Short, Unhappy Life for Elephants Kept in Zoos

Being a zoo elephant is not an easy life, far from it. You get fat, stressed, and unhealthy; reach puberty early; suffer fertility problems; and go to an early grave.

Asian elephants in European zoos live half as long as elephants hauling timber in tropical logging camps, Oxford zoologists say in a report published today.

Georgia Mason and Ros Clubb - funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals, but working independently - analysed elephant births and deaths over 100 years in European zoos, and combed through 100 scientific reports.

The two call upon zoos to stop importing and breeding elephants until their welfare problems were solved. "We are shocked at what emerged," Dr Mason said. "We need real objective data on what captive elephants need for good welfare. Only then can we judge whether zoos can ever reliably keep these animals well."

In general, zoo animals live longer than wild animals with no predators, food available, and regular vet examinations.

Elephants are different. Those in the wild can live to 65 or longer; Asian elephants in European zoos survive an average of 15 years. Those born in zoos are even more vulnerable: they tend to die 10 years earlier than those caught in the wild. In contrast, elephants in timber camps live on average 30 years; they work hard, but live in bigger groups and in their native climate. Zoo elephants show stress - skin infections; repetitive, purposeless movement; low libido- and are overweight.

"Zoo elephants are fat and stressed. This is a bad combination for people, so it is not surprising if it is a bad combination for them," said Dr Mason.

Wild or working females reach sexual maturity at 18. In zoos they come into puberty earlier and could be breeding at 11 or 12. Early puberty does not mean breeding success: a third of zoo females fail to breed at all; up to a quarter of Asian calves are stillborn; and up to 18% may be killed by their mothers, according to other biologists.

Dr Mason said. "I couldn't help feeling a farmer with these problems would probably go out of business."

There are 1,700 zoo elephants worldwide, 500 in Europe. But they may be on the way out in Britain. Bristol zoo lost its elephant in August. Dudley hopes to rehouse two elephants. Edinburgh stopped keeping elephants years ago, and London has moved its to Whipsnade.

Three UK keepers have been killed by their charges in three years.