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Elephant Center shifts north to Fellsmere from St. Lucie County

Jack Wiezien - noemail@thenationalelephantcenter.org — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:00:00 GMT

FELLSMERE — Plans for a National Elephant Center on the Treasure Coast are back, although the location has changed.

The group looking to house elephants now plans to locate in Fellsmere instead of western St. Lucie County.

After squabbles with St. Lucie County commissioners over restrictions, the organization is expected to apply for permits on Thursday on 225 acres in northern Fellsmere, currently an unused private citrus grove surrounded by farmland near the Brevard County line. The project's first phase is expected to cost the elephant organizationabout $2.5 million.

"I think this is going to be a terrific thing for the community, as well as the elephants," said Rick Barongi, the chairman of The National Elephant Center and director of the Houston Zoo. The National Elephant Center is a collaborative effort with the support of 73 zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The approval could come by the end of the week, Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker said.

Barongi said he hopes to begin construction later this year with a goal of opening sometime in 2012. The center could eventually house dozens of elephants, but likely will be home to fewer than 10 during the first few years. Unlike with the land in St. Lucie County, the Fellsmere project would not affect wetlands and already is zoned to allow the elephants. So staff can approve the project without a city council vote.

The center will not be open to the public, but local school groups may be able to visit on specific occasions as part of an educational program. The center could have a mix of retired elephants and elephants transitioning from zoo to zoo.

The decision for Fellsmere comes 18 months after the National Elephant Center received approval from St. Lucie County commissioners for a $4 million, 326-acre area along the Okeechobee County border.

No county money was planned for the project. But when the arrangement was brought back to the center's board, members weren't happy with restrictions their representatives agreed to at the January 2010 meeting, and decided to look elsewhere.

Barongi said the center is appreciative of the work St. Lucie County did, but decided to go elsewhere.

Some of those restrictions included limiting the number of elephants on the site, oversight for the center, and eliminating bull hooks from use at the site. Bull hooks resemble fireplace pokers and are used to train and direct the animals.

Animal rights activists had lobbied that the bull hook be forbidden and called it barbaric while some representatives from the National Elephant Center said the tool is humane and necessary in some situations.

Barongi said all of the concerns have been addressed for the Fellsmere site. The center is initially expected to support four jobs, but the biggest initial impact will be for construction.

"The community has embraced us," Barongi said. "We're very confident and excited about it."

The first phase is for 25 acres and includes a large barn with attached paddocks, a keeper work center and four interconnected pastures ranging from 4 to 5 acres each. Each pasture has ponds, mud wallows, dust bathing areas and shade, among other features.

Barongi said the center has had several meetings with city staff and elected officials and answered all of their questions.

"We think it's a win-win for everybody," Barongi said.

Mayor Susan Adams said that by having the elephant center, Fellsmere can preserve the land as agricultural. The center is expected to have little impact on the acreage.

"I think it's great," Adams said. "We're very excited to have something of this caliber coming to Fellsmere."

8-Sep-11 10:00 AM

African Elephants Could Be Extinct in 15 years

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:00:00 GMT

The population - currently 600,000 - is diminishing by 38,000 each year.

These figures, calculated using the annual number of illegal tusk seizures, significantly exceed elephant birth rates meaning the species could face extinction entirely within 15 years, says Samuel Wasser of the Scientific American Journal.

The worldwide illegal trade in wildlife is valued at tens of billions of American dollars (£12.5billion) and is believed to have the same significance now as the blood-diamond trade during the peak of the African civil wars.

In 2006, 11 metric tonnes of illegal ivory were seized from ships bound for Taiwan and Japan.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says immediate action needs to be taken. The group calls for EU and CITES members (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) to stop supporting legal ivory sales. Instead, they urge members to back Kenya’s proposal to extend the current “resting period” on elephant and ivory sales from nine to 20 years at the next CITES meeting in March 2010.

"This alarming level of illegal hunting could drive the African elephant to extinction across much of Africa in just 15 years," said Robbie Marsland, director of IFAW UK.

He added: "Most people will be shocked to hear that, 20 years on from a ban on international ivory trade, elephants in Africa are still threatened by commercial poaching. The ivory trade must be banned once again, and comprehensively, if we want to prevent the extinction of elephants.

"Sadly, the truth is that ivory trade anywhere is a threat to elephants everywhere."

Chad’s Zakouma National Park had 3,885 elephants in 2005 but by 2009 the figure had plummeted to just 617. At least 11 rangers were killed by poachers there over the same period.

Elephants are not alone in the illegal trafficking of wildlife parts. In the last few years, 55,000 reptile skins from India, 19,000 big-eye thresher shark fins in Ecuador and 23 metric tonnes of pangolin in Asia have all been seized.

18-Oct-09 1:00 PM

Kenya's Elephants Dying Amid Drought

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:00:00 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya — A drought in Kenya has gotten so bad that it is felling even the giants of the animal kingdom — the country's famed elephants which are dying as rivers dry up and grasslands shrivel in parched game reserves.

The bones of the elephants bleaching under a relentless African sun underscore how bad the drought is. It has killed hundreds of cattle and many acres (hectares) of crops, threatening the lives of people who depended on them for food. There are no tallies of deaths among people attributed to the drought but the U.N.'s World Food program said recently that 3.8 million Kenyans are at risk and need emergency food aid.

Zoologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who founded Save the Elephants, said the drought is the worst he has seen in 12 years and poses a serious threat to the large and majestic animals, whose striking silhouettes roaming Kenya's broad savannah help draw 1 million tourists each year.

"It may be related to climate change, and the effect is elephants, particularly the young and the old, have began to die," he told AP Television News on Monday. "When they do not have enough food they also seem to be vulnerable to disease, their immune system weakens and they catch all sorts of diseases."

Instead of majestic, many elephants are pitiable.

Elephants, which have no predators, must roam widely to get their daily ration of as much as 200 liters (52 gallons) of water and about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of grass, leaves and twigs. But the water is disappearing and the grass is all but gone.

In the Samburu National Reserve, APTN video showed a baby elephant appearing to struggle to extract moisture from a dry riverbed. It repeatedly drew its empty trunk up to its mouth. Along the banks of a river in the shadow of Mount Kenya, whose glaciers have been shrinking, an elephant's carcass lay in the baking sun. A dirt field was littered with elephant bones.

In the past two months, over 40 elephants have died in Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu districts, the Daily Nation newspaper reported. It was initially thought to be a disease outbreak but laboratory tests failed to detect disease. The only probable reason the animals are dying is drought, Moses Litoloh, a senior scientist with the Kenya Wildlife Service, told the newspaper.

"Preliminary investigations reveal that the elephants have not been getting enough fodder, especially the young ones," he said. "Young elephants are unable to keep up the pace with their mothers while grazing. They are also not able to browse tall trees which are the only source of food left."

The species is hardly at the brink of extinction — there are 23,000 elephants in Kenya and fewer than 100 have died from the drought — but wildlife experts say they are concerned.

Making matters worse, herders are driving their livestock into the elephants' domain in search of fresh pasture and competing for forage.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga last month warned of a "catastrophe" if seasonal rains don't come in October and November. Kenya's grain harvest is expected to be 28 percent lower. Food prices have jumped by as much as 130 percent.

The WFP has called for US$230 million (euro160.58 million) in donations to feed hungry Kenyans.

Associated Press Writer Khaled Kazziha contributed to this report.

10-Sep-09 11:00 AM

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo hopes to have its new "African Elephant Crossing" area, scheduled to open in 2011, certified as the nation's largest green exhibit for animals

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:00:00 GMT

When Cleveland's trio of elephants return home in June 2011 after a three-year Columbus Zoo vacation, they will move into what could be the nation's largest green-certified animal exhibit.

"No one thought it could be done -- build an animal building up to the highest green standards -- but we're doing it," said Dick Chodera, project manager for RFC Contracting Inc., a Strongsville firm advising the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on the project.

Zoos in Philadelphia, Seattle and New York have green-certified buildings, but for birds, small animals, or in the case of the Bronx Zoo, lions, officials for the U.S. Green Building Council and Association of Zoos and Aquariums said.

Cleveland zoo officials have been talking up their $25 million "African Elephant Crossing" for more than a year.

The cornerstone of green efforts is the planned recycling of water in a 26-foot-deep pool being dug at the exhibit site.

Recycling is expected to cut water consumption from about 26 million gallons a year to 7.5 million gallons.

"We may only dump these pools once a year because of the recycling system," zoo Executive Director Steve Taylor said.

About a third of the construction material is recycled and more than 90 percent of all waste is going to recycling firms rather than to landfills, zoo officials said.

The new elephant exhibit wasn't initially planned as eco-friendly. But when the Cleveland Zoological Society secured a $1 million grant from the Gund Foundation, $800,000 of it was given on the condition that the project meet sustainable standards. So, the plan turned greener.

"We were actually already 60 percent of the way through the design when we took on this challenge to try to get certified," Chodera said. "Now everyone on this job is trying to find new ways to meet different LEED standards for green building."

1-Sep-09 11:00 AM

One - Off Ivory Sale, Chinese Workers Kindle Demand

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:00:00 GMT

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Elephant poaching is rising in Kenya due to demand from an influx of Chinese workers in Africa and a one-off sale of ivory, a Kenyan conservationist said.

More than 100 of Kenya's 38,000 elephants were killed for their tusks in the first six months of 2009 compared to 98 in all of 2008 and 45 in 2007, said Paula Kahumbu, director of Wildlife Direct, a Kenya-based non-government organisation.

Southern African countries successfully lobbied for a lifting of a ban on ivory sales allow a one-off sale of stocks last November. This had sent the wrong message, Kahumba said.

The bulk of the demand is in Asia, especially in China. Chinese nationals working on projects in Africa were placing orders for tusks with poachers, she said.

"We've seen a huge increase in the amount of poaching. We believe it is primarily due to the fact that the ivory sale last November has actually stimulated the markets," she said.

"There's a massive influx of people, who are not very wealthy, who can afford to buy ivory at local prices and who make a lot of money out of it when they get it back to China."

East Africa is still recovering from extensive poaching in the 1960s and 1970s before the global ban. In 1989, poaching had reduced populations to about 17,000 elephants.

Kenya's elephant population has been recovering by between 4-5 percent annually and the stock is not in danger of decimation. But the rate of the new spate of killings is worrying and reminiscent of the bad old days, Kahumbu said.

Locals have received orders from Chinese people working on a road in northern Kenya, she said.

"I've been told up to 90 percent of seizures of ivory in this country are currently (from) Chinese nationals. To me, it's very clear that there's a link."

RICH MIDDLE-CLASS BUYERS

A burgeoning middle class that can afford luxuries like ivory in China and Asia is driving the demand. In Vietnam, for example, ivory sells at $1,800 per kg, she said.

In Ethiopia, ivory trinkets are openly sold to foreigners in shops and in Sudan, no one bothers to hide poached tusks.

Container loads of ivory pass through countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, she said.

"It (should) not be easy to move a container load of ivory from a country to another when there are such strict regulations. It means there is facilitation going on," she said.

A few African countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia are able to protect their herds but the rest of the countries on the continent do not have the resources to do so.

Congo's herds have been whittled down to about 20,000 from 100,000 several years back and the animals are now extinct in a few west and central African countries, she said.

Zimbabwe is probably the country with the worst problem with thousands of elephants slaughtered there, Kahumbu said.

"We've seen this reopening of the ivory trade and I think positions are softening, governments are less strict about enforcing the law," she said.

31-Aug-09 11:00 AM

Darin' Erin: Elephant Bath

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:00:00 GMT

The call came from the zoo: how darin' are you? Would you like to wash an elephant?

I ran over to Photographer Jake and said, "You are not going to believe this one. They want me to wash Jana the elephant!"

I take a shower every day, but I think this scrub-a-dub will be a bit much.

Photographer Jake and I drive over to the Knoxville Zoo, with my raincoat and galoshes in the back seat.

Jim Naelitz, the curator for these three majestic creatures, meets us at the elephant barn. The ladies--Jana and Edie--are outside when we get there.

Tonka is in the outer part, I guess because he might like to blow water on me like I have seen him do to Jim, because Jim was talking to me and not the pachyderm.

Jim gives us the elephant washing etiquette. All I know is I love and respect all animals, but if Jana decides rubber ducky time is no fun, I am outta there.

As we walk out into the yard, a very, very muddy Jana comes on over. Edie is curious, but she does not want a bath.

Now that I am standing here, I am a little afraid. I know I have touched an elephant before, but now she is standing here looking at me.

Then the entertaining part--she sniffs us both.

Jim explains the wash and what I'm to do, and then he hands the hose over. It's sort of like a fire hose, but not quite as powerful.

Jana wants a drink, not a bath, so I fill 'er up. Then I start to rinse her off.

Holy mackerel! This is a very large animal when you are standing right next to her.

Nice elephant. Good girl. Hold still.

Jim and I start to scrub her. He warns me abut the hair on her skin--it can actually cut you if you are not careful. Whoa.

Jim and I scrub Jana with brushes, as I sing "Working at the Car Wash...Yeah" Does anyone know any other words to that song?

I ask what they use for soap. Jim informs me it's a product aptly named, yep, elephant wash. Better than turtle wax, I guess.

We scrub every nook and crannie. Jana is very calm during the whole thing. As I look behind us, there is a crowd of people amazed that A.) I am washing an elephant and B.) There is a man actually filming this. Hey, we do what we can!

I am in awe of the relationship that Jim has with this animal. She listens to him and pretty much does what he says. He has a tool on his belt that will help him to get her attention, by poking her, but he does not have to use it once.

Mind you, my laughter should have scared this animal more than a mythical mouse. I'm just hoping she never forgets me.

One thing I never realized about an elephant is their feet. I would think they are huge. If she steps on me, that's a broken foot or toe.

Nope, the bottoms of their feet are soft, and they sort of mold to what they walk on. Now that's cool.

Welll after I braided Jana's tail and rubbed her ears, we figured it was time to let her go. Plus, from the loud sound coming from her belly I think she needed some alone time. Ewww.

So this Darin' Erin was oh-so-cool.. but here's a little something extra.. the zoo has started something they call the Sudsy Safari.. for more information check out the Knoxville Zoo website.

A big thanks to the zoo folks and the curators who taught us a lot and had patience with my bad jokes and singing.

21-Aug-09 10:00 AM

Sounds Give Researchers Clues To Elephants

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:00:00 GMT

The Central African Republic is the setting for the latest installment in the "Wild Sounds" series. Katy Payne is a biologist at Cornell University who has spent more than two decades interpreting the sounds elephants make. The ones you'll hear today, were recorded from a raised platform built in a part of the forest called a bai.

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Now let's go from art produced in Indonesia to the Central African Republic, which is where we'll be taken by our Wild Sounds series. We're going to listen to forest elephants. Our guide is Katy Payne, a biologist at Cornell University. She's spent over two decades interpreting the sounds that elephants make. The ones you're going to hear today were recorded from a raised platform built in a part of the forest called bai.

Ms. KATY PAYNE (Biologist, Cornell University): Bai is a forest clearing made mostly by elephants. It's an elephant city, really. Elephants come from all directions in order to dig holes and suck up minerals from them. And sometimes there are as many as 100 at once, particularly at night.

Ms. PAYNE: We were trying to design a way of using sounds to figure out how many elephants are present and what they're up to. When they come into the clearing they come in by twos and threes. The males mostly separate, the females mostly in groups with their calves, their mothers, their aunts, their great aunts, their grandmothers - that sort of a matriarchal grouping.

(Soundbite of elephant)

Ms. PAYNE: That's an elephant with her trunk down in a well that she's dug getting some water in the end of the trunk.

(Soundbite of elephant)

Ms. PAYNE: Splashing it out, snorting, almost sneeze or cough.