Canadian Zoos

Calgary Zoo - Alberta

The Calgary Zoo in Alberta, run by the Calgary Zoological Society, is a registered non-profit, charitable organization controlled by a board of directors. It is an accredited member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (USA) and the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

According to the Asian Elephant studbook, the Calgary Zoo has 4 Asian elephants:

• Ganesha a.k.a Spike - male, captive bred in the USA, estimated year of birth (EYB) 1981
• Kamala - female, captured in Sri Lanka, EYB 1975
• Swarna - female, captured in Sri Lanka, EYB 1975
• Maharani a.k.a Rani - female, born at Calgary Zoo to mother Kamala and father Bandara in 1990

The following elephants are marked as having died in the records:

• Bandara – male, captured in Sri Lanka, EYB 1975, died in 1991
• Gyrette – female, captured in Thailand, EYB 1959, died February 9, 1967
• Gyro – males, captured in Asia, EYB 1959, died June 26, 1967
• Unnamed baby – born at the Calgary zoo, died in less than one month after birth

Maharani gave birth in 2004 at age 14, but rejected the baby, who died less than one month later. The death of the baby was the fourth death at the Zoo. In 1967, two elephants died at Calgary Zoo. Gyrette a female elephant wild caught in Thailand and Gyro, a male elephant, wild caught from Asia. They were both 8 years old at the time of their death. Bandara, another male elephant, who was wild caught in Sri Lanka, died in 1991 at the age of 16 years.

I visited Calgary Zoo on the 4th of September, 2006. The elephants were found in a small yard surrounded by heavy duty metal bars and an electric fence. One side of the enclosure was under construction.

I observed three female Asian elephants feeding on hay that was placed in small piles on the ground. The only three trees in the yard had mesh wire wrapped around the trunks. The ground was mainly loose dirt with no vegetation cover. There were huge rock like structures around the yard and no visible shade structures. There was no visible mud wallow or pool of water. It was a hot day and the keepers hosed the elephants with water. Two men were observed in the enclosure collecting elephant dung. They both had bull hooks hanging from there belts. An adult bull Asian elephant with metal caps on his tusks was released from the barn to join the females soon after the clean up.

Next to the elephant exhibit, a display of elephant dung, a piece of tusk and what looked like a child’s adventure with paint provided the props for an enthusiastic young man as he talked and responded to questions about elephants. According to him, Spike, the bull elephant, broke his tusk while throwing a rubber tire against the roof of the barn during a time when he was in musth. The tires were provided in the barn to keep him active. He now ‘proudly’ wears the largest dental cap in the world. All contact with Spike is protected and an ‘elephant hugger’ or Elephant Restraint Device is used to restrain him during cleaning and other procedures. He reported that it is a serious challenge to keep Spike busy and Spike sometimes exhibited stereotypic behavior when bored. The youngest female was Maharani and she had indeed lost a calf two years ago. Maharani had mated with Spike just three weeks earlier and a pregnancy was anticipated. The zoo staff person showed a painting, which he indicated was painted by Kamala, who had developed the art of painting using her trunk.

During the talk, the elephants continued to wander around the enclosure, dusting themselves occasionally with the loose dirt, rubbing against the rocks and feeding on hay arranged in small piles in the enclosure. They seemed to be in good body condition with no visible injuries or displays of stereotypic behavior. The male, Spike, however, seemed rather large for his 25 years. The presenter confirmed that the elephants remain indoors at all times when the zoo is closed to the public and in the winter when temperatures fall below -5 degrees C. He also informed the author that chains are used to restrain the elephants during procedures such as foot care and veterinary treatment.

In an effort to protect zoo staff, many zoos are moving away from free contact management in favour of protected contact where keepers do not enter the enclosure with elephants. At the Calgary Zoo, free contact is still exercised with the females while Spike is managed by protected contact.

According to an article in the Globe and Mail newspaper dated March 26, 2004, a 38 year old elephant keeper at the Calgary Zoo suffered chest, spinal and shoulder injuries when a female elephant pinned her against the wall.

The information bulletin outside the enclosure showed the layout of a refurbished elephant exhibit. The new look exhibit, 'the elephant crossing’, was expected to expand the space available to the elephants, both indoors and outdoors, to allow zookeepers to enhance animal enrichment, and to offer exciting experiences for visitors. The zoo staff person indicated that the new enclosure will be approximately twice as big as the existing area. The project, which is reportedly expected to cost ten million Canadian dollars, is part of a zoo improvement plan dubbed ‘Project Discovery 2010’.

Even with the addition of space, the area allotted to the elephants at the Calgary Zoo will still be thousands of times smaller than the area used by elephants in the wild and therefore will not allow the elephants ample opportunity to exercise all of their natural behaviors. In addition, given that Calgary’s climate is very cold in the winter and the elephants are locked in while the zoo is not open, these elephants will continue to spend more than half of their lives inside the barn.