Philadelphia Zoo Elephants in the Rain

On a rainy Saturday (June 20th, 2009) while a handful of protesters outside the Zoo gates passed out flyers describing the elephant's exhibit and care as deplorable, the two very content elephants were peacefully going about their daily routine (which included playing in the mud).

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Philadelphia Zoo
• zoos
• elephant
• elephants
• Saturday
• June
• summer
• 2009
• Pachyderm House

[awesomeH2O]

Do you support the practice of breeding zoo elephants?

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O  YES. I support all zoo breeding in captivity programs. I wish there were more.

[awesomeH2O]

I know that elephants do stand still and play with dirt and mud, but something about Bette gives me a funny feeling. Elephants do stand still and become relaxed at times, but for some reason, she looks a little sad. It may be just because of her eyes, but something tells me she is a little...miserable or something.

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O I think most animal behavior experts use other criteria for determining the mental state of an animal.

Also, so many of your comments seem to be well-thought out and indicate that you enjoy studying elephant behavior.

But every once in a while you make a comment like this that surprises me because it does not seem to be based on anything that could be examined by a vet or verified by animal behavior experts.

[awesomeH2O]

Look at Bette - an animal weighing almost 9,000 pounds! And Kallie, an even bigger giant! She definitely is the chowhound. The exhibit seems to be a bit...unstimulating for them. The water almost looks like sugared coffee! Interesting...

[ZooVisitorMM]

@awesomeH2O There were treats and toys hidden and spread all around the area for them. The keepers gave them browse regularly, too. And had training sessions to keep them mentally alert.

And fresh water flowed into the pond at all times.

[awesomeH2O]

The Zoo did not have enough space to raise baby elephants, let alone have adult elephants.

[awesomeH2O]

@ZooVisitorMM I do think it's great that many elephants get the experience of being mothers, which is something unexplainable and amazing. I'm sorry that I disagree, though. I do not think elephants belong in captivity actually. But hey, that's just what I think.

[awesomeH2O]

@ZooVisitorMM Since I am no vet and I do not actually work with elephants, I cannot really use medical records or anything like that. I only can try to study the stature/posture, behavior, and simply the physical features to make a statement on my opinion. Of course, many elephants do have that sort of calm, almost sleepy sort of appearance. Even if my judgment is not accurate, that is just my opinion from observations.

[ladybloodrose]

i thought i had een soemthin in the other video lol it just looke dliek alota rocks form how you where anegls but you hve been tehre :D what do the pamplets say?