cousins and siblings – in herds that can number up to 60 animals.
Some say it's a historic win for elephant welfare, while others argue the animals shouldn't be kept in captivity at all.
'We're the only region in the world where all of our elephants are housed in situations where females have opportunities for social contact with at least two other females,' says Amanda Embury, species coordinator for the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia.
'This is a huge milestone.'
It has taken years of collaboration to get to this point but in some ways the work has only just begun.
Introducing elephants to each other – and their new environment – is a slow and careful process, says Peter Clark, director of Monarto Safari Park. At 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres), the park is one of the largest open range zoos in the world. Its five new elephants will have access to 14 hectares – almost the size of Perth Zoo.
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Each animal is different, he says. Shortly after Pak Boon arrived from Taronga, she walked straight into the first waterhole, he says, 'and dragged her mate Tang Mo in with her', while the others 'were still tippy-toeing at that particular pool'.
All the zoos are working together for a successful outcome, with keepers from Auckland, Perth and Sydney staying on as a 'familiar face'.
Social bonds and strong family ties are fundamental for elephants, says the University of Nottingham's Assoc prof Dr Lisa Yon, a veterinarian and expert in elephant welfare.
'In the wild a female calf will often stay in the herd that she was born into for her whole life,' she says. 'She'll be there with mum, brothers and sisters, cousins, auntie, sometimes even a grandmother.'
Elephants live in a 'fission-fusion' society, she says, where larger extended families might split off into smaller groups for a while, before coming together again.
When they reunite, there's a tremendous sense of joy and excitement, she says. 'They're very touch oriented. You'll often see them touching each other with their trunks, providing social reassurance or nudging up against each other.'
They also need large and stimulating environments, she says. 'Opportunities to swim and splash, mud wallow and dust bathe, knock trees over and strip bark off them, crunch on branches, and play with each other.'
Males need much larger spaces in which to roam, and the chance to interact with other males and family groups. 'Bulls often get a really short shrift in captive facilities,' she says.
A solitary life isn't good for elephants, Yon says, but positive welfare isn't just a question of numbers.
It can be hard to predict whether elephants will get along, and there is some evidence to suggest genetically related elephants are more likely to have neutral or positive interactions, while unrelated animals tend to have more unfriendly ones. In those cases, space and the ability to move away is important.
Melbourne Zoo's multi-generational herd was already well-acquainted and keeping those bonds intact in the move to Werribee is a priority, says Erin Gardiner, life sciences manager of the elephant trail at Werribee.
Keepers have been allowing them to settle in slowly – introducing them in stages to their new digs, which include an elephant barn, areas of pasture and trees for grazing and deep pools for swimming.
Grazing is a new activity and natural behaviour that wasn't available in the city.
Gardiner, who has worked with the herd for more than 18 years, says the move has been a career highlight.
'Sometimes, I honestly get tears when I look out to these habitats and I see these elephants doing these beautiful behaviours like grazing or interacting with each other, swimming, wallowing,' she says. 'I feel so happy that they get to live this life that they deserve.'
Not everyone agrees open range zoos are the answer.
'The RSPCA does not believe elephants should be kept in zoos, as it is difficult to meet all their physical and mental needs in a captive environment,' a spokesperson for RSPCA Australia says.
The animal welfare organisation has long advocated stopping the importation of elephants into Australia, and has concerns about breeding in captivity.
While open plains zoos offer more space to roam, 'there are continuing challenges, including limited social interactions due to relatively small herd sizes compared to those in the wild,' the spokesperson says.
'Elephants need space to exercise, a stimulating environment to engage their considerable physical and cognitive capabilities, and a nurturing social life,' says Peter Stroud, a retired independent zoological consultant.
For decades, Stroud worked in Australian zoos as a keeper, curator and director and now advises on elephant welfare, including a stint on the elephant specialist group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
'Older elephants in Australia have led chequered lives,' he says. Some in their 40s and 50s have experienced dramatic changes 'from very small and impoverished exhibits and rigid daily routines, to larger more varied spaces' with more insightful care – although the spaces are still too small, he says.
Their lives have improved but it's important to acknowledge that some have suffered and been shaped by past experiences, he says.
Stroud says the shift from city enclosures to open range zoos is a positive step, but not the end goal.
'What should happen is we stop destroying our environment, nurture biodiversity, protect wildlife and make a world where elephants can live their lives as the wild animals they are.'
Yon agrees. Both Asian and African elephants are now endangered, she says, and dying at a rate faster than they are being born.
Globally, an estimated 18,000 elephants live in captivity – in zoos, logging camps, sanctuaries and tourism facilities. As a species with a long lifespan, even if no more elephants were born in captivity, many would continue to live in those settings for decades to come, she says.
'Regardless of what we feel, we have a responsibility to try to make the lives of those captive elephants as good as possible.'