Utah's Hogle Zoo Puts Elephant Care on Hold Breaking 100-Year Streak

After providing ongoing care for elephants for more than a century in the state, the Hogle Zoo in Utah has announced its decision to halt that care.

The historic choice, according to zoo officials, was reached after a thorough analysis.

The 36-year-old elephant Christie and her daughter Zuri, 13, will be moved to a different licensed zoo where chances for reproduction can be increased.

The Needs of Elepants Christie and Zuri

The CEO of Utah's Hogle Zoo, Doug Lund, stated that the zoo is moving forward with a thrilling and transformative planning process to make sure it can continue to meet the complex needs of the animals it is responsible for caring for as well as the changing needs of the community.

To carefully determine what is best for all of the zoo animals, including the elephants Christie and Zuri, the zoo spoke to numerous experts, consultants, community members, and staff.

The decision to relocate Christie and Zuri is ultimately made to give them both the best opportunity to conceive a calf in the crucial social dynamic of a multigenerational herd.

Princess Alice was the first elephant to reside in Utah in 1916. Since then, the state's approach to caring for elephants has changed. For instance, in 2005, the Hogle Zoo in Utah improved and expanded the area where the animals are housed while also constructing Elephant Encounter.

According to Deseret News, an elephant was not born in Utah's Hogle Zoo for 50 years until Christie was artificially inseminated and successfully gave birth as a result of the procedure in 2007.

Elephant Care on Hold

Utah's Hogle Zoo asserts that it made an effort to provide the elephants' offspring and the advantages of a multigenerational herd's social dynamics. Despite being the first to effectively instruct Zuri for voluntary artificial insemination, the Hogle Zoo's nationally renowned elephant care team has had little success in getting her pregnant. This is primarily because there aren't many sample options and Zuri has low motility after travel.

The 42-acre zoo would need to make investments in both indoor and outdoor space to welcome a male elephant or a bull to Utah. Years and a lot of areas would be needed for this expansion, and Zuri might miss their best reproductive window.

They noted that as part of the ongoing master planning process, which involves assessing what the zoo needs to do to preserve the wellness of complex species including elephants, rhinoceroses, gorillas, and orangutans, the potential return of elephants to Utah's Hogle Zoo would be examined.

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Zoo Transfer

According to Lund, the Hogle Zoo in Utah is dedicated to building bonds between humans and animals that motivate them to take action to conserve elephants along with other endangered species. As a devoted participant in the AZA Species Survival Plan, the zoo frequently receives and transports animals between accredited zoos for genetically diverse breeding, as was the case with the relocation of Skye, a male Amur leopard, in September.

The future animals that the zoo will house are topics that are being carefully addressed. The procedure is determined by what is best for the welfare of the animals, the impact on visitors, and the most efficient way to help save species.

According to zoo authorities, the zoo is attempting to determine where Christie and Zuri will thrive in a herd with the highest chance of procreating, 2 KUTV reports.